With a huge variety of wonderful staff members and academics teaching our courses and shaping the futures of our students, we wanted to unpack their stories and discover how they got to where they are now.
Adam Kelly, Senior Lecturer and Course Leader for Sports Coaching and Physical Education, shares an insight into his career and work.
What do you do at BCU and how long have you been part of the University?
I joined BCU in January 2018 and am currently a senior lecturer and course leader for sports coaching and physical education. I am also a senior fellow of the Higher Education Academy, BASES accredited sport and exercise scientist, and UEFA A licensed coach. My research interests focus on organisational structures in youth sport to better understand the athlete development process and create more appropriate settings.
I currently have over 50 articles and book chapters alongside co-editing a book and journal editorial on birth advantages and relative age effects in sport. I am collaborating with a number of regional, national, and international professional sports clubs such as Warwickshire County Cricket Club, Worcestershire Warriors Rugby Club, Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club, and City of Birmingham Swimming Club, as well as national governing bodies such as the Royal Dutch Football Association, England Squash, and Basketball England, and more, to advance our understanding of their organisational structures within youth sport. Read more on my full staff profile.
Could you tell us about your experience and how this feeds into your course/teaching?
Before starting my role at BCU, I was the Head of Academy Sport Science at Exeter City Football Club. I completed my MSc and PhD at the University of Exeter during this time, with the latter focussed on the talent identification and development processes in youth football. First, my practical experience of working at a professional football club allows me to prepare students for real-life settings, with regards to how to work with young athletes. Second, my academic knowledge helps me embed theoretical content into sessions to allow students to better understand why certain approaches are used, which helps underpin students practical competencies.
Over the last four years, I have helped attain six collaboratively funded PhD studentships with industry leading organisations, including at Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club. Not only have these studentships created an opening for each postgraduate to begin their doctorate journey, but they also come with a number of other benefits, including informing contemporary teaching and learning strategies, undergraduate student placement opportunities within their respective organisations, and informing innovative applied practice. In addition to my PhD supervision, I have remained actively involved in my personal research dissemination as I seek to become a world-leading researcher within athlete development and youth sport.
What are some of the greatest achievements you have accomplished at BCU?
I was proudly crowned Researcher of the Year in 2021, which is a testament to the collaborative research I have been conducting with various sports clubs and national governing bodies. Helping inform evidence-based practice and organisational policies is central to my research focus. For instance, I have worked with my PhD student, Tom Brown, to explore the British South Asian talent pathway in collaboration with the ECB, Warwickshire County Cricket Club, and Essex County Cricket Club, in an attempt to better understand the journey from youth academy to senior professional level.
The impact of this project has led to BCU including it as one of seven case studies in their new 2025 advertising campaign, to highlight the University’s distinctiveness and impact to the wider world. This case study focused on how researchers at BCU are exposing racial disparities in sport from grassroots to the professional level, and illustrates how we brought to light the significant under-representation of British South Asian cricketers at the professional level in the UK.
Moreover, not only has this been disseminated through media outlets (e.g., Sky Sports, ESPN), but also helped inform policy change with the ECB as part of their new strategic plan as well as helping support Azim Rafiq as part of his recent parliamentary hearing on racism in cricket.
Sports Courses
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What makes the courses you teach on distinct and what is the learning environment like?
Our BSc (Hons) Sports Coaching and Physical Education has a ‘practice-led knowledge-applied’ philosophy, whereby students gain various practical experiences in real-life settings. Indeed, our course team believe sports coaching and physical education are practical disciplines and thus should be delivered in a practical way. For example, as soon as our level four (first year) students walk through the door at BCU, they will be designing, leading, and evaluating a range of sport festivals and competitions with local schools and organisations. This enables them to gain relevant practical experiences as soon as they arrive, to ensure they build up their competencies as sports coaches and physical education teachers for when they graduate and are readily employable.
We also embed compulsory placements modules at level five and level six, where students are placed at a sports organisation or school to gain the specialist knowledge and experience of their desired future employment. This helps gain necessary contacts and personal network, interpersonal skills such as confidence and communication, and builds a CV in preparation for employment or further postgraduate qualifications.
Why do you think Birmingham is a good place to study?
Birmingham is a fantastic place to study a sports related degree due to the range of professional sports clubs and organisations that are in the region. At BCU, we also have new, multi-million pound facilities to cater to our sports students’ needs and prepare them for placements and employment. We are partnered with many of these, including Warwickshire County Cricket Club, Worcestershire Warriors Rugby Club, Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club, City of Birmingham Swimming Club, and Sport Birmingham, amongst others. In addition to this, we are excited to be in a city that is hosting the 2022 Commonwealth Games. This has hosted a wide-range of opportunities for students, such as volunteering, watching the games on their doorstep, and being part of a long-lasting legacy.
More specifically, as part of our legacy, we are hosting the International Council for Coaching Excellence (ICCE) Global House Conference, which will be holding presentations and workshops from some of the world-leading academics and practitioners across the globe. This will instil BCU’s aspirations to be part of the regions legacy through promoting contemporary knowledge into practice at elite levels, as well as engaging with local communities to encourage sport, physical activity, and healthy lifestyles.
What can students do to help prepare them for the course(s) you teach?
Students stepping onto this course would have already gained foundational knowledge through a relevant sports qualification at college or sixth form. Students on this course are also encouraged to be actively involved in a sports club or school to support their practical learning during their degree, which is something they can start to consider before starting.
Through studying a BSc (Hons) Sports Coaching and Physical Education, students have a range of employment prospects moving forward, such as a community sports coach, school sport practitioner, high performance sports coach, sports development officer, as well as the option of stepping onto either our primary school specialist or secondary school specialist physical education PGCE to become a qualified teacher.
What’s your favourite thing about working at the University?
My favourite thing about working at BCU is the additional opportunities it creates for its staff and students. For instance, we have a Go Abroad scheme in the faculty to provide staff and students the option to study and work in another country. As an example, our BSc (Hons) Sports Coaching and Physical Education students and I are preparing for a BCU-funded trip to Canada this year to engage in a knowledge exchange with Queen’s University (teaching and learning) and Kleinberg Nobleton Soccer Club (practical coaching and teaching). Students will have the opportunity to engage in workshops, conferences, work-based learning, as well as social aspects such as meeting new colleagues, seeing new sites, and learning about the Canadian culture.
We have also had other students travel to Holland and Spain as part of this scheme, which is an exciting way to better understand different sociocultural environments within a sports coaching and physical education setting, whilst having a great social experience abroad!