Playing sports is one of the most fundamental activities in our American culture. From watching the latest NBA match-up to hosting friends for the big football game to attending a little league team meeting, Americans place a huge emphasis on the importance of playing, supporting, and encouraging athletes to excel in a variety of sports. According to the National Archives Museum, the power of sports has many applications. Sports unite people, teach values, and inspire hope and pride that goes beyond our understanding, empowering us to do and be more. Within the United States, sports have a powerful effect on how we communicate and bond with one another on what it means to be both an American and a global citizen. 

Being a sports fan doesn’t stop just there. In many cases, your love for sports can go beyond just watching and it can enter into new realms like coaching, administrating, and training students and professional athletes. But first, you need to understand what sports leadership is and how getting an educational degree in sports leadership can help you become a more effective leader. 

What is Sports Leadership?

Sports leadership is an area of study focused on guiding players to perform their best, regardless of the sport or obstacles before them. Housed within interdisciplinary programs like communications, business, kinesiology, nutrition, and psychology, sports leadership aims to assist people interested in taking their informal leadership skills to the next level to become more than just effective leaders but also successful managers. 

Whether you’re a coach or former college athlete, earning a degree in sports leadership is beneficial to those who already possess some leadership skills such as: 

• Teachable: The ability to teach and mentor others with ease, patience, interpersonal communication skills, and expert knowledge to explain complex information that’s easy for others to understand. 
• Active listening: The ability to hear, understand, and retain a message when others speak in order to ensure the other person feels heard and clearly understood from an emotional and mental perspective. 
• Decisive: The ability to decide quickly and confidently by informing everyone of your opinion and its reasoning as well as considering others’ viewpoints. 
• Giving: The ability to offer assistance without ulterior motives while recognizing what tasks need to be completed. 
• Understanding of broader goals: The ability to understand policies, goals, culture, and history of an organization or team to adhere to its development. 
• Relationship Builder: The ability to interact and make relationships with all sorts of people within the organization and team by building trust and loyalty among others. 

Why get a degree in Sports Leadership?

With an online Master of Science in Sports Leadership, you will learn a multitude of new skills related to communicating effectively with your teammates, players and partners, as well as integrating simple team management strategies, and comprehensive psychology-based principles to apply into your administrative duties for greater teamwork and growth. Through a set of core curriculum courses, you will also be able to identify and build off your existing skills to further evaluate ethical dilemmas and potential conflicts facing sports managers, demonstrate competency in designing research studies related to athletics, and understand the significance of assessing your team’s opinions, strengths, and weaknesses.

With three distinct concentrations, you can zone in on your specific educational or professional goals by increasing core analytical, nutritional, and administrative skills via courses related to problem-solving, decision-making, preventive care, and interpersonal communication – all geared toward making you a better athletic leader inside and out. These concentrations include: 

• Analytics: For those interested in increasing core data-centric skills related to situational analysis, problem-solving, and decision-making in the sports industry to further understand performance windows, the win/lose culture, and other sporting phenomenons. 
• Athletic Administration: For those interested in understanding the dynamics of interpersonal conflict, manage athletic finances, and develop a deeper appreciation for foundational leadership theories and applications for various settings. 
• Coaching: For those interested in the preventive care of athletic-related injuries, psychologically-based principles of coaching, nutritional science for exercise and sports, as well as applicable sports psychology theories and strategies.

In as little as 20 months, you can obtain a wide variety of abilities and applicable practices for any person interested in coaching or administrative work. 

What careers are available in Sports Leadership?

Whether you’re looking for ways to address the physical resources or financial aspects of sports leadership, getting your master’s degree in sports leadership can open doors for you in spaces, places, and job opportunities you’ve always dreamed of like: 

• Athletic Administrator: Oversees some of the most critical parts of a sports club, organization, or team. The position may involve hiring new staff, coaches, and player personnel as well as facilitating sponsorship deals, ordering new uniforms and equipment, and assisting in events. Base salary starts at $100K per year.

• Accounts Manager: Work with larger universities and professional sports teams to create partnerships with corporations to generate revenue through sponsorships, advertising, ticket purchases, suite rentals, and corporate events. Base salary starts at $68K per year. 

• Sports Agent: Work with athletes and determine the terms of salaries, performance bonuses, and endorsements. The position may also deal with the client’s finances, promotions, public relations appearances, and investments. Base salary starts at $59K per year. 

• Youth Sports Coordinator: Work with young athletes at a community sports club and manage game schedules, administration, and even serve as a coach. Base salary starts at $40K per year. 

Becoming a leader in the sports industry doesn’t need to start tomorrow – it can start today. Find out more about our program by visiting our website or giving us a call at 855-219-7300.