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What Is Sports Management
What Is Sports Management
Sport management is a field of education concerning the business aspects of sports and recreation. Some
examples of sport managers include the front office system in professional sports, college sports
managers, recreational sport managers, sports marketing, event management, facility management,
sports economics, sport finance, and sports information.
Sports management is a broad and highly competitive field that incorporates aspects of many different
areas, such as business, marketing and accounting. Public interest in health, fitness and spectator sports
has also increased over the years, making sports management a multibillion-dollar industry with a variety
of job opportunities for those with experience and education. Those who work in sports management
may find themselves performing various functions, such as working with the finances of an athletic
organization or creating marketing strategies. Professionals in sports management might work on
international sporting events or local, amateur ones. Other areas in sports management include college
or recreational sports management or sports economics.
Education
Many colleges and universities offer bachelors and master's degrees in sport management. A number of
classes outside of sport management may be relevant to the field, including classes in management,
marketing, business administration, and accounting. Internships may also open opportunities within the
field.
It would also be beneficial to identify what roles and responsibilities these individuals or organisations
currently have within school sport.
What?
When planning appropriate questions to include within an audit you must first consider what information
would be most useful to capture and have a clear understanding of your aim and chosen methodology.
The following areas may be useful to explore with individuals or organisations working on a school level:
If auditing organisations such as School Sport Associations or Governing Bodies, you may wish to include
the following topics:
Once audits have been completed and returned it is beneficial to measure the response rate of each
cohort. This will establish whether the information provided is representative across the local authority.
All the information captured can be collated to establish opportunities for development and mechanisms
of support required. From your audit report a list of recommendations can be produced and an action
plan agreed with roles and responsibilities for all key partners.
Organizational and planning structures
When planning the development of school sport it is beneficial to engage with existing groups or
organisations who work within school sport locally. If these do not exist, new groups can be created in
order to provide support, guidance and approval for developments moving forward.
Establishing new groups
Groups can be comprised of different representatives, examples of which are provided below. It is crucial
to consider the purpose behind inviting each individual onto the group and what their role or
responsibilities might involve.
Physical education staff
Other school sport delivers
Active Schools coordinators
Sports Development officers
Regional managers for individual sports
Club representatives
Examples of School Sport Planning Structures
A planning structure that has been successfully implemented in some local authorities is presented below.
This is a two tiered structure with a central School Sport Planning Group supported by several sport
specific sub groups.
School Sport
Planning
Group
Rugby Hockey
Netball Group
Group Group
Membership in each of these groups will be influenced by local infrastructure furthermore; the roles
and responsibilities of groups may be governed by local needs identified as part of the audit process.
In the case of developing league structures the above should be also be considered, in addition to the
competition structure that is being utilised. There are both advantages and disadvantages to each
structure.
Home and Away League – each team plays their competitors at home and away. This results in
equal “home advantage” but increases the cost of travel as each team plays each other twice.
Home or Away League – each team is drawn to play each other but this could be at home or away.
This reduces the number of fixtures and therefore the travel cost, but careful consideration should
be made to ensuring travel distances are as fair as possible when allocating venues.
Central Venue League – all teams play at the same venue and normally on a consistent evening
and time. This reduces organisational burden to schools if all fixtures are planned for the year.
However some schools may consistently have the most travel time and expense to attend the
venue. This structure is most suitable for a non-school venue so there is no facility burden for an
individual school.
Rotating Central Venue League – this allows all school teams to come together but within
different venues throughout the year. This will make travel more equal but consideration should
be paid to distributing the venues fairly and consistently. Consideration should also be made to
how many school venues have the facilities required to allow rotation of the league.
A variety of resources are required when planning and organizing a school sport event / league. These
include:
Entry forms
Information sheets
Fixture lists
Rules Sheets
Scoresheets
Risk Assessments
Promotion
There are various methods to promote school sport within your local authority. It is beneficial to collate a
calendar of events which includes local, regional and national events (as appropriate). When distributed
to all schools and partners it provides a useful resource and a method of promoting opportunities. Other
promotional tools you may wish to consider include:
Newsletters
Email & email alerts
Press releases
Websites – you may wish to explore whether your local authority offers website training courses
and if there are guidelines in place for the establishment of new sites.
Social Media – please explore your local authorities’ policies and procedures on the use of social
media.