Being the Difference: Why you Should Study an MSc in Sport Performance Coaching (Online) at the University of Stirling
This Blog is one that I’ve written for coaches who may wish to consider studying on the MSc. in Sport Performance at the University of Stirling. It is in three sections:
1. The first section Be the Difference is about promoting the programme and saying who it’s for.
2. The second section explores part of my journey and how working on the programme transformed how I think about coaching. The purpose of doing so is to encourage you to reflect on your own journey and consider how studying with us could transform you and your coaching practice.
3. The final section reflects what I say to prospective students in helping you decide whether you want to study with us.
Of course, you can simply click on this link which will take you to the official university site. It’s important to do that too. There’s information on what modules, cost etc. But I want to go beyond the blurb to show our commitment to you and why we value the programme so much.
Be the Difference
‘Be the Difference’ is the motto of the University of Stirling. It’s not just a motto to me. Rather, it reflects the purpose of all the Performance Sport Coaching team. We’ve helped 100’s of coaches throughout the world who have studied with us to be the difference too. Coaches influence lots of people. That’s our job. So, it’s important to do it well so our influences are positive. Recently, the Student Union awarded us 2nd place in their RATE Award for Outstanding Programmes & our teachers are shortlisted for awards every year. That’s pretty awesome for a small programme. The fact that such recognition comes from our students is very special and testament to our team’s commitment to being the difference.
Importantly, you can study from anywhere in the world with us and there is no need ever to be on campus. But there are plenty of opportunities to engage with staff and fellow students. We are skilled in delivering an ‘agile’ programme that allows coaches to fit study around their demanding lives. Most learning opportunities are asynchronous. In other words, you will rarely have to attend ‘live’ online lectures and most seminars/tutorials are timetabled around your needs. Our focus is on delivering stuff that you can apply in the ‘real world’ of coaching. Universities like to call these things employability skills. We like to think we’re supporting the development of your expertise.
It’s nice to be able to brag about the coaching alumni from the programme. Coaches working in Formula 1 motor racing, top international football clubs, Olympic and Para Podium Programmes and others who operate in the highest echelons of sport have studied with us. Some are playing vital roles in the run up to the next Olympics too. But just as important is that we also work with coaches from grassroots sport, the Armed Forces. PE teachers, educators in National Governing Bodies and even the arts. It’s such a privilege to work with, get to know and learn from such a diverse group.
When I chat with prospective students, some express concerns about not being good enough or not coaching at a high enough level. I’ve never noticed a relationship between the level a coach works at, their stature and their ability to do well on the programme though. Others say they’re not academic enough and express concerns about writing an essay. For me, being academic is about being inquisitive and rigorous. With a bit of effort, such skills can be developed as you go. We’ve got a whole range of support including Student Learning Services which come as part of the package. Some of our coaches are beginning of their professional journey and others are towards the end of their careers. Experience does not always reflect expertise though. Rather, expertise grows through inquisitiveness, a willingness to learn and resilience when learning is hard or the stuff you are learning is contrary to what you previously believed and practiced.
We are often asked how we can differentiate for the broad needs of coaches. We are certainly kept on our toes. But answering the question is not too hard when considering what the common elements of coaching are, regardless of the context it takes place in. It’s a social process, focused on changing the behaviour of others through problem-solving and decision-making. Therefore, we support coaches in exploring, reflecting upon, interrogating and critically justifying their beliefs and practices. Becoming an expert problem-solver also means prioritising things we can make a difference with over things we can’t. Developing an understanding of contextual influences which influence coaching practice will certainly help you. We won’t necessarily teach you much about ‘what’ to coach. Rather, we will help you explore how you coach and the alternatives available in the hope that better practices are likely to emerge. Our purpose is simple. It is to help you be the best coach you can be.
I’m slightly jealous that both our Programme Director, Stephen Macdonald, and colleague Derek O’Riordan, studied on the programme before teaching on it. This gives them a great perspective of what it feels like to be a student on the programme. It also provided them with perspectives of coaching that I wish I had earlier in my career. In the next section, I’ll tell you about some of my experiences in sport, hopefully so you can relate to them, and then see what the value is in studying with us.
Transforming Through Confronting Uncomfortable Truths
Standing in the atrium of the National Cycling Centre in Manchester, I burst out into tears. I was leaving my British Cycling family to start a new journey as a lecturer at the University of Stirling. The path to this point in my career had been a rocky one including study, working at the Scottish Institute of Sport, British Cycling and having a few personal coaching succusses too.
22 years prior to starting at Stirling, I had applied there to do a BSc. in Sport and Exercise Science. I got an unconditional rejection. Having done rubbish at school, I didn’t have the entry requirements. Only one university offer was forthcoming. This came from Manchester Metropolitan (MMU). The Programme Director, Prof. Paul Holmes, decided to put his faith in me when I said: “do you really think I will fail?”. Many of the lecturers at MMU were inspirational and committed to students. I never imagined I would be doing the same job as them as surely, I wasn’t bright enough.
It was very intimidating when entering Higher Education as a 30-year-old mature student. The fact that failure wasn’t an option increased my fear of failure. But I grasped the opportunity with both hands, viewing study as a privilege and taking up every volunteering opportunity on offer too. Initial progress was slow. Sitting beside people saying “oh I did this at A-level and it’s easy” was tough for someone who left school with none. However, deep inquisitiveness and strong work ethic meant that I struggled over initial barriers, started to do well and eventually graduated with a 1st Class degree. Being the 1st person to graduate from my family made it more special. My degree certificate wasn’t a meaningless piece of paper. Rather, it was my proof that I could excel at things, and it opened the door to the rest of my career. Previously, I had worked in a hotel and in boring admin roles.
After my degree, I struggled through a Ph.D., refusing to give in when others doubted that I had the ability to complete it. Some of the skills needed were simply beyond me. I struggled with the disciplinary nature of physiology when I was seeing how behaviour in lab tests was so influential on performance. My thoughts often contradicted the literature and I was not equipped to make sense of them. Write-up was done when working at the Scottish Institute of Sport as a sport physiologist. I gained experience working in sports such as rugby, curling, cricket, athletics, tennis and swimming. Some athletes I worked with were in adolescence and others were already Olympic medal winners. It wasn’t a very forgiving or compassionate environment. I was seeing and experiencing things that I could not make sense of that did not sit comfortably with my sense of natural justice. The dream of working in high-performance sport was turning out to be a bit of a nightmare. I believed that most coaches did not want or know how to use my ‘High Performance Expertise’. In hindsight, this is because I did not understand what their needs were and that my repertoire of skills did not solve problems that were a priority to them. Sheer pig headedness got me through this period of life. I completed my Ph.D. but my Mum and Dad died in the same period, from alcohol and ciggie related diseases. I ended up being completely burnt out, with few to turn to and acting a bit irresponsibly in my private life. Fortunately, I recognised there was a problem and sought help. The advice I was given was simply that I needed to remove myself to a healthier environment. It was wonderful advice, in which the councillor recognised that the social environment we work in can have a profound effect on our mental health. I wouldn’t change a thing though, simply because my experiences are fundamental to the meaning my job gives me now in helping others prosper more than I did.
My move was to British Cycling. Cycling was my sport, and it was a huge part of my identity. On Day 2, I stood naked and open mouthed next to my hero Chris Boardman. He was a Tour de France stage winner, an Olympic and World Champion. I chatted about Manchester traffic and the big hill I would face on the way home. This was ‘living the dream’. A lot of water has passed under the bridge since that day. British Cycling went from being a small organisation in which we operated out of broom cupboards to a multi-million-business in a state-of-the-art cycling facility. We were known as one of the most successful NGB’s in the world, winning numerous Olympic medals, dominating the sport and membership growth exceeded all expectations too. Fundamental to success was winning because of the recognition and investment that brought. I felt lucky to be a small part of that development. Everyone seemed to want a bit of us at British Cycling and to learn from our expertise. My personal highlights were being invited on to More or Less on Radio 4 as a cycling expert. I even presented at University of Oxford to the Royal College of Surgeons. Not bad for a kid who had to fight to get a university place.
However, much of this success was an illusion, where many of us believed we were world leading regardless of our roles. The World Governing Body, the UCI, reinforced the illusion that our coach education was the best by adopting our programmes internationally. I also learnt that few organisations embrace excellence or innovation beyond using words in strategy documents and marketing. Rather, they become self-perpetuating systems, ones which resist change and are only capable of producing new things that are very similar to the old ones. The marketisation of coach education, where income generation and the fact that more needs to be done for less, appears to be resulting in the de-skilling of the wider coaching workforce. However, in times of profound change and diminishing budgets, we need skilled professionals who are open to better ways of doing things and know what alternative ‘ways’ are available. We didn’t make good use of the ‘time of plenty’ and it hurts to see a lack of legacy from some of the good work we did. Notwithstanding, my time at British Cycling served as a wonderful apprenticeship for my role as a lecturer in which I learnt about policy, governance, coaching, people and how they interact at many levels. I didn’t necessarily understand how to make sense of my experiences at the time. But my move to HE changed that. My partner Rosemary, who helped give me greater stability, lived in Scotland and I was fed up with a long-distance relationship. Despite having a wonderful and expert boss in Vinny Webb, we were hamstrung at so many levels and it was time to leave. I had a huge smile on my face when getting a job at the University of Stirling, an institution that didn’t want to let me in as a student.
One of my first experiences when joining the University was to attend a Level 4 Coaching Residential event run by British Canoeing. Their Level 4 qualification combined modules from our programme with NGB led sport-specific content. The event ‘knocked my socks off’. The coaching students presented work on their coaching processes (what coaches do) and wider coaching concepts that I had never been exposed to before. There was also a pronounced difference between coaches on Year 1 and Year 2 of the programme, specifically in how they explained their coaching practice. Presumably this was because our programme was clearly making a difference to their professional practice. The experience was bitter-sweet though. It had shown me what is possible with effective coach education, and I was highly impressed with the quality of the coaches. But I also felt inadequate, a bit of a fraud and very scared that I would have to teach these coaches.
I was also sad when recognising how much I didn’t know about coaching and deficits in my capabilities to teach others. Whilst I was often challenging of the approaches we had used at British Cycling, I didn’t wholly understand why or the alternatives available. I was struck by imposter syndrome that day, but it was also a critical life moment too, in which lots of new possibilities emerged. Similar phenomena affect many of the coaches who join our programme too. Thoughts, feelings and emotions emerge from being exposed to new ways of thinking and knowing which can be overwhelming. It’s like an ego destruction process when you recognise what you don’t know. It is hard to comprehend the fact that your individual ways of doing things may be inherently flawed and you feel let down by institutions from which your practices emerged. Such experiences may seem negative at the time, but they are typically short-lived and will usually make you a better coach in the long term. I’ll often say to new students: “Don’t judge yourself on how you feel now or on what grades you’re awarded. Rather, reflect on them after you graduate and consider what has changed”. The occasional coach will go through a process of denial when faced with alternative ‘truths’ or struggle when faced with learning that does not reinforce their current beliefs. Regardless, I’m convinced that the learning experiences of our coaching students are transformational and help them become better professionals. Feedback from our alumni demonstrates this is the case.
I have also reached the conclusion that the best way to support most of the agendas of sporting bodies, whether to enhance performance, grow participation, and to support good mental health and wellbeing is through having a professional coaching workforce. Our programme at the University of Stirling helps coaches to better comprehend their coaching context and role. In doing so it helps them manage the complex demands of job, supporting better professional judgement and decision-making. Thus, athlete experience and performances are enhanced. In short, we are developing skilled, agile and professional coaches who can excel in their environments. I have few regrets in my life, but one is that I wish I had been a student on our programme myself. Despite having a 1st Class Degree, a Ph.D. and lots of experience, I wouldn’t have given the ‘old me’ a job. Rather, I suggest that working towards or having an HE qualification in coaching like ours should be a pre-requisite to work in coaching or coach education, especially in positions of influence. That is because I am confident that our better students have the pre-requisite skills and knowledge required to work and prosper in these domains.
Watch the videos below from Kylie who's a Pathway Manager & coach at Scottish Squash, who I had the privilege to supervise and Willie McNab who's Head of Children's Programmes at Celtic FC who both experienced a level of transformation with us.
Beyond the Blurb
This section is for those of you who are thinking of studying with us at the University of Stirling. It’s just as much a marketing exercise as you will find on the MSc. Sport Performance Coaching page on the university website. It’s the kind of thing I say when I chat to prospective students:
Being Online
We’re one of the few MSc. coaching programmes that is entirely online and does not require attendance on campus. It was the first of its kind in the UK. This means that you can study from anywhere in the world, access material when it suits you and our modes of teaching help you fit the course around your other life demands. There are plenty opportunities to connect with other coaches and staff. We love engaging with students because we learn from you too. The fact that our programme is so established online means that you are unlikely to feel disadvantaged by not being on campus.
You will be a student like any other and will receive access to the same services and benefits as any on-campus student. This can be handy when buying things like a new computer or Mac too because discounts are available.
Value for Money
Ok, I wish we were cheaper but we’re highly competitive within the sector. We’re actually >10-20 times cheaper than it would cost to study an MSc. in the USA, and this is no reflection on quality.
You won’t have additional costs of travelling to campus or having to re-arrange your work around teaching. It is nice for students to come to Stirling for graduation so that we can have a pizza and beer together though.
I’m Not Good Enough Academically
Being academic doesn’t necessarily relate to your previous educational experiences. Rather, we simply want you to be rigorous, open-minded and embrace learning. Being able to write an essay well comes in time, with practice and reading the work of others. It’s a skill that can be developed. Student Learning Services are available to help all students too. If you don’t meet the entry requirement, still drop us an email and we will see what we can do. The important thing is to have the motivation to make the most of the learning experiences.
Time Requirement
Studying an MSc. over 2-years is a major undertaking. It’s like having a part-time job. I’d suggest that you need to allocate 15-20 hours a week in semester time to study. You can get away with less and may benefit from doing more. This can be a ‘big deal’ for your significant others too, so make sure you speak to them and have their approval.
Learning is Hard if it’s Done Well
Learning is about changing the way you think and act in relation to your coaching practice. I’ve mentioned imposter syndrome in this article and have written about the Dunning-Kruger Effect elsewhere. People prefer to engage with ‘stuff’ that reinforce pre-existing beliefs and practices, but this isn’t really learning. Rather, you’ll sometimes have to confront uncomfortable truths, be challenged in ways that you are not used to and may not even achieve the grades you think you deserve. It’s important to embrace this discomfort rather than fighting it.
If Things Go Wrong
Our teaching team is skilled in supporting a wide range of student needs. Things like changes in employment circumstances and life’s challenges can impact on your ability to study. The good news is that we are used and agile in supporting such challenges. You simply need to speak to any of us and we’ll do our best to find solutions that work for you.
Want to Know More
I encourage you to contact me or Programme Director Stephen Macdonald:
for a chat. For the record, Stephen is better than me for the procedural stuff and I’m pretty good at chatting through broader ‘stuff’ and any concerns too. We’ll also be happy to put you in touch with previous students. Be sure to read the programme webpage first though.
