Sports development officer : Career development

Sports development officers usually work in one of two fields:

• generic sports development;
• sport-specific posts: for example, a netball development officer or a Women into Sport initiative officer.

Those in generic posts can follow a route into the management of teams, then departments, or into promoted partnership or sport-specific posts, often within a local authority structure.

Sport-specific officers can progress into management posts, or policy and strategy based jobs, through local authorities, sports governing bodies or organisations such as Sport England .

Sports development officers may also become sport and leisure contractors or move into the management of health and fitness programmes.

Other areas for career development include community-related posts within local authority, regeneration projects, active schools or health education projects. Once in a large structure, such as a local authority, progression through management can involve taking on a more diverse remit, for example, culture and sport.