I think most people would agree that becoming a professional sports player is a long shot career goal. But with experience, talent, and hard work, there are plenty of viable careers in sports for non athletes including coaching, officiating, broadcasting, writing and more! Today, we’ll be taking a look at some of the opportunities available to those that didn’t spend their high schools in their local gym.
Sports therapist
Sports therapists help people recover from an injury and get back into sports, essentially they’re the physical therapist, and chiropractor of the sports world. Sports therapists work with athletes who are injured to get them back on their feet faster than possible if it were up to them alone. You’ll need a lot of experience in physical therapy to be able to do this.
Sports medicine is usually one part of a bigger education and encompasses a wide variety of things. It can include planning for workouts that prevent injuries, looking past injuries at rehabilitation and prevention, or even working with doctors on surgeries after major injuries occur.
A doctor; but for athletes.
Referees
Sports are inherently about competition, arguing and conflict, and referees are the ones who learn to deal with the unending disputes over balls, goals, pass interference and more. Referees have a hard job even without bad behavior from coaches and spectators.
You’ll need to know the rules of the game, be able to analyze a situation and make the right call, and have a good knowledge of sports.
Groundskeeper
The field you play on may not be made of grass or dirt, but it still needs to be maintained. Someone will have to clean up the field after a game if it was played. Some people might even play on mud fields or other surfaces that can get dirty during a game.
Someone who loves working outside will be perfectly suited for this position. You’ll need to know how to work with your hands in order to clear up the field quickly after a game is over and replace stakes or repair dug up areas in between games.
The stadium is important to the teams and the town it’s in. You’ll be responsible for keeping it in good repair, making sure everything works, and making it ready for the big game. The stadium experience is a big part of sports, and you might find yourself planning how to improve stadium goers experience on a regular basis.
You need to know about sports events planning and how to get things like tickets and concessions out of the way quickly, especially when you’re talking about huge crowds of people at big events like a Super Bowl or World Cup final.
Journalist
Sports journalist normally cover news and events at local or national level. They assemble a story based on what happens during games and interviews with coaches, players or management teams.
Journalists can make a career just as exciting as athletes do if they’re good at what they do. This means they get to travel around the country doing amazing things that most people probably dream of doing.
Sports writing is a pretty competitive field, so you’ll need to have plenty of writing experience and talent before you apply for this job. Many journalists are former athletes themselves, so it’s easier to get in if you have some knowledge from being on the inside.
Sports nutritionist
If someone were to ask what they should be eating in order to play sports, how would you answer them? It’s easy to eat the wrong things and not realize that it’s having a bad effect on your athletic performance until it’s too late.
A sports nutritionist has the knowledge of what foods help an athlete become stronger and faster, or prevent injuries from occurring at all.
Sports nutritionists are also very important to the athletic training staff. They make sure athletes eat right and get the proper exercise in order to play sports.
Sports psychologist
A sports psychologist is like a life coach for athletes who are having problems. Usually it’s because of their sport, but sometimes it can just be their personal life for whatever reason. A good psychologist is trained to identify what kind of issues a person might have, and help them deal with it through therapy or other methods.
Being a psychologist isn’t easy, you have to have your own private practice and charge by the hour to pay for your education and experience in order to work with people as a sports psychologist.
Sports analysts
Sports analysts study the game of sports. They are responsible for gathering and analyzing stats, trends, and other things that lead to the end result of a game or even season. An analyst may work with journalists to help them better understand the game, or they may even be hired by the teams themselves to give reports on games.
It’s important that you have a good amount of knowledge in sports analysis because it’s very competitive. You’ll need to know all the different stats, how to run statistical programs, and how to present your findings in an appealing way such as on television. They work with gamblers and tipsters at the best betting sites in Nigeria to help make predictions.
Equipment manager
If you play a sport that involves traditional sports equipment like basketball, baseball or football, you should know that all of the equipment for the team and for each player is handled solely by someone else. The job of equipment manager is mostly about cleaning and maintaining everything that comes into contact with a person for their performance in sports. It also includes the maintenance of the weight room, locker rooms and training facilities as well.
There are some equipment managers that focus on a single sport, like a hockey equipment manager who just handles the equipment for their favorite team. It’s an important job that has to be done well because it means a lot to the athletes and their performance in sports.
Find out what exact attributes you need when looking at jobs like this one.
Personal trainer
A personal trainer can help people get stronger and more comfortable with just about any type of workout routine in a short amount of time. They’re good at designing workouts to help people feel better about themselves after working out, or get past injuries that have plagued them for years.