The sports industry is a very vast and very exciting one. One might never think so if they based it on the way things are done in T&T. However, do not be swayed, for the level of professionalism and infrastructure that exists within the sports industry, if it is done right, is as sound and as established as any other industry. The only significant difference being that it is a relatively young industry. In a nutshell and very simply put, you can take any career or qualification in the “ordinary” or wider world and then add the word “sports” in front of it and find that there is role for it in the sports industry.
For instance: • Sports medicine—Probably the most commonly known area. It includes professions such as rehabilitation and orthopaedics, athletic training, sports psychology and sports nutrition. • Sports business/administration— Careers in this stem from coaching and refereeing, to positions of athletic director which oversee entire athletic programmes for Universities or high schools. • Sports engineering —It involves the application of technology, scientific principles of physics, math and such to come up with unique designs of sporting goods and equipment, even the electronic games and computerised training devices such as motion analysis. • Sports media—Extends to area of reporting, broadcasting, writing, editing, marketing and public relations.
Other specialty areas will include sports management and finance, sports law, sports statistics, and such.
Each specialty area has its own professional organisation under which that particular industry’s standards adhere to. When deciding on an institute to pursue your studies, it is very important to note whether the institute is accredited by the governing body in the field of choice. Failing that, the degree will carry very limited credibility and/or the individual will be made to take some additional courses recognised by the sanctioning body, prior to being able to sit any exam that will embrace them on a national level. My bachelors is in athletic training but my masters degree is in sports and fitness management with a concentration in athletic administration. People have asked, “What can a person do with a masters degree such as that?”
Admittedly, the answer to that question is relative to the location, environment and cultural setting within which it is asked. In Trinidad, and even worse in Tobago, the opportunities are few and the financial reward is generally mediocre at best. However, in first-world countries, specialists in the field of sports and physical activity have a place. Earnings can range vastly but at least there is structure and something to aim for, whether you are a curator, equipment manager, sports reporter, strength trainer, or an agent. Not to provide false hopes to any readers, should you or your child choose to study something like sports management, particularly at the bachelor’s level in the USA, the chance of acquiring a work permit beyond the one-year optional practical training (OPT) is typically likely to be slim to none.
The safest bet is to either: (1) Get into one of the more scientific fields of sports medicine and/or sports engineering if there are intentions to remain in a first-world country or; (2) Commit to a double major or some other major with a sport specific concentration, such programmes do exist. This will keep your skills more versatile and make you more marketable after studying. The reason for this is that foreign candidates compete with candidates from within the local brain pool, who will always be the first preference and understandably so. Our system here at home is structured the same way. One individual I know, a passionate and extremely talented football player, but whose parents pushed him more in the direction of academia than athletics while growing up, shared a passion in media which was what he decidedly pursued at tertiary level.
Of Ghanaian descent but living in England, he scourged a path that allowed him to make full-circle and come back to his first love, football, creating (but not limited to) commercials that target and appeal heavily to the football market. A true entrepreneur, he has found ways to propel himself in his marketing industry but stay close to sport, fitness and football. Be inspired by such possibilities and realise that as Trinbagonians there is a huge need to build out our sports industry so that that we can begin to truly harvest the natural talent we produce here. There are a few people returning home with the relevant qualifications but there is room for many more. The environment in the local sports industry is not yet where it needs to be and it shows in our performances at competition.
Source: www.guardian.co.tt
By Asha De Freitas-Moseley