Dr Ian Kenny, Course Director, MSc Sports Performance, Sean Casey, Irish Olympic Rower and Dr Cian O’Neill, Mayo Senior Football Coach and lecturer on the MSc Sports Performance at the launch of the new Masters programme aimed at athletes and sports professionals.
UL Launches Ireland’s First Masters of Sports Performance
Monday, 23rd January 2012
The University of Limerick has launched an innovative postgraduate programme aimed at athletes and sports professionals. The first programme of its kind in Ireland, the MSc Sports Performance programme will prepare graduates for a career in sports performance analysis, specialising in strength and conditioning, video analysis and nutrition. Run by the Department of Physical Education and Sports Sciences at UL, the programme is available for as full-time over one year or part-time over two years. Among the 22 students who have started the new programme at UL this month are Irish International Rugby Player, Jerry Flannery and Irish Olympic Heavyweight Rower, Sean Casey as well as students from the fields of sports science, health fitness, nutrition and business.
Course Director, Dr Ian Kenny, highlights the significance in developing a programme of this kind; “Utilising UL’s world class training, teaching and research facilities and personnel, we aim to create critically free-thinking, insightful, competent and reflective sports performance practitioners who will aid development of Ireland’s athletes and teams and reputation at home and abroad. Ireland has an abundance of talented people involved in coaching and sport sciences interacting with athletes and teams, and this programme will provide an avenue for those wishing to specialise in performance support in strength and conditioning, video analysis and nutrition.”
Complementing the top class sports facilities at UL is the emergence of some of the most innovative and world leading sport-related research, students of the MSc Sports Performance will have the opportunity to engage with leading researchers and use the latest sports performance analysis techniques. Students will additionally be able to interact with cryotherapy research and the pioneering altitude training centre housed on the UL campus.
The disciplines of biomechanics, physiology, motor learning and anatomy will underpin the three core areas of the programme. Students will gain increased understanding of the processes of advanced practice in sport performance analysis by exploring the fields of strength & conditioning, video analysis and nutrition.
The University of Limerick has gained accreditation from the USA’s National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) as an international site for their Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) exam which the MSc students and the general public can take.
Students of the programme will also gain skills in video analysis through the Video Performance Analysis Academy (VPAA) at the University of Limerick, providing the only facility of its kind in Ireland. Video performance analysis is a relatively new discipline which emerged worldwide over the last decade as many more sports turned professional and additional detailed analysis of movement and tactics are being utilised. Course Director and founder of the VPAA, Dr Kenny works directly with squads and sports individuals, providing a video analysis service that helps to effectively improve performance when used in conjunction with existing coaching structures. The MSc students will be actively involved with the VPAA working with UL and regional sports teams and athletes.