Advanced Certificate in Fitness in Sport Conditioning

Sport Screening and Testing:
Screening and assessment: How screening and assessment are based on the sporting population and values are related to performance goals within a specific sporting code.
Functional motion testing: Assessment tools used by sports conditioners to identify movement, specific limitations in flexibility or stability.
Sport fitness testing: A range of tests which are essential to ensure that the correct batteries of tests are adopted.
Sport and Exercise Science:
Sport and exercise physiology: The body adapts to athletic training and sport specific training. This knowledge is used to influence training and conditioning programmes.
Applied anatomy: Scientific principles of anatomy and biomechanics and how they are applied to exercise and sport conditioning.
Biomechanics for sport: Sporting movements are broken down into various components, with the emphasis on training these individual components to improve performance.

Sport Training:
Sport and fitness conditioning: All sport conditioning programmes must be scientifically sound and technically correct so that the principles of progression and modification are applied to sport specific exercises or drills.
Training methods for sport: Methodologies specific to sport and to individual sporting codes.
Lifting techniques: The correct and appropriate use of Olympic lifting is crucial in sports conditioning. Periodisation: How to periodise athlete’s year/weekly calendars to ensure that conditioning and performance are maintained at optimal levels, while reducing the risk of injury.

Sport Injuries and Health Management:
Medical and health considerations for sport: Communicable diseases, chronic diseases as well as common illness that influence sporting performance, individually or within a team.
Sport injuries: Basic concepts of sport injuries, their aetiology and prevention is discussed within this topic, with scope of professional conduct defined according to the medical and training spectrum.

Sport Nutrition:
Sport nutrition: Providing the correct nutritional advice to the sportsman or sportswoman.
Ergogenic aids and banned substances: Identifying supplements that aid sport performance, while understanding the legal and ethical requirements that surround the use of certain substances.

Sport Psychology:
Principles of sport psychology: Enabling sport conditioners to apply their knowledge of group behaviour and mental skills training to coaching sport and to managing athletes and teams.
Motivation in sport: Understanding what motivates individuals to exercise; using current cognitive theories to understand the complexities of motivation.
Capstone project: This is a long-term project that incorporates all modules. You must show your ability to integrate all facets of assessment, testing, training and monitoring to ensure that athletes reach their goals, and must identify processes that should be followed to improve performance

To enter this programme, you must have achieved the NQF level-5 Higher Certificate in Fitness or National Certificate in Fitness or an equivalent qualification in the field of exercise science at NQF level 5.

Sport-Specific Conditioning Coach
Team or individual Conditioning Coach