Responsibilities of a Sports Trainer
As a sports trainer you would not only be responsible for ensuring the physical fitness of your clients, but also ensure that they are getting mental benefits from the routine. Injuries are the biggest challenges faced by sports trainers. Hence, your responsibilities would be to understand the physical potential of the clients, and formulate a workout routine for them. Hence, you need to make sure that warm up exercises, nutritional eating habits, and regular exercises are done by the client.
As a sports and recreational trainer you can deal with a group of clients or be a personal trainer. In both cases, attention has to be paid to the abilities of the individual. Calculate the number of hours required by the player for practice, whether these hours should be increased, areas of weakness, how this can be improvised, etc. Your clients can include anyone from a professional athlete to somebody who plays sports for fun.
Your job responsibilities would include assessment, training, and prevention of injuries, and rehabilitation of musculoskeletal injuries. You are the first heath care provider to treat your client if an injury occurs. Your sports and recreation management job profile would include being a substitute for a physician, and thus recognizing and evaluating injuries. As a sports trainer your job responsibilities are slightly different from fitness trainers. You are not training your clients to be physically fit, but also ensure that they excel in certain sports without the risk of injury.
Athletic trainers often help prevent injuries by advising on the proper use of equipment and application of protective or injury-preventive devices such as tape, bandages, and braces. Injury prevention also often includes educating people on what they should do to avoid putting themselves at risk for injuries.
You would need to communicate regularly with physical practitioners to discuss about treatments. Implementing injury preventive methods, rehabilitation programs, along with provision of medical equipment would be your responsibility.
Educational Qualifications Required
To be a sports or fitness trainer, you would need a bachelor's degree from an accredited college. The academic requirements include both theoretical knowledge and clinical settings experiments. Some of the areas to be covered in your course include nutrition, human anatomy, physiology, and biomechanics. To qualify for higher level positions of trainers, a master degree may be mandatory, as this also increases opportunities for promotions.
Skills Required
As a sports trainer, you should be ready for long working hours, and occasional weekend breaks. Motivate your clients to attain higher fitness goals and focus on playing techniques. A fitness trainer provides clients with a blend of physical training routines, recreation and rejuvenation. Taking care of injuries requires presence of mind and the ability to perform quick actions. You need to communicate regularly with physical practitioners to discuss and administer treatments. You should be skilled in implementing injury preventive methods and rehabilitation programs, along with providing medical equipment.
Training and Prior Experience
Training for a sports and recreation trainer comes in the form of a 4 year degree, a certification from National Athletic Trainers Association or NATA, a cardio pulmonary resuscitation course from the local Red Cross etc. Aspiring trainers volunteer to help out the coaches and trainers when in high school. Trainers with work experience at the college level can make it to a professional team.
Employment Outlook
Prospects and Salaries
The career growth for sports and recreation trainers is expected to be better than other professions up to 2014, as competition in professional sports remains high. As a sports trainer you can expect to earn salaries between $25,000 and $30,000. Supervisors can expect salaries like $32,000 to $38,000 while recreation managers can earn anything from $50,000 to $60,000. Traveling is frequently required for the sports and recreation trainers.
Enjoy a career working with celebrities and players in the sports world. Your reputation is vital, as the job comes with its share of fame along with a lot of responsibility and management of injuries.
