Who is your favorite basketball team? Which college football team makes you cheer? Do you have a favorite golfer? And most importantly, do you love sports?
If the very idea of athletics gets your heart racing, then maybe you should consider a career in sports. After all, being an athlete is not a requirement. In fact, if you have an aptitude for business and affection for all things sports, you could have a successful career in sport administration. As for how to get started, sports administration graduate programs such as a Master of Science in Sport Administration online program are a good place.
What is sport administration?
A career in sports can take you many places, both figuratively and literally. When it comes to working on the administrative side of professional teams and collegiate athletic departments, qualified people evaluate and run the programs, improve efficiency within the organization and help maximize profits. There are also marketing needs, community outreach programs and even coordinating with city officials for large events.
Other sports fans end up working at or running country clubs as well as health and fitness clubs. These facilities require strong managers who can delegate tasks to a number of teams to maintain membership relationships, run programs, keep the facilities clean and safe and much more. It takes keen business sense and a high-level outlook to see the entire picture and maintain any athletic organization.
The academic side of sports
Your childhood experiences of T-ball or Pee Wee football may have taught you the basics of teamwork, but a graduate degree can introduce you to a whole new side of sports. In fact, sports administration graduate programs offer many helpful courses about the specific needs that sports teams and clubs have that other industries don’t. Programs like the online MS in Sport Administration offered through Arkansas State University also cover ethics, law and theory.
There are many benefits to earning a master’s degree online. For starters, the degree can be completed fairly quickly, oftentimes in as few as 12 months, from anywhere with an Internet connection. That’s in contrast to a traditional degree, which usually takes two years and requires students to attend classes in person. An online option means people with jobs or careers can keep working while they attend school on their own time. Time management skills like this are highly valued in the busy, oftentimes high-energy world of sports.
Online programs are also great for networking. Professors are valuable resources with many connections in the sports world. That’s in addition to other students who may also become valuable connections after graduation.
If you love sports, you can work in sports, and you never have to even play a game. Sports administration graduate programs can give you the business education you need with a specific focus on sports that helps graduates break into an exciting new career.
Learn more about the A-State online MS in Sport Administration program.
Sources:
http://www.workinsports.com/blog/how-to-turn-your-dead-end-job-into-a-sports-career/