Athlete Professional Development

Developed in collaboration with ProChance Football, this foundation degree is aimed at aspiring athletes engaged with our partner organisations across football and cycling. As a promising sportsperson and/or sports official, you are focused on your performance and pursuing your dreams to compete professionally / at an elite level. Your life outside of your sport is crucial too, and it’s important to plan your life after sport, future proofing your career.

This flexible and unique foundation degree allows you to do that, and receive a recognised qualification for doing so. You’ll be able to train and compete full-time, while studying and working towards your degree.

The blocked on-campus delivery and remote study methods have been designed to support elite/professional athletes and officials.

The course places you at the core of the programme, focusing on your personal and professional development; you’ll explore:

• Your life so far and your future plans
• Your values, beliefs and motivations
• What you want from your life in and after sport
• How to be successful during your competitive/officiating career and afterwards
• How self-reflection can help shape your future life and career choices

You will:

• Learn from our expert teaching team who are actively involved in research, high-performance sport and applied sport science consultancy. They are also members of leading professional bodies
• Use state-of-the-art equipment in our Sports Centre
• Put theory into practice through work-based learning in both years of your studies. You'll have the opportunity to apply the skills you learn within the modules to roles within the host organisation such as coaching, teaching, sports administration, event support and mentoring

Once you finish the course, you’ll not only have formal recognition of a foundation degree on your CV, but you’ll also be in a position where your next career step will be an extension of your current sporting life. It can also be a stepping stone to further development through a BA (Hons) Sport Coaching and Development Top-up.

Develop a wide skill set

In your first year you’ll explore how to develop personally and professionally and look after your physical and mental wellbeing. You’ll explore positive communication, including counselling skills and techniques, and learn about team working, which will help develop your confidence in leadership.

During your second year you’ll complete an independent project, reflecting on sporting communities and their place in your life and others. You’ll explore ethics on a personal and societal level and apply these to current issues. You’ll also develop and use your business skills to plan and implement products and services – a valuable preparation for the next stage in your career.

Across the two year course, you'll be exposed to a number of bite-sized modules that relate to sport, coaching, business, finance, entrepreneurship, sports management, performance and analysis, to name but a few of the subjects that you will you touch upon. Each student across the two years will access 150 hours of work placement readying you for the working world either on or off the pitch.

Your work experience can also act as an introduction to the subject and possible future career you may wish to embark on by topping up in year three to a subject of your choosing.

Please note that our modules are subject to change - we review the content of our courses regularly, making changes where necessary to improve your experience and graduate prospects.

This programme includes traditional academic study with practical application and work-based learning to offer a unique experience. This course is delivered in blocks and has been designed to meet your needs.

We use a range of assessment methods, including traditional formats such as written papers, presentations and portfolios. In addition to these we use less traditional methods such as blogs, vlogs and interviews to assess your progress. These reflect work-based elements of your course and will help you prepare for your future career.

Upon completion of the course, you will be given the opportunity to progress onto one of our undergraduate sport courses.

You could also go on to pursue a career in football or other professional sports roles such as academy coach, performance analyst, sport scientist or strength and conditioning coach.

ProChance Football has provided over 100 students with work experience to help them develop new and important employability skills to help support their future career plans.

2026 entry

These are the typical qualification requirements for September 2026 entry.

Contextual offers may apply to students who meet certain criteria.

Additional entry requirements

• This course is only open to applicants from ProChance Football, Lichfield Football Club, Derby County Community Trust, or Beeston Cycling Club (in any role).

Further information about our fees and support you may be entitled to

Additional costs and optional extras

Further information about our fees and support you may be entitled to

Additional costs and optional extras

Additional information about your studies

Teaching hours

Like most universities, we operate extended teaching hours at the University of Derby, so contact time with your lecturers and tutors could be anytime between 9am and 9pm. Your timetable will usually be available on the website 24 hours after enrolment on to your course.

Course updates

The information provided on this page is correct at the time of publication but course content, costs and other individual course details do change from time to time and are updated as often as possible, so please do check these pages again when making your final decision to apply for a course. Any updated course details will also be confirmed to you at application, enrolment and in your offer letter.

If you are thinking about transferring onto this course (into the second year for example), you should contact the programme leader for the relevant course information as modules may vary from those shown on this page.