Question 1: Think of sports organizations with which you are familiar. What skills would be necessary to run a program in the follow categories?
- Program Management
- Event Management
- Financial Management
- Marketing Management
Answer 1:
The most popular sport happens to be the one I am most familiar with, football. I have in mind a big football team like Manchester United, the activities going on in a club of that magnitude are complex and need professional handling. Individuals tasked with certain tasks must possess some very specific skills in:
Program management
These are the skills employed in coordinating complex interdependencies among related inputs in a programme. The skills that would be required here include:
- Financial management skills that assist the manager in assessing financial risks, report on progress and evaluate the costs involved in the execution of the programme.
- Planning skills that include the initial steps in creation of a programme such as delegation of tasks to different team members in the achievement of the tasks intended
Event management
Event management skills would include skills that help in staging a successful event such as a highly anticipated cup final. The skills that would apply here include:
- Posses good communication skills used in communicating the various responsibilities for the various players in the event such as suppliers; and to give feedback on the standing of his work.
- Posses great organizational skills used in choreographing all the faces making a successful event. The manager must conceptualize the event in their mind in order to create it in reality.
Marketing management
- Posses analytical skills; marketing managers have to possess a good analytical mind in order to understand consumer behavior and preferences. This helps in determining the strategy employed in marketing the sport events of the club to viewers, such as subsidized season tickets for the ardent fan and a slightly expensive ticket for the one off viewer.
- Have critical thinking capabilities that apply in analyzing statements and situations and creating the necessary remedies for them. A critically thinking mind in sports marketing is necessary for instance in marketing a team that is experiencing a dip in form.
Financial management
- A financial manager must possess specialized job skills that may include financial accounting, skills in auditing and credit management. The management of finances for a big club like that requires professional handling owing to their complex nature
- A finance manager must possess leadership skills applicable in the overseeing finances of all the departments in the club. This requires leadership skills in involving the contribution of others
Question 2:
How has your life benefited from sport management thus far? Take a personal inventory of experiences, purchases, events, related to sport/ recreation in your life and briefly describe how you think sports management helped to make it a positive experience.
Answer 2:
Sport management is much similar to real life applications of management skills. However, sports management is tricky, as the product while being highly marketable, has got demanding clients than any other field. Involvement in sports management has enabled me to adapt working under pressure. The knock on effect on my life has been amazing as I do not get easily nervous and take time to analyze all situations before deciding on the action to take.
Question 3
In preparing for a career in Sports Management, what types of experiences would be useful to pursue during your undergraduate years?
The skills that I seek in undergraduate years in college must mimic the conditions I will experience in future. Active involvement in sports such as football in preferably a playing capacity helps in building interest in the game. Acquisition of technical skills in the management of sports is also another target I have. Understanding the mechanisms guiding the sport, such as the appropriate training regimes for athletes is another skill I would love to achieve. Application of these skills learnt in practice on an experiment basis either on my colleagues or me will help in modifying them and deriving suitable models for each unique case.
