About Sports Engineers

What do Sports Engineers Do?

Sports Engineers design and engineer sports equipment and facilities, training equipment, sports clothing, rehabilitation facilities used by sportspersons, orthopaedic appliances and high-performance human-machine systems.

Possible examples include:

• Development of advanced bicycles, shoes, wheelchairs, etc
• Analysis of the mechanics of tennis ball flight and bounce
• Optimisation of a racing yacht hull and rig
• Development of new sports court surfaces to improve performance and reduce injuries
• Optimisation of foot placement to improve kicking accuracy in soccer
• Application of damping technology in tennis rackets
• Development of force logging systems for rowing boats
• Improved suspension systems for Formula 1 racing cars
• Use of computational fluid dynamics to analyse swimming strokes and modify technique for faster times
• Design and manufacture of high performance golf clubs
• Development of high performance bindings and snow boards
• Improvement of orthopaedic aids for injured or disabled athletes
• Development of high performance surf boards, kite surfers and sails
• Development of high performance paragliders and hang gliders
• Development of high-performance human-machine interfaces for defence applications

Where do Sports Engineers Work?

Sports Engineer may work for sports organisations, institutes and companies, facility design companies, universities, orthopaedic and industrial design companies and defence organisations.

Graduates can work in both the sporting and engineering industries nationally and internationally, including:

• Sports organisations and elite sporting institutes
• Sports equipment manufacturing companies
• Sports clothing manufacturing companies
• Architecture and sports facility design companies
• Orthopaedic product companies
• Defence organisations and industries
• Industrial design consultants

Many opportunities are shown on the web page of the International Sports Engineering Association

Graduates may also be employed in more traditional Mechanical Engineering industries if they choose.