Why study Sport Science?

Sport and physical activity are important in maintaining a healthy existence, and for many individuals sport is the focus of much of their leisure time. By Dr Sue M. Jacklin

There are many reasons why you should study Sport or Exercise Science. For example, you may be a sportsman, sportswoman or coach interested in improving individual and team performance, or you may seek to become a healthcare professional concerned with the fitness, health and rehabilitation of general or specific populations. Within a good Sport or Exercise Science degree you will find the disciplines of exercise physiology, biomechanics, motor control and sports psychology, all of which address many of the issues underpinning the questions of the participant, coach or healthcare professional.

The exercise physiologist studies how the body functions during exercise, and how it responds to long term exercise training, whether it be a soccer training programme or a walking or cardiac rehabilitation programme.

The biomechanist applies the principles of Newtonian mechanics to human movement and the muscular and skeletal systems; as the optimum performance of any athlete is constrained by these principles and injury results from the mechanical failure of one or more of the biological tissues, the biomechanist will seek to understand the reason for failure.

"Sport defines us as a nation. It teaches us about life. We learn self-discipline and teamwork from it. We learn how to win with grace and lose with dignity. It gets us fit. It keeps us healthy" Tessa Jowell, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, UK

Motor control is the study of movement, and the techniques used to study this have much in common with those used in biomechanics. The student of motor control will examine the mechanisms that enable movements to be produced, and the processes that underlie control, skill acquisition and retention, with a view to understanding how we are able to coordinate the vast range of simple and complex movements that we perform.

The sports psychologist is concerned with the thoughts, feelings and emotions of individuals and how these influence human behaviour in sport and exercise settings. Together, all of these disciplines develop your understanding of how the mind and body work, which can then be applied to a sporting or rehabilitation context.

However, studying Sport and Exercise Sciences is also an exciting way to develop your understanding of the biological sciences and the interaction of the individual with the environment. A good scientific education will act as a springboard for your future career, whether within sport and exercise or another graduate profession. Unlike single science degrees, the range of the core themes in Sports and Exercise Sciences provides a unique opportunity for you to develop a multidisciplinary perspective.

"Physical activity halves the risk of developing coronary heart diseasePhysical activity as part of a rehabilitation programme reduces the risk of dying after a heart attack by 20%." British Heart Foundation

Dr Susan M. Jacklin is Director of Learning and Teaching, School of Sport and Exercise Sciences at the University of Leeds