Playing sports is a popular pastime. Weekend five-a-sides, park runs, tennis in the sun, and who doesn’t love an international championship of some kind? For many kids and adults alike, sports are an important part of their lives. For some, professional sports is the goal, but for many, this is unrealistic and not a consideration when it comes to careers.
However, loving sports and making it part of your career doesn’t mean you have to be a professional sports star. Sports and leisure are a huge industry, and you can forge a career in this field with other expertise. For one, any professional sports team needs marketing professionals, legal consultants, hospitality professionals, healthcare staff, and even tech support. So, if you’re a sports fan and dream of a career in sports, take a look at our rundown of fifteen professions you can consider.
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Why non-athlete careers in sports are thriving
Sports are big business, and that’s the point; it’s a business. Every football team, sports academy, or Olympic event is managed and promoted like any other business or event, and so professionals with all sorts of non-athletic skills are needed.
The more popular a sport or event is, the bigger the team that works alongside it. For example, when it comes to the Olympic Games, The International Olympics Committee (IOC) employs approximately 9,000 members of paid staff and 70,000 volunteers. These include staff in customer service, communications, public relations, healthcare, transport and logistics, marketing, tech support, and translation, to name a few.
Top careers in sports for non-athletes
No matter the sport, a team of professionals is required with skills beyond athletics. Sometimes this even extends to professionals who work alongside a specific sports star on commercialization and fan engagement.
We’ve put together a list of fifteen possible sports careers for non-athletes. If you love sports, there’s no need to let your lack of athletic ability hold you back.
Sports management and administration
Managing, coordinating, or improving sports programs and organizations is essential in growing and developing a field, club, or sports star’s reputation. Possible careers include:
- Operations manager: As a manager of operations for a sports event, you’re in charge of logistics, facilities, and resources. It’s your job to ensure that equipment is supplied, delivered, and assembled safely, that events are safe and secure, and that everything is within budget.
- Event coordinator: As an event coordinator, you’ll manage a particular event from start to finish, ensuring athletes are available and looked after, event security is in place, tickets are sold, press is managed, and that the day or match runs smoothly.
- Athletics director: In this role, you’ll work in elite athletic or sports-focused schools, overseeing sports programs and training, and the care of athletes in the program. You’ll hire and manage staff, manage events and resources, and secure funding.
Technology and analytics
Technology and sports go hand in hand, and you’ll find so many opportunities to combine your love for sports with skills and knowledge in technology. You could combine sports and game development or use your experience in analytics to work in sports betting. Possible career options include:
- Sports app developer: As an app developer with a love for sports, you can combine your skills and work as a sports app developer. Think fantasy football or sports betting apps and tools.
- E-sports game developer: E-sports game developers are skilled in game development, specifically in the sports industry. You’ll be an expert in how to create a competitive experience that’s realistic and smooth, with great game-play mechanics and believable players and scenarios.
- Sports betting analyst: A sports betting analyst works through betting data to discover trends and risks for betting companies and sportsbooks. You could find work with major racing and betting platforms such as TwinSpires that combine racing expertise with digital innovation in this way.
Marketing, branding, and sponsorships
Promotion, marketing, events, and securing sponsorships are big parts of competitive sports. With such popularity, these areas need reliable input from the following professionals:
- Sports engagement officer: In this role, you’ll build strong connections and relationships between fans and sports teams, individuals, or brands. You’ll run events and promotions to enhance fan loyalty, design and deliver social media campaigns, and initiate interactions with fans that sell tickets and products.
- Brand strategist: As a brand strategist in sports, you might work for a sports clothing or athletics brand, or you might work for a team or organization. Your role is to create and maintain a strong brand identity that runs through campaigns, products, and interactions.
- Sponsorship activation specialist: You’ll work with sponsors to ensure that you actively and effectively represent them through campaigns, advertising, social media, and events. The marketing initiatives you create must align with a sponsor’s ethos and messages.
Sports media and journalism
Sports media and journalism are huge industries, and with the advances in technology in recent years, the industry is changing. Social media and streaming platforms are now popular ways to view sports games, allowing sports broadcasters to make money in a wider capacity. Jobs to consider include:
- Sports journalist: Working as a sports journalist, you may have contracts with newspapers, online publications, or TV channels. You’ll summarize and analyze games, and report on footage and final scores.
- Sports photographer: As a photographer, you’ll take and edit photos and videos for major sports events and activities. You may work with sports brands, photographing their products and models, or you may take live footage of games and events.
- Content creator: YouTube and social media platforms have a growing number of sports influencers who provide “watch-alongs,” live chat, and behind the scenes footage. This is also a job you can do as a side hustle while working in a more traditional sports broadcasting role.
Health, fitness, and therapy
Sports professionals need to be healthy and fit to be on top of their game, so they need a team of health and fitness professionals to maintain their fitness level. Optimum health and fitness mean being physically fit, maintaining a good diet, and staying physically and mentally sound. You may look at the following jobs in this field:
- Physiotherapist: As a physiotherapist, you work with sports professionals who have been injured to help speed up their recovery. It also includes providing measures to prevent injury in the first place, which includes recommending appropriate warm-up exercises.
- Sports nutritionist: As a nutritionist to athletes, your role is to create a nutrition and diet plan to improve their health and support their fitness goals. For example, a bodybuilder would need a very different diet to a jockey. You’ll look at how a diet can best support relevant physical activity and performance.
- Sports psychologist: As a sports psychologist, it’s your job to support and coach athletes to perform better by focusing on good mental health and motivation to improve performance. You’ll use a range of cognitive behavioral techniques and growth mindset work to help athletes achieve their goals.
Notable skills that will help you succeed
To succeed in a career in sports, you’ll need to have an interest and passion for sports and fitness, as well as hard skills in the area you’re hoping to work in. For example, to work as a sports analyst, you’ll need analytical skills and probably a degree in computer science or something similar, as well as a love for sports.
In addition to these, you’ll need to be able to demonstrate your transferable or soft skills. These are advantages, like collaboration, communication skills, problem-solving abilities, decision-making, and leadership.
Tips for breaking into sports without playing
A career in sports, without playing or performing, largely depends on your skills in your field of interest. Working in sports is competitive, regardless of the area you choose. For example, sports journalism is hard to get into, so being experienced as a journalist is essential as a starting point.
To break into a particular sports, you need to show your commitment to it and your passion for it. Consider volunteering and attending events and conferences. Networking is a great way to find out about potential job vacancies. Sometimes it’s a case of “who you know,” or just asking around at the right time.
Once you have some experience, make sure you include it on your résumé or LinkedIn profile and highlight to employers how you can combine your love of sports with very specific skills in your industry of choice.
Steps to get you started:
- Take a degree or course in your chosen field
- Build your experience in your preferred sports or area
- Document your love of sports and spend time immersed in it
- Research ways to blend your industry with your passion for sports
- Network online and in person
- Create a CV and portfolio of your work
- Apply for your jobs
Closing thoughts
Working in sports is a competitive career path, but you don’t have to be a professional athlete to secure a job in this field. For many, working in sports is a dream, often written off due to a lack of physical or athletic ability. However, not being a professional-level sports person doesn’t need to be the end of your dream. Careers in sports are vast, and you’ll find opportunities in tech, broadcasting and media, health and fitness, nutrition, branding, marketing, sponsorship, management and administration, and even influencing.
This article is a complete update of an earlier version originally published in June 2018.