Six years ago on a snow-blown college football field, halfway into that dream, you used your stunning speed in a tight end pattern, cutting hard, and WHAM! You took a blindside hit that felt like you’d stepped in front of a bus.

White light filled your world, and when you tried to stand up, your right leg folded under you. Like jello. At first you lay there and felt nothing… but you looked up and saw the shock on your teammates faces.

The knee was shattered. An injury that would forever change your life. The dream gone. No more the star running back, not for you. Never again. Three surgeries, before you could even walk again. Then all the therapy. And your hunger for football.

You thought your life was over. You cried when you were alone. The old dream was gone. Gradually you realized, that dream had been a boy’s dream.

And now you needed the dream of a man. So you grew up.

Three years later you attended the USA Football – Pittsburgh Steelers Coaching School.

Now you are a coach. A high school coach, and it’s a life more rich and deep than you’d ever dreamed of. The lives of 46 players and 5 assistant coaches are in your hands. You are paid by the county school system as a teacher.

And you do teach— two things: football and life.

Football is a medium you use to try and teach the kids about overcoming adversity, never giving up and always holding onto hope. You are a father figure to some of the boys from single parent homes. And some with both parents, with even worse problems.

You work hard for their wins, but you work harder to be someone that they can look up to. And you work hard to be fair.

Now you can hardly separate your football coaching from your life coaching. And you have gained personal inner strength from this, maybe more than any of your players ever has. The injury that you once raged about now seems like the biggest opportunity you ever had.

You are a coach.

Mentor, godfather, strategist, psychologist, brother, counselor, life coach, football coach. You share advice, offer guidance, help make plans. You hold people accountable for taking action. More than all of this, you work hardest to be the man you never realized you could be.

Many people hire a health coach to help you with health and fitness goals, like a personal trainer. Other people hire a business coach to help them build or grow a business plan. Some hire a productivity coach to help them get organized and increase productivity.

You are all of those, and more. Maybe some day you’ll work as a life coach. Coaching football has certainly prepared you for an anything.

The odds have been long and the road a rocky one full of surprises.

Some of those who participate in amateur sports dream of becoming paid professional athletes, coaches, or sports officials, but very few beat the long and daunting odds of making a full-time living from professional athletics. Those athletes who make it to the professional level find that careers are short and jobs are insecure. Even though the chances of employment as a professional athlete are slim, there are many opportunities for at least a part-time job as a coach, instructor, referee, or umpire in amateur athletics or in high school, college, or university sports.

Coaches of individuals— sports instructors— may teach professional and nonprofessional athletes individually. They organize, instruct, train, and lead athletes in indoor and outdoor sports such as bowling, tennis, golf, and swimming. Because activities are as diverse as weight lifting, gymnastics, scuba diving, and karate, instructors tend to specialize in one or a few activities.

Coaches and sports instructors sometimes differ in their approaches to athletes because of the focus of their work. For example, while coaches manage the team during a game to optimize its chance for victory, sports instructors—such as those who work for professional tennis players—often are not permitted to instruct their athletes during competition. Sports instructors spend more of their time with athletes working one-on-one, which permits them to design customized training programs for each individual. Motivating athletes to play hard challenges most coaches and sports instructors but is vital for the athlete’s success.

Education and training requirements for coaches vary greatly by the level and type of sport. Regardless of the sport or occupation, these jobs require immense overall knowledge of the game, usually acquired through years of experience at lower levels.

Becoming a professional coach is the culmination of years of effort.

Head coaches at public secondary schools (and sports instructors at all levels) usually must have a bachelor’s degree. For high school coaching and sports instructor jobs, schools usually prefer to hire teachers willing to take on the jobs part time. If no suitable teacher is found, schools hire someone from outside.

Those who are not teachers must meet State requirements for certification to become a head coach. Certification, however, may not be required for coaching and sports instructor jobs in private schools.

Degree programs—- specifically related to coaching— include exercise and sports science, physiology, kinesiology, nutrition and fitness, physical education, and sports medicine.

Many coaches begin their careers as assistant coaches to gain the knowledge and experience needed to become a head coach.

Head coaches at large schools that strive to compete at the highest levels of a sport require substantial experience as a head coach at another school or as an assistant coach. To reach the ranks of professional coaching, a person usually needs years of coaching experience and a winning record in the lower ranks.

Athletes, coaches, umpires, and related workers held about 253,000 jobs in 2006.
Coaches and scouts held 217,000 jobs;
athletes, 18,000;
and umpires, referees, and other sports officials, 19,000.

Among those employed in wage and salary jobs, 47 percent held jobs in public and private educational services. About 13 percent worked in amusement, gambling, and recreation industries, including golf and tennis clubs, gymnasiums, health clubs, judo and karate schools, riding stables, swim clubs, and other sports and recreation facilities. Another six percent worked in the spectator sports industry.

About 1 out of 5 workers in this occupation was self-employed, earning prize money or fees for lessons, scouting, or officiating assignments. Many other coaches and sports officials, although technically not self-employed, have such irregular or tenuous working arrangements that their working conditions resemble those of self-employment.

Employment of athletes, coaches, umpires, and related workers is expected to grow faster than the average for all occupations through 2016.

Very tough competition is expected for jobs at the highest levels of sports. Employment of athletes, coaches, umpires, and related workers is expected to increase by 15 percent from 2006 to 2016, which is faster than the average for all occupations.

Employment of coaches and instructors will increase with expansion of school and college athletic programs, and growing demand for private sports instruction. Persons who are State-certified to teach academic subjects in addition to physical education are likely to have the best prospects for obtaining coaching and instructor jobs.

The need to replace the many high school coaches who change occupations or leave the labor force entirely also will provide some coaching opportunities. Opportunities should be best for persons seeking part-time umpire, referee, and other sports official jobs at the high school level.

Competition is expected for higher paying coaching positions at the college level— and will be even greater for jobs in professional sports.

Median annual wage and salary earnings of athletes were $41,060 in May 2006. However, the highest paid professional coaches earn much more.

Earnings vary by level of education, certification, and geographic region. Some instructors and coaches are paid a salary, while others may be paid by the hour, per session, or based on the number of participants.

If athletics has been important in your life, and you want to dedicate your extensive knowledge of physiology and sports, to instruct and inform and encourage sports participants, coaching may be your destiny.

Get that degree in exercise science, sports science, physiology, kinesiology, nutrition, fitness, physical education, or sports medicine.

A great coach will grow beyond what he/she is, into what they can be, and their players will grow with them, like an extended family.

Learn everything you can, and give it all you have to give…

Because that’s what coaches do!

For more information about exercise science, sports science, physiology, kinesiology, nutrition, fitness, physical education, or sports medicine, contact your local university, or search GRAD2B for the many Online Universities offering such degree programs.

For information about sports officiating for team and individual sports, contact:

• National Association of Sports Officials, 2017 Lathrop Ave., Racine, WI 53405. http://www.naso.org

For more information about certification of tennis instructors and coaches, contact:

• Professional Tennis Registry, P.O. Box 4739, Hilton Head Island, SC 29938. http://www.ptrtennis.org
• U.S. Professional Tennis Association, 3535 Briarpark Dr., Suite One, Houston, TX 77042. http://www.uspta.org