Considering a career in sports?

Step 1. Ask yourself these questions to help chart your course. Don’t just think the answers. Write your answers.

• What can I do? (what skills do I like to use?)
• What do I want to do? (what energizes me? what am I passionate about doing?)
• Who do I want to do it for? (what environment do I like or find interesting?)

Step 2. Think broadly (a.k.a. outside the box). The career path and job opportunity that is right for you may not even exist yet. Here are some areas in health and wellness that offer lots of places to look.

Step 3. Consider a career in Athletics and Sport. If you have loved your sport and it has taught you a lot about life, why not seek a career helping others find the love you have found? Here are some possibilities:

Sport Management 

• Administration of Amateur Athletics
  • Olympic
  • Intercollegiate
  • High School
  • Youth
• Administration of Professional Teams and Leagues
  • Player Personnel
  • Business Operations
• Public Relations
• Sales
• Marketing and Promotions
• Ticketing and Seat Management
• Facilities Management
• Event Coordination
• Program Coordination
• Fund Raising
• Sponsorship Sales
• Sport Information
• Athlete Representation

Sporting Goods and Sports Merchandising 

• Product Development
• Product Distribution
• Sales and Marketing
• Brand/Product Representation
• Store Management
• Internet Sales

Sports Media

• Journalism
• Broadcasting
• Photojournalism
• Sport Information
• Advertising Sales

Exercise Science

• Research
• Teaching
• Assessment and Evaluation
• Program Development
• Athletic Training
• Personal Training
• Rehabilitation
• Strength and Conditioning
• Health Club Management
• Group Fitness Instruction
• Sport Medicine
• Physical Therapy

Physical Education

• Teaching
• Research
• Adaptive Physical Education
• Recreational Sport Administration

Coaching

• Professional Player Personnel
• College and Universities
• High School, Public and Private
• Youth Sport

Officiating

• Refereeing
• Umpiring
• Line Judging

Sport Psychology

• Teaching
• Research
• Consultation
• Performance Enhancement

Exercise and Health Psychology or Health Promotion

• Teaching
• Research
• Health Promotion
• Primary Care
• Inpatient Medical
• Specialized Health Care

Step 4. Meet and ask questions of people working in the fields you want to go into.

Step 5. Get hands on experience by shadowing, interning, or apprenticing at a place of employment where you would consider working. Challenge yourself. If you find a workplace that is NOT a good fit, chalk it up as a success and not a failure. Draw a line through it and move on to another opportunity.

Good luck. We’re rooting for you! Please contact me with questions about pursuing a career in health, fitness and sports.

Here are some links (courtesy of the William & Mary career center) to listings for careers in a variety of health, wellness, exercise and sports fields.

• Kinesiology (including physical fitness, exercise science, sports medicine, PT, OT)
• Athletics and Sport (including sport management, sport media, PE, coaching)
• Nutrition and Food Science
• Medical fields (including medicine, dentistry, podiatry, chiropractic, pharmacy)
• Sport Management (including amateur and professional athletics, facilities, events)
• and Health and Wellness (which spans many fields you may want to consider)