A Career as a Professional
Athlete
Kruger van Wyk
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Being a professional athlete in today’s world where entertaining
is big business is an opportunity that looks very inviting to aspiring
professional athletes. Sport, over the last decades, has progressed
into the professional arena and the days of ‘a-kick-around’
and having a laugh when you play professional sport are long gone. Many
factors influence the life of a professional athlete and make it an
attractive career option for younger athletes. What follows below are
personal reflections and experiences from a professional sport career
spanning eight years.
Income potential
Lucrative television rights can be the professional athlete’s
best friend when it comes to generating huge amounts of money as the
profile of the sport itself, as well as that of the athlete, is raised
by television coverage. There could be countless opportunities for athletes
who are good enough to make a living out of sport. Professional sport
presents marketing and sponsoring opportunities to the athlete. Meeting
potential sponsors and marketers at high profile sport competitions
presents opportunities to “sell” yourself and create career
paths after professional sport. Astronomical salary tags attached to
highly successful professional athletes are huge draw cards for aspiring
athletes. This however could be a corrupting factor and the deals of
sports agents sometimes border on unethical. Spending time away from
one’s family can be testing and when a solid support base is lacking,
sacrifices to achieve personal goals might not seem worth the effort.
Transfer of skills
Globalisation has shrunk the world and international sport makes it
possible for athletes to compete on different continents and under different
conditions. Traveling to different continents presents opportunities
but also challenges to cope with diverse conditions and environments.
Competing in different countries brings you into contact with diverse
cultures and their approach to sport. Living abroad clearly teaches
the athletes life skills that are not only valuable in sport contexts
but also in everyday life, such as mastering a new language. Exposure
to different scientific dimensions of elite sport e.g. nutrition, psychology,
sponsorship, sport management and motor learning can be transferred
from the playing fields to coaching and the boardroom.
Challenges
Although professional sport as a career might seem very glamorous, athletes
have to deal with harsh realities. The biggest challenge professional
athletes probably have to face is injury, that could cause the end of
a lucrative career. A career in professional sport has a limited shelf
life and contracts are performance related. It is therefore essential
to set up a strategy for life after sport. Financial skills and business
knowledge become essential survival skills. Too many professional athletes
live in a cocoon and are under the impression that the good life will
last forever. This attitude clouds decision-making and the reality of
life-after-sport is not handled well. In professional sport, like in
most walks of life, it is survival of the fittest. Pressure unfortunately
ends a lot of very talented athletes’ careers. Pressure to perform
in front of thousands of spectators to secure a contract can influence
sustained performances at high levels.
Dealing with the media also poses a challenge to professional athletes.
The media can build an athlete up or criticize undeservingly. Fans and
supporters are necessary for professional sport to survive but it can
also be a threat to an athlete’s personal life. Being a professional
athlete becomes a way of life as your job goes with you wherever you
go. Being a role model requires constant responsible behavior.
The decision to turn professional
Aspiring athletes should be brutally honest to determine if they have
the potential and talent to excel in professional sport. Professional
sport can be a great career choice, as it is a career that tests human
character everyday but the satisfaction that comes from the career is
highly rewarding.
Contact
Kruger van Wyk
Captain, Canterbury Cricket team
Canterbury, New Zealand

http://www.icsspe.org/portal/index.php?w=1&z=5
A Career as a Professional
Athlete
Kruger van Wyk
|