Graduate Diploma
The high performance sport industry is a global, multi-billion dollar entity that provides employment opportunities for a range of professions, including sport scientists, coaches and managers. In Australia, there are employment opportunities in professional and semi-professional sporting teams, Australian and state institutes of sport, academies of sport, and other sporting organisations. These opportunities extend to the international market.
At the heart of this industry is the conditioning of the athlete, with the aim of optimising individual and team performance for successful outcomes. A professional working in this industry needs to know about testing protocols to assess athlete performance, principles of strength and conditioning, and the technologies available for monitoring and training the high performance athlete. They will need to understand the relationships between fatigue, adaptation, performance and injury, how to acquire meaningful performance data, and how to work within the culture of a high performance industry.
The application of this knowledge and understanding to the planning and delivery of meaningful interventions for athletes to enhance performance and reduce the likelihood (and/or duration) of injury and illness, using appropriate techniques of analysis to accurately interpret competition and training information, and using advanced information literacy skills to communicate ideas and outcomes to specialist and non-specialist audiences is essential for a professional working in the high performance sport environment.
Professionals in this area also need to be equipped with problem solving and self-management skills that promote independent learning and thinking and for pursuing further learning if they are to maintain relevance in an industry that is, by definition, fiercely competitive and constantly evolving.
The Graduate Diploma in High Performance Sport aims to help students develop the knowledge, understanding and skills needed to enhance the conditioning of high performance athletes, with the aim of optimising individual and team performance, within the context of a multidisciplinary environment and its culture and leadership structures, and to do so in an ethical manner characterised by a concern for respect, equity and social justice.
An applicant must also comply with the Admission to Coursework Programs Policy.
To be eligible for admission to the course, an applicant must:
NOTE: Applicants having completed a Bachelor degree (or higher) in a related allied health discipline will be considered, dependent on specific qualifications and evidence of industry experience.
NOTE: Applicants having completed the following ACU Graduate Certificates will be eligible for recognition of prior learning (RPL):
*Disclaimer: The Course entry requirements above are for 2020 Admission.
Examples of the types of work settings the course prepares graduates for: