Career opportunities  in Sports, Athletics and Physical fitness

Vijay Garg 

 

Gone are the days when sports and athletics were considered a recreational activity or a hobby inculcated in the children for the physical and mental growth. People used to play games just for the fun or at best for the pride of the area they represents even at state and national level. They love to play game than as a professional pursuit. While adopting a particular game they neither thought of making wealth in form of huge prize money nor the career out of it. S Venkat Raghvan, Jeffry Bycott, Chappel Brothers (Ian and Greg), Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri, Harsha Bhogla are names out of a long list of still active present and past sports persons who have not only created a respectable place for themselves because of their participation in the sports activities but also played a role in cultivating career in sports as one of the most lucrative options in India and abroad. Although cricket is considered second to none in India and most of other test playing countries, in terms of its popularity, there still exist people like Ronaldo, Kaka, Tiger Woods, Geet Sethi, Leander Peas, Varinder Singh and many more who have developed inclination towards other forms of sports as well, predominantly Boxing, Tennis, football and hockey. This has resulted in sports becoming one of the chosen career options in India. More and more academies are coming up especially dedicated to impart training in different types of sporting activities. In India, the Sports Authority of India (SAI) is the apex body that is bestowed with the responsibility of encouraging young talent to develop interest in sports and excel in their chosen sporting activities. Government and private academies functioning under SAI impart formal training in various sporting activities, to create sportspersons who can bring laurels to the country at national and international levels. This trend is not limited to the sports activities in fact same is applicable to athletics and other related events in the field. The traditional thought of sports as secondary thing to study has given way to the thinking that sports can also be at the driving seat as far as choosing a career in life is concerned. It is just because of this that

a number of government and private run sports and athletics institutes like Laxmi bai National Institute of Physical Education (Gwalior), MRF Pace Foundation (Chennai), Tata Football Academy (Jamshedpur), National Cricket Academy (Bangalore) and Netaji Subhash National Institute of Sports (Patiala) have come up in India to provide formal training. The aspirants can join these institutes after completing their basic academic qualifications such as 10+2 level with physical education / graduation with Physical education/post graduation in Physical education.

Sports have opened up many career opportunities for young talents in India. After acquiring training in various sports academies, one can opt for building career as sportsperson and play at college, University and state level first and then look for opportunities at the national and international levels.

 

Apart from serving as a player, an experienced sportsperson can also work as coach, team manager, fitness instructor, umpire or referee. Besides these options aspirants can also pursue career as an Athletic trainer which is considered as an allied health profession, wherein the trainer looks after the medical needs of injured athletes. The job of an athletic trainer is to prevent, diagnose injuries and provide correct and immediate medical aid using the skills and knowledge acquired in the field as a sportsperson.  The importance of the Athletic trainer is derived from the fact is that the success and safety of the team or individual largely depends on the efficiency of an efficient athletic trainer. Generally, athletic trainers are hired by professional sportspersons (individuals) or an entire team. A proficient athletic trainer is accountable for regaining the strength of the injured player(s). An athletic trainer guides the athletes about the correct use of equipments and imparts the correct methods of doing the exercises. Even the task of buying affordable equipments comes under his/her purview. He/she acts as a mediator between the doctor, the instructor and his family, in order to decide his return to practice and competition. Knowledge about first-aid medical treatment is necessary for the trainer. It is also well known fact that behind every successful athlete, there lies the hard work and dedication of a good athletic trainer. Thus he/she needs to be mentally and physically very strong, as he/she  is the one who has to work for long hours under extreme pressure to make the player fit  that too with in challenging time periods. Increase in inclination of the younger generation to words the sporting activities has widened the scope of opportunities for skilled and professionally trained athletic trainers, in India as well as abroad as one can assume the task of an athletic trainer in professional sports teams, industrial or corporate settings. Experienced athletic trainer can make their career as health educator or training specialist.

 

As far as financial aspect is concerned the remuneration of sportsperson totally depends upon the chosen sporting activity and talent of the person concerned. In the field of sports, what matters is not merely the number of years of experience in the field, but also the capability of the sportsperson to deliver excellent performance consistently at the national and International level. However for extraordinary players in any sports or athletics there in the stopping of the money flow even from the non sporting activities like endorsements etc even in some cases these non sporting inflow of money can well exceed then the actual  sports earning  but all these remain till the person is performing in his filed. Considering the extra ordinary money in the sports arena and lengthening of the career of the sports person in the form of jobs in the related fields like in coaching, managerial appointment in the sports related activities has made it a really  favorite career options among today’s budding  youngsters. The three main options that an aspirant can take in the field are:-

 

Pursue the sport or game on a full time basis generally with sponsorship from an employer/promoter/Government aid.

Become a trainer/instructor/coach for a game or sporting event.

Finally use the experience acquired over years as a sportsperson to work in a related field, such as, sports journalism, sports goods manufacture/marketing or as commentator.