Example Career: Athletes and Sports Competitors

Career Description

Compete in athletic events.

What Job Titles Athletes and Sports Competitors Might Have

• Baseball Player
• Golf Professional
• Hockey Player
• Race Car Driver

What Athletes and Sports Competitors Do

• Assess performance following athletic competition, identifying strengths and weaknesses and making adjustments to improve future performance.
• Maintain equipment used in a particular sport.
• Attend scheduled practice or training sessions.
• Maintain optimum physical fitness levels by training regularly, following nutrition plans, or consulting with health professionals.
• Participate in athletic events or competitive sports, according to established rules and regulations.
• Exercise or practice under the direction of athletic trainers or professional coaches to develop skills, improve physical condition, or prepare for competitions.
• Receive instructions from coaches or other sports staff prior to events and discuss performance afterwards.
• Represent teams or professional sports clubs, performing such activities as meeting with members of the media, making speeches, or participating in charity events.
• Lead teams by serving as captain.

What Athletes and Sports Competitors Should Be Good At

• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Stamina - The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
• Gross Body Coordination - The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).

What Athletes and Sports Competitors Should Be Interested In

• Realistic - Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.

What Athletes and Sports Competitors Need to Learn

• Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Personnel and Human Resources - Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
• Communications and Media - Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
• Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
• Sales and Marketing - Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
• Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.