1. About sport and fitness management

Career opportunities exist in the private, public, education and voluntary sectors:

Private sector - fitness gym marketing and management (including gym chains), hotel and/or resort sports facility management, arena and stadia management, exhibition/conference/venue management, sport PR and media.

Public sector - local authority sport and leisure facility management, sport and community development roles, strategic planning of leisure, events management.

Education - sports facility management, teaching and lecturing.

Voluntary sector - working with national governing bodies of sport in sports development, administration, event management, sports club management.

2. Skills and experience

You need to have interest, enthusiasm, knowledge and work experience together with project management, leadership, financial, strategic and people management skills. Presentation and communication skills, including the ability to impress others and influence opinion, are all important factors that influence the development of the sport, fitness and leisure industry.

3. Opportunities for sport and fitness management in the South East

There are many opportunities for careers within sport and fitness management.  These cover a range of sports facilities but competition is intense and gaining professional qualifications as well as a degree is highly recommended.  The Institute of Sport and Recreation Management (ISRM) offer a number of relevant qualifications.

4. Entry level qualifications

Evidence of work experience and recommendations and references are required. Some awareness and understanding of how issues at national and local government levels impact on the industry is important. For example, obesity, heart disease and youth crime. Evidence and experience of working with people is also useful.

5. Where you can study

Courses differ from place to place... institutions normally develop and teach their own courses so the content and focus of each course can be very different. It pays to shop around!

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