SPORT

SPORT

The Sports sector includes businesses that are involved in sport. These include sporting, physical well-being and recreational activities as well as the manufacture of sports goods.

Source: New Economy Manchester's Policy & Research Team

Key Statistics

Distribution of Employees in Sport

working within Greater Manchester, 2007

Employment Concentrations

based on numbers working in Sport in Greater Manchester, 2007

Large or significant Sport employers in Greater Manchester include:

Adidas (UK) Ltd - Sportswear manufacturers and wholesalers

Bolton Middlebrook Leisure Trust - Membership sports club

David Lloyd Leisure - Health club

Virgin Active Health Club - Health club

Lancashire County Cricket Club - Sports grounds and stadia

Manchester City Football Club - Football club

Mere Golf and Country Club - Golf and country club

Salford City Reds Rugby League Football Club - Rugby club

Total Fitness - Health club

Umbro International - Sportswear manufacturers and wholesalers

Source: Business Solutions, 2008

Employment Concentrations

based on numbers working in Sport in Greater Manchester, 2007

Forecast employment changes

in Sport in Greater Manchester, 2008-2013

Occupations include:

Conference and exhibition managers

Fitness instructors

Gardeners and groundsmen

Sports and leisure assistants

Sports coaches, instructors and officials

Sports players

Case Studies

As a sports coach, my role is to train athletes and teach athletic skills as well as provide general fitness training. It’s a demanding job – I have to be not only a teacher but a leader and a friend too. You really need to gain the respect of your athletes otherwise they won’t listen to you so it’s important to have strong leadership skills.

It really depends on what sport and age level you coach as to what other skills and experience you will need. Obviously coaching professional athletes will require a different skill-set to coaching an amateur hockey team.

It can be hard to move into the top positions because the best coaches rarely get fired or leave, so you often have to move around quite a bit. There are always opportunities to learn and lots of coaches go to conferences to learn new methods of fitness training and injury prevention, as well as to meet other professionals.

James Deer:

Age: 25

Athletic Trainer

Sport has always been a passion of mine although I decided early on that I did not want to be a professional athlete. So when I started researching other careers and found out about being an athletic trainer I was really keen to try it.

Trainers are always in the thick of the action, working with the athletes. Usually you’re the first person on the scene when something happens and you have to have very strong judgment to enable you to make split second decisions. I’ve been trained to splint a fracture, perform resuscitation (CPR), assess injuries and illnesses and help athletes in their recovery after an injury.

As well as helping when things have gone wrong, I also do work to prevent injuries and illnesses, doing things like strength training, exercise instruction, conditioning and general health maintenance.