Melton college partners with another top sports club for coaching course

SMB College Group, which has local campuses in the town and at Brooksby, has linked up with Leicester Riders Basketball Club to enable students to combine the sport with a level 3 college course in sports coaching and development, which is equivalent to studying three A Levels.

It follows similar partnerships with Leicester Tigers Rugby Club and League 2 football club, Mansfield Town, to offer coaching excellence in both of those sports together with academic learning qualifications.

The course with the basketball club, which is the country’s oldest professional club and who currently play home matches at the Morningside Arena in the city, will be based at the college’s 850-acre Brooksby campus.

The programme aims to give students the opportunity to develop vital career skills through sport, allowing them to benefit from a specialised timetable including their academic studies, basketball coaching, strength and conditioning sessions and performance analysis.

A wealth of transferrable skills will also be learned to set students up for progression into a career within sport or in a variety of other industries.

Andy Graham, director of curriculum at SMB College Group’s Brooksby Campus said: "Working with such an impressive and well-established organisation enables us to broaden the student experience, increasing the breadth of learning and sports that students can get involved with.

“Whilst students are now able to play basketball wrapped around a full time programme of study, this partnership has a particularly important focus on careers in elite sport and the transferable skills and advantages that this can give our students, no matter which industry they eventually choose to work in.

"Through working with Leicester Riders Foundation, we wanted to develop a course that will open the door to a career in sports for anyone, even if they have never picked up a basketball - and this programme does just that.

"We can’t wait to enrol our first students in September.”

Laura Shepherd, general manager at the Leicester Riders Foundation, which promotes the sport on behalf of the club, added: "We are delighted that we are able to partner with SMB College Group to provide an alternative pathway for those to wish to excel in a career in sport.

“It is so important to provide opportunities, and to highlight the importance of all roles and opportunities that are available within sport.

"The skills and attributes that can be developed by those who work in sport and coaching is a unique set of transferable skills that are valuable in a variety of roles and open the door to a wide variety of careers and opportunities.”

Students will study at the college’s £3.6million sports science complex at Brooksby, which includes a full-size sports hall, a strength and conditioning gym, an outdoor gym and sports science facilities with a range of performance analysis equipment.

Click HERE to find out more about the new course and the other courses offered by SMB College Group, which also includes Stephenson’s College at Coalville.