People always admire the lives of athletes and sports personnel since they are treated as celebrities. The media is always following athletes as if they are rock stars. Besides that, top brands approach famous athletes to endorse their products.
Billboards, magazines, TV advertisements, you name it. Of course, you’ll find the world’s top athletes everywhere. Imagine if you could witness all the fandom, luxurious lifestyle, and some of the top sporting events. Wouldn’t that be amazing? Of course, it would be.
You must be thinking, is that even possible? To experience all that, you don’t need to be an athlete. All you need to do is pursue a sports fraternity career.
Sports began as training for war and hunting. The ancient Olympics, dating back to Ancient Greece, around 3,000 years ago, were the first sporting competitions that included running, jumping and throwing. Sports evolved with time as new games were introduced, and old ones were modified as technology changed.
Later around the 18th and 19th centuries, more games were introduced, which included bats and balls such as cricket, basketball and football. Besides that, other individual physical sports were introduced, such as swimming, cycling and skiing.
In the current era, if you look around, several sports have evolved over the years. According to one website, more than 800 sports currently exist across the globe. Out of these, more than 200 sports are recognized, while others are not recognized on a global scale.
Initially, sports were played to help keep yourself physically fit. However, as the number of spectators kept increasing and the audience’s involvement increased, sports started to become a source of entertainment.
From there onwards, sports’ entertainment aspect kept growing, and every sport became commercialized. This improved the quality of games overall and increased competition. As a result, professionalism in sports increased.
People began to realize that pursuing sports is a full-time job and that a living can be made from it. From there onwards, athletes embraced sports as a career, and sports became a full-fledged industry.
The sports industry has kept growing with time. After the arrival of television, the sporting industry began to boom because all sports could be telecasted. This helped the sporting business to grow further.
Currently, the sports industry is generating revenue of approximately $354.96bn. However, this revenue is predicted to increase up to $707.84bn in 2026.
The sports industry earns revenue from sponsors, who invest a significant amount of money. Besides that, merchandising is a source that helps in generating money.
Another source of revenue is the tickets bought by spectators. All these revenue streams add up to a significant amount altogether.
To run such a big industry, people are required. Since the sports industry is so vast, people from almost every field are required in this industry, which is why great career opportunities exist for people who want to work within it.
Due to the massive size of the sports industry, many people choose to work within it. In 2021, almost 1.4 million people worked in the sports industry alone in the European Union.
A career is an occupation occupied by an individual for a certain period to earn money. Therefore, opting for the right career is very important for any individual. To choose the right career, two things should be considered.
First, it is essential to be interested in the field you want to pursue as a career. It is believed that you must follow your passion while selecting your career. Another factor that must be considered while selecting a career is the opportunity to generate sufficient income in that field.
People find careers in the sports fraternity attractive for several reasons. One of the key reasons people choose to work in the sports industry is that they are interested in sports. People often join those sports which interest them the most. Imagine working with your favorite team or somewhere close to your favorite sport; wouldn’t that be amazing?
Suppose you are working in the sports industry, in that case, you may interact with your favorite athletes at least once in your lifetime. If you are working personally with athletes or with the team, then to some extent, you also get to live the life they live.
These are some reasons that people consider pursuing a career in the sports fraternity. Now let’s proceed and look at the careers one can choose from to stay close to the athletes.
Athletic trainer
If you want to get close to athletes and interact with them, the best career for you would be to become an athletic trainer. Athletic trainers diagnose and treat injuries that can occur during training sessions, practices, games or other physical events and activities. They are the first medical professionals to provide aid when an injury occurs.
Athletic trainers also observe and track a player’s physical and mental state, in addition to identifying injuries and illnesses. They help athletes identify ways to prevent injury during training sessions, games, practices and other activities.
This career will help you to stay close to athletes since you’ll be their go-to person before and after every game. Demand for athletic trainers is relatively high in the market, so their earnings are also very high. However, to become an athletic trainer, you need to study sports injuries and an athlete’s body.
Coach
Becoming a coach isn’t just a way to travel and work but also a means to discover yourself. Coaches tend to be people who have an inner desire to excel and want to help others reach their full potential.
A sports coach is responsible for teaching athletes the skills and rules of a sport, emphasizing how to compete.
They also help players to grow as people. Additionally, a coach needs to develop a game strategy and organize practices. After reviewing performance data, coaches make game-time decisions, such as when to take players out of a game or during halftime.
Coaching careers are available at every level and age, including school sports, youth sports, private clubs, national leagues, college teams, and professional sports. Coaches may have to work in a variety of settings. For example, they may have to coach in private teaching clubs, schools, recreational leagues, or as the head coach of a soccer club.
To become a coach, you must have the leadership qualities to control and manage an individual or an entire team. You must also have nerves of steel so that you can keep your calm in tough times.
Exercise physiologist
Suppose you’re interested in medical science but enjoy sports and want to interact with athletes. In that case, you could choose to become an exercise physiologist.
Sports physiologists are experts in the human body and can help athletes avoid injuries by developing exercise programs. These professionals can also help to prevent overuse injuries by providing safety suggestions to athletes. In addition, their work with elite athletes helps to incorporate new ideas for improving overall health and performance.
The need for exercise physiologists is never ending since the number of physical sports and athletes has increased over the years. Exercise physiologists have really high pay due to the sensitive nature of their work.
If you plan to become an exercise physiologist, you can provide physiological services to athletes. However, you must remember that to do that, you must be ready to deal with athletes’ tantrums and mood swings.
Sports journalist
If you simply love the game and possess analytical skills, you could become a sports journalist. As a sports journalist, you will be responsible for writing and reporting about the latest sports events.
Being a sports journalist will also provide you with opportunities to interact with athletes and the management as you will also have to interview players and coaches during live games.
However, to become a sports journalist, you need to have knowledge and passion for sports because you will need to cover sports with enthusiasm. You must also have excellent verbal and written skills to present your analysis and interview different personalities.
If you want to become a sports journalist, you should consider enrolling in an online sports journalism graduate program to learn how to be successful in the future. These kinds of programs will open many doors for any graduates who decide to take advantage of what they have to offer.
Data analyst
If you possess skills in math or statistics and have a passion for sports, do not hesitate to join the sports industry immediately! Data is used in all industries to improve outcomes through predictive analytics. Similarly, the sports industry significantly relies on the predictions of sports analysts.
Analytics has now become a science and a fundamental tool for sports teams. Teams perform their own analytics, using different programs to track player performance or monitor opponents. In addition, data analysts help coaches to formulate new strategies by providing them with stats and required data.
Stats provided by data analysts help the coaches and management in the decision-making process. A sports analyst sits in the dressing room along with the coach and management. Since a data analyst is very much involved in the game by influencing the team’s decisions, the job can be very exciting.
However, to become a sports data analyst, it is essential to have a deep understanding of the sport. Data analysts must be able to analyze data very quickly and come up with suggestions based on the results.
Social media manager
If you aren’t interested in any of the careers discussed above and are only good at scrolling social media, congratulations! You can still work closely with athletes by managing their social media accounts.
Athletes often don’t have enough time to manage their social media accounts, so they hire social media managers who can regularly post on their behalf to stay relevant with their fans. If you can responsibly manage the social media accounts of prominent athletes, the job of social media manager might just be perfect for you.
Similar to other jobs, this job will also allow you to interact with a specific athlete. At times, you’ll be directed by the athlete on what to post. However, in order to become a successful social media manager, you must have good writing and communication skills.
You will need to deeply understand social media and its algorithms to increase the reach and followers of the athlete who has hired you.
Sports manager
Sports management is an exciting career that is focused on the business side of sports and recreation. It includes promotions and marketing, facility management, and event management. In addition, sports management professionals need skills in sports administration, financial management, public relations, and accounting.
The sports manager is the person who has overall responsibility for promoting the organization’s or individual’s interests and ensuring profitability. The job is usually done by someone working from an office, but you may also need to travel with the team or individual for events.
Both teams and individuals hire sports managers responsible for managing all the logistics, marketing, legal matters, and their public image. Managers are the closest people to an athlete or a team.
If you possess good management skills and are willing to take on heavy responsibilities, it is possible that you may enjoy being the sports manager of a renowned athlete or a team.
Photographer
This job is close to sports journalism since sports channels and media houses hire sports photographers to cover sports events or take photographs of sports personalities.
If you are good at photography and have a passion for sports, then sports photography could be the most suitable field for you. This field allows you to attend important sports events and stay close to athletes.
This is a relatively stress-free job since sports photographers are not involved in decision-making. If you love to travel, you should consider becoming a sports photographer as they travel to cover sports events around the globe. These are some of the factors that make the career of a sports photographer interesting.
Commentator
If you are a sports freak and love to talk, then I must congratulate you because you are the perfect candidate to become a sports commentator. A sports commentator is a person who covers live action. Their job is to describe the action so that all the listeners know what is happening.
Sports commentators are hired with generous salaries by sports organizations to cover sports events. To become a sports commentator, you must have a deep understanding and knowledge of the sport.
It is essential to have good analytical skills to draw comparisons and make predictions. One of the most essential things needed to become a sports commentator is good speaking and communication skills.
Sports commentators get to enjoy games since they get to attend them, and they also interact with athletes and coaches before and after the game.
Conclusion
Like actors, politicians and musicians, athletes are also considered celebrities. People love to meet and be around them because of the love of the sport and the glamour associated with them.
Today’s article discussed some of the career opportunities in the sports industry that would keep you close to the athletes. However, before discussing those opportunities, we shed some light on the history of sports and learned why it came into being around 3,000 years ago.
After that, we discussed how sports evolved over time and examined their significance in today’s world. We also discussed several career opportunities in the sports industry today since sports have now been commercialized and are considered a business.
We then discussed some of the career opportunities present in the sports industry through which it is possible to interact with athletes. Among those opportunities, we discussed that becoming an athletic trainer provides an opportunity to work with the athletes very closely.
People with a passion for medicine along with sports can become associated with athletes as exercise physiologists. On the other hand, if an individual doesn’t want to be involved with the game, they can pursue a career in sports photography.
Aside from these careers, other interesting careers were also discussed. We hope this article will help you decide which career to pursue.
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