Introduction

The OpenLearn Sport and Fitness Hub is a collection of free resources – courses, articles, interactives and videos – that explore many themes within sport and fitness.

The Open University has offered formal learning in sport and fitness since 2008 and has also offered free learning through OpenLearn during this time. OpenLearn content has been developed to provide taster materials for potential new students, as a means of stimulating interest in sport and fitness and sharing the academic research and teaching interests of the academics who work on the sport and fitness qualification.

This hub was launched in October 2024 to support the Sport and Fitness Conference ‘Embedding Children’s Rights into Sport and Fitness’. It brings together existing content that is still relevant today and will be continually added to, reflecting new research and developments in sport and fitness.

Who is it for?

The hub is designed for anyone who has a passion for sport and an enquiring mind to find out more about it. For the curious, the content can provide a deeper understanding of sports performance and the many factors that influence success in sport and fitness. For existing sport and fitness students it acts as value added to their degree study; it supplements some of the subject areas they have studied and presents content around new areas. The materials can also act as Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for people working in sport and fitness who need to find out more about specific areas of knowledge and skill development.

What is in it?

There is a vast range of content with some written around specific themes and other content that was designed to support significant events, such as the Olympic Games and other international sporting competitions. Among the themes there is content around women in sport and how to support female athletes, and many aspects of sport psychology including burnout, resilience and the psychological aspects of sports injury. There is also content about fitness training, sports coaching and sociocultural issues in sport, such as inclusivity and disability sports. Increasingly we are developing content around employability in sport and fitness occupations to help support those already in the workplace.

The Stade de France during the 2024 Olympics in ParisShow descriptionA photograph of a stadium with a crowd of people outside it.

What are the different resources and how long do they take to study?

The resources vary, from articles that might take as little as five minutes to read, up to badged courses that take up to 24 hours to study. When you select a resource it will tell you how long you might expect to spend on it. These are estimations and you may choose to spend less time and focus on certain parts of a resource that interest you. There are no time limits, so you can study at a pace that suits you. There are visual resources as well in the form of interactives where you can choose your route through the content as well as videos and animations that explain specific subjects.

So please dive in and see what you can find that stimulates your interest!