Are you a sport fanatic? Do you enjoy exercise and keeping fit? Are you interested in the health and wellbeing of yourself and others?
If you answered yes to any of the above, then a career in sport and exercise science could be your chance to turn your passion into a professional career.
What does a sport and exercise scientist do?
Sport and exercise scientists help people improve their sporting performance, recover from injuries or better their general health and wellbeing.
There are typically three main areas in which sport and exercise scientists work in:
- Skill acquisition and psychology: This includes understanding of factors related to learning and transfer of motor skills, as well as the mental side of performance in sport, and how the mind works and what drives different behaviours. For example, helping professional athletes to improve their skills and return to sport following severe injuries or major trauma.
- Biomechanics: This is understanding the function and motion of the mechanical aspects of the human body. For example, developing better batting techniques in cricket to improve performance.
- Physiology: This is understanding the function of the organs and systems of the human body and how these change during sport and exercise. For example, analysing the response of a person’s cardiovascular system to exercise and developing appropriate training programs.
What careers can you pursue if you study sport and exercise science?
With a sport and exercise science degree, you could find a career in a wide range of roles including:
- Sports or Exercise Scientist
- Strength and Conditioning Coach
- Sports Development Officer
- Community Education Officer
- Rehabilitation Consultant
- Sport and Recreation Officer
- Skill Acquisition Specialist
- Accredited Exercise Physiologist
- Accredited Exercise Scientist
- Accredited Sports Scientist
- Sports and Exercise Physiologist
- Sports Psychologist
What can you do with an exercise science degree?
It would be no surprise to hear that the main industries sport and exercise scientists work in are the sport and health sectors.
This could be working with:
- Professional men’s and women’s sports clubs at a state, national or international level, including cricket, basketball, netball, rugby, tennis and Australian Rules Football clubs.
- Gyms and community leisure centres.
- Sport academies, laboratories and institutes, or university sport science laboratories.
What skills do you need as a sport and exercise scientist?
To succeed in sport and exercise science, you’ll need to have a genuine passion for sport, health, fitness and wellbeing. You’ll also need to have strong communication skills and enjoy team environments to work effectively with athletes, coaches, dieticians, doctors, physiotherapists and other health professionals.
How to prepare for your sport and exercise science career while you’re at uni
Don’t wait until you graduate, you can get a head start with your career while you’re still studying. You might like to:
- Consider a study abroad experience or exchange to one of our partner universities.
- Make use of the Murdoch Careers and Employability portal to explore opportunities, book into career workshops and industry events.
- Get involved in professional mentoring programs such as the Murdoch Industry Mentoring (MIM) program.
- Find paid work opportunities to get experience during your studies or apply for summer or winter study break vacation work.
The future of sport and exercise science
We can expect to see growing demand for people who have the skills, experience and knowledge in sport and exercise science. Be it at a community level with the growth of fitness centres such as F45 and CrossFit or at a professional level with the expansion of women’s professional sport, including the AFLW and WBBL competitions.