Loughborough Sport Placements

Loughborough Sport is committed to the development of aspiring coaches and practitioners through elite sport in the UK. Supporting around 500 funded athletes, scholars, and first team athletes across a range of sports and athletic disciplines, we provide a unique environment to develop a range of skills within an interdisciplinary sports program.

The successful applicant will gain practical applied experience in a performance sporting environment under the guidance of practitioners and coaches. During the placement, there is an opportunity to build a portfolio of practical expertise, enhancing your employability.

What would I be doing?

• Working alongside the Football Programme Manager and Head Coache to assist with the operations of running the men’s football programmes. The role would also be responsible for liaising with the AU club around matters of mutual interest.
• Suitable for someone looking to move into a management or marketing role in sport
• Support the extensive trials process at the beginning of the academic year
• Support with other areas of the Inter-Disciplinary team.
• Match day operations which include the coordination of match day staffing and logistics and management of the match day experience for non-league and BUCS Fixtures
• Matchday Communications for all internal and external stakeholders
• Hosting of opposition committee members and opposition matchday experience.
• Support the Scouting Hub with recruitment into the men’s programme, including leading Men’s Trials with AU Chair
• Support the provision of marketing, media, and communications across the programme.
• Direct mentoring support from experienced programme manager
• Opportunity to work with external football bodies (e.g. County FA, Premier League, etc.) when hosting fixtures and events at Loughborough
• Promote and represent Loughborough University and Loughborough Students Football Club in a professional manner.

What will I get out of this opportunity?

• Exposure to working with coaches and athletes in an elite sporting environment
• Exposure to a range of sports, disciplines, and abilities
• Mentoring from practitioners and supervisors
• Support through qualifications and accreditations
• Portfolio of CPD and practical expertise
• Enhance your employability,
• Work closely with other practitioners within an interdisciplinary team
• Development of soft skills

What is Loughborough Sport looking for?

• To undertake this role, you must be a current student at Loughborough University.
• Full commitment – otherwise you won’t get much out of the placement and the support for football will be affected
• Due to the nature of the role, experiences will take place during evenings and weekends to align with the football training schedule.
• The ability to communicate well, share knowledge simply and effectively and strong attention to detail.
• Experience in delivering or assisting in the delivery of presentations.
• Innovative thinking and willingness to try things.
• Professional attitude and approach, respect for others.

Additional Details

• Paid stipend of £6000 over 12 months
• Start date can be discussed but men’s pre-season starts in June and women’s programme in July
• Minimum of 30 hours per week for 45 weeks
• Evening and weekend work required
• Opportunity to volunteer ahead of your placement
• Diploma of Professional Studies running alongside placement year

 How can I apply?

Please send a CV & Video Application to One Drive via the file request link below. It’s up to you how you choose to produce the video, the only stipulations are that it is no longer than 5 minutes and you answer all questions (with relevant detail) set out below:

Interviews will take place on the week commencing 5^th May.

Applications close Wednesday 30^th April.

File Link:

Tell us about yourself:

• Name
• Your experiences in a sporting/football environment
• Personal sporting interests and programme (men’s or women’s) you would like to be involved in
• Your career aspirations
• What do you think you are like as a person, how would others describe you?

 Tell us why you would like to join us:

• Why this placement? Why you? Why Loughborough?

Loughborough Sport is committed to the development of aspiring coaches and practitioners in elite sport in the UK. Supporting around 750 funded athletes, scholars, and first team athletes across a range of sports and athletic disciplines, we provide a unique environment to develop in a range of inter-disciplinary sports programmes.

This is an opportunity for aspiring swimming coaches looking to gain valuable experience within a high-performance environment. This placement provides a unique opportunity to work with elite senior swimmers, develop coaching skills and contribute to the ongoing success of the world-renowned Loughborough University Swimming programme. 

The successful applicant will deliver coaching support across the team alongside studying part-time for an MSc in one of the following courses from the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences. They will gain practical applied coaching experience under the guidance of our coaching team and will also be provided with a mentoring programme.

• Clinical Exercise Physiology
• Exercise Rehabilitation
• Musculoskeletal Sport Science and Health
• Physiology and Nutrition of Sport and Exercise
• Psychology of Exercise Rehabilitation
• Sport and Exercise Psychology
• Sport Biomechanics
• Sport Rehabilitation
• Strength and Conditioning

What would I be doing?

• Assist with the delivery of coaching to the Loughborough Swimming High-Performance and Performance Development squads.
• Support the planning, delivery and evaluation of training for the HP and PD squads.
• Assist with additional tasks and ad-hoc projects where required for the swimming programme including recruitment, test set monitoring, team logistics, team communication and performance tracking. 
• Develop strong relationships with coaches, the Inter-Disciplinary Team, our programme co-ordinator and other staff within Loughborough Swimming and Loughborough Sport.
• Attend Coaches meetings, IDT meetings, Loughborough Sport meetings and any other meetings as required.
• Attend competitions and training camps as required.

Placement outcomes

• Development of skills and experience in an elite senior swimming programme.
• Exposure to working with coaches and athletes in an elite sporting environment.
• Mentorship from experienced high-performance coaches.
• Opportunity to develop professional networks within UK swimming.
• Access to world-class training facilities at Loughborough University.
• Potential for career progression within competitive swimming coaching.
• Develop experience working with an inter-disciplinary team of Sports Science and Medicine practitioners.

Benefits

• Stipend of £6,500 per annum, to support you to undertake the placement whilst studying.
• A unique personal development plan, focused on clear aims and objectives.
• A variety of CPD opportunities

Time Commitment

The placement student will be expected to commit a maximum of 25 hours per week across the full year (September – August) to this role and these hours will be balanced alongside the part-time studies of your MSc course. These hours will be variable and unsociable at times.

What are we looking for:

This role is only open to students who meet the relevant criteria for the MSc (from the list above) at Loughborough University for the 2025/2026 academic year. Once the applicant is successful, they will be transferred onto the part-time pathway.

The behaviours that we strive for within the placement are high levels of passion, excellent organisation and the ability to engage and integrate within a team of coaches, athletes and practitioners.

Students studying on a Tier 4 visa are unfortunately not eligible for this opportunity.

Application

As part of the application process, we would like you to submit your current CV as well as produce an application video. Please also provide the details of at least one referee that we can contact. 

It’s up to you how you choose to produce the video, the only stipulations are that it is no longer than 5 minutes and you answer all questions (with relevant detail) set out below. 

• Tell us about yourself
• Tell us why you want to work within the Loughborough Swimming programme
• Give us a real-life example of you briefing a group of athletes before a session and/or de-briefing a group of athletes at the end of a session 

The application process will close 5pm Friday 16^th May 2025. Please submit your video applications via the link provided.

Interviews are scheduled to take place on week commencing 26^th May 2025.

The start date of the placement is late September 2025, on agreement with the programme.

Please send any informal enquiries to performanceswimcoach@lboro.ac.uk