Master in Sport Performance: Training and Functional Evaluation

Master in Sport Performance: Training and Functional Evaluation

Presentation

The Master in Sport Performance: Training and Functional Valuation is a novel university degree program that offers the highest levels of training in one of our main pathways in the Physical Activity and Sport Sciences: Sport Performance.

Within the context of Sports Performance, the specialization in each of the elements that influence the athlete’s improvement is fundamental, from being up-to-date on the theories of training, the critical knowledge of new trends, the capacity for translating scientific advances into the reality for each sport and the athlete, among others. In this way, the Master offers the student an education that combines learning and assimilating the necessary concepts for developing each one of the demanding and multidisciplinary tasks within the professional field of sport performance itself.

The Master in Sport Performance: Training and Functional Valuation seeks to educate specialized professionals capable of planning, designing and developing training plans at all levels with the objective of optimizing resources and achieving the desired sport performance, balancing training loads and recovery needs while assuming the ethical responsibilities and commitments currently required of the profession.

Because the master is offered in the blended learning modality, future professionals in sport performance may put into practice some of the concepts and techniques learned during their classroom sessions, where they will apply, debate and bring forth proposals applied to the different fields of Sport Performance, guided and supervised by a first rate team of professors and professionals.

Teaching Modality: Blended Learning

Considering the current pandemic situation and in accordance with the indications and recommendations by the Health Authorities, the Academic Administration of this Master’s Degree has agreed to temporarily transfer classroom activities to online teaching modality until the situation allows for group sports practices.

Learning Results

  • Developing the correct training programming and periodicity in high performance sport, as well as thoroughly quantifying the training load.
  • Designing optimal training adapted to the conditional capacities of each sport modality.
  • Identifying and discussing the risks of inadequate physical practices within the context of high performance.
  • Relating the functioning of the different physiological systems and structures during exercise and strengthening them in order to maximize the athlete’s performance.
  • Identifying and assessing the limiting physiological factors that determine the practice of sports in the field of training and competition.
  • Establishing and implementing guidelines to minimize potential limiting physiological factors during training and, specifically, during competition.
  • Using technological tools for high performance to assess an athlete’s physical condition, and for the prevention and rehabilitation of sports injuries.
  • Applying the most appropriate strategies and interventions for the functional valuation of an elite athlete.
  • Identifying the individual characteristics of the athlete that influence and determine their actions in sports.
  • Relating the biological and physiological factors that influence sports injuries.
  • Determining and implementing the most appropriate measures for reducing the risk of lesion in the field of sports.
  • Integrating the fundamentals of prescribing physical exercise during the process of sports rehabilitation.
  • Applying the techniques and protocols that enables you to act as a first responder before sports accidents or emergency situations resulting from the practice of a sport.
  • Detecting the psychological factors that influence high-level athletes during periods of pre-competition, competition and post-competition.
  • Recognizing the main psychological factors to keep in mind during a sports injury.
  • Identifying the influence of nutrition and food as a tool in improving the performance of an elite athlete.

Graduate Profile

A graduate in the Master in Sport Performance: Training and Functional Valuation will be able to perform, among others, the following posts or job functions:

  • Physical trainer for high-performance athletes.
  • Specialist in strength training and fitness in high performance sports.
  • Expert in the valuation, optimization and control of a high-performance athlete.
  • Analyst of the physical-sport performance for individual and team sports.
  • Technical analyst of a competition in a sport.
  • Physical trainer and physical-sport rehabilitator in multi-disciplinary centers.
  • Scientific-technical advisor for performance optimization in individual and team sports.
  • Researcher in the field of sport science and sport performance optimization.
  • Personal trainer in fitness and wellness centers aimed at the optimization of sports performance.

Degree

After completing the program, the student will obtain the MASTER IN SPORT PERFORMANCE: TRAINING AND FUNCTIONAL VALUATION, awarded by the European University of the Atlantic.

Study Programme

The Master in Sport Performance: Training and Functional Valuation, is composed of 60 ECTS credits distributed between the two semesters of a single academic year. The total number of credits is distributed between eleven subjects that include carrying out an internship (6 credits) and the Master’s Final Project (9 credits). The rest of the subjects, all mandatory, consist of 5 credits each.

Teaching Modality: Blended Learning

 

  SUBJECTS CREDITS NATURE
1st Semester Theory and Practice of Training 5 MAND
High Performance Physiology Physical Training 5 MAND
Motorization and Quantification for High Performance Training Load 5 MAND
Planning and Periodization Models in Sports Training 5 MAND
Athlete’s Functional Assessment 5 MAND
Strategies for the Prevention and Rehabilitation of Sports Injuries 5 MAND
2nd Semester Technological Instruments Applied to Training 5 MAND
Physiology in High Performance 5 MAND
Nutrition and Sports Performance 5 MAND
Supervised Face-to-face Internship 6 EI
Master’s Final Project 9 MFP
TOTAL 60 ETCS  

*The Iberoamerican University Foundation (FUNIBER) offers financial aid scholarships for this master.

This program has a blended learning structure, by which the student will combine the study of content and participation through the Virtual Campus and implement them during the face-to-face sessions that will take place at the University. In this way, the student will carry out classroom education for one month in which the key aspects of the different subjects of the program will be dealt with, addressed, and applied.

Because of the prevention measures adopted by the authorities due to the COVID-19 pandemic, classroom teaching will be adapted through a series of seminars and virtual workshops with top-level speakers.

 

Blended Learning Sessions:

Classroom sessions will be based on three main pillars: lectures relating to international level benchmarks, practices and workshops in small groups assessed by professors, and guided visits to related sports centers.

  • Classroom sessions will be led by recognized professionals at the international level, with extensive experience in both individual and team sports and who have managed athlete and team preparations to compete in the best competitions, such as at national and global championships, competitions in NBA, etc. In addition, these professionals have extensive research experience, as well as numerous invitations to congresses, conferences and presentations at the international level.
  • Practice classes and workshops in small groups, in which students must use the various tools available to the university to assess athletes, analyze actions, design, plan and execute proposals through practice simulations.
  • Visits to professional sports clubs and centers, in order to experience how to apply the contents and competences acquired in the Master into the real-world profession.

In this way, the student will have great prominence during the classroom attendance phase of this program, in order to meet any professional challenge in the athletic performance field.

Access Requirements

Requirements for admission for the master’s degree studies:

According to what is established in article 16 of the Royal Decree 1393/2007, as amended by the Royal Decree 861/2010, admission to these studies will be granted for students who meet either of the following conditions:

  • Be in possession of an official Spanish university undergraduate degree or any another degree issued by a higher education institution of the European Higher Education Area, which qualifies in the issuing country for admission to Master's degree studies.
  • Those students that hold an undergraduate degree not belonging to the educational systems of the European Higher Education Area can be admitted without the need for the accreditation of their degrees after the University has verified that they have an equivalent level of education to the corresponding Spanish official university undergraduate studies, and which allows admission to postgraduate studies. Admission in this way does not denote, in any case, the approval of the prior diploma held by the applicant, or its recognition for purposes other than enrolling in the master’s degree studies.
  • In the case of students with special educational needs arising from a disability, the need for possible curricular adaptations, itineraries or alternative studies.

Besides the legal requirements, to be admitted, the University requires you to:

  1. Demonstrate basic knowledge equivalent to the graduate level in the master’s academic field and in the following areas in particular: human anatomy and physiology, the biomechanics of human movement, the fundamentals of training and planning and high level physical training.

These academic requirements for admission shall be recognized by presenting academic documents that justify the completion of the corresponding degree (admission requirement) in which subjects from areas of knowledge related to those cited above have been studied. The student will prove, by showing the study plan or the subjects’ programs, to have previous knowledge in these areas, otherwise, the student will prove to have completed continuous, permanent, complementary or postgraduate training at an expertise level, to demonstrate a previous knowledge in the areas above.

Once these requirements are met, the admission process is done in two phases: preregistration and enrollment.

Student Profile

For the proposed master’s degree, having the following degrees from the list will be of special importance:

  • Bachelor’s / Graduate Degree in Sport and Physical Activity Science
  • Bachelor’s / Graduate Degree in Medicine
  • Graduate in Physiotherapy
  • Graduate in Primary Education (major in Physical Education)

Except for those Graduates from the Physical Activities and Sport Sciences, every other degree required for admittance into the Master requires the study of complementary subjects in order to comply with the admission requirements.

Admission Process

The admission process into the Master begins with the submission of the following documentation: via postal service or courier company to the Postgraduate Admission Section:

  • Completed Admission Application Form
  • Up-to-date resume
  • ID photocopy (only Spanish applicants), NIE or passport (only foreign applicants)
  • Academic record photocopy (completed studies or in the last year of studies)
  • Two color passport-sized photos.

Once the documentation is received, the Admissions Committee for the Master’s Degrees made up by the Academic Planning chief, the Admissions Department Management, the Master’s Degrees Academic Manager and two professors from the Master’s Degree will check that the diploma enables admission to the studies and will review the applications received in order to determine the applicants’ adequacy. In this admission phase, the following criteria will be considered:

  • Student’s academic record (80%)
  • Other merits related to the diploma’s field (scholarships and awards related to the diploma, postgraduate studies in similar studies, professional experience related to the diploma) (20%)

The Master’s Degree Academic Committee reserves the right to interview the applicants, in case they deem it necessary to complement the information stated in the submitted documentation. Once the applicant’s assessment and review has concluded, the Admissions Committee will approve or reject the application form.

The number of available seats offered is 90 students per group and call for each subject.

Once this phase is finished, the applicant is informed, via phone or e-mail, on the result of their admission process and the registration process, the documentation required, dully legalized if required by the nature of the documentation submitted, documents that have to be submitted to begin the preregistration process/place reservation, followed by the enrollment.