Sports is now very rewarding and satisfying career option: Rajib Prakash Baruah

Do you have a passion for sports deep inside? If yes, then sports can lead you to a rewarding career opportunity in the days to come. While games and sports are still despised by many as wastage of time, energy and money, many also see it more as an entertainment to be watched, either in a stadium or on the television screen.

It is a fact that games and sports constitute an exciting and healthy pastime, leading to good health and physical strength, which in turn shapes a positive and attractive personality. Often, candidates appearing for a job interview get selected on the strength of a pleasing, positive and confidant personality attained through sports.

Majority people of our society – especially parents and job-aspiring youth – can at think only of the physical instructor or games teacher in schools as a sports career. And since one school keeps only one such teacher, people see very limited scope in sports teacher or physical instructor as a career.

But, in the recent times, sports has been slowly but steadily emerging as a very rewarding and satisfying career option. The typical games teacher had existed in India even when Mohandas Gandhi was a high school student. While the Alagappa College of Physical Education in Tamil Nadu, launched in 1956, is a pioneer, it was in 1961 that the government set up National Institute of Sports (NIS). In 1973 was renamed as Netaji Subhash National Institute of Sports (NSNIS).

The Ninth Asian Games held in New Delhi in 1982 however was the event which actually opened up the sports arena for the youth of this country as a virgin field for seeking a rewarding career. The Sports Authority of India, which has its roots in the organising committee of the 1982 Asiad, became a registered society by the Department of Sports of Government of India's Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports in 1984.

It was however the success of sports persons in the recent international sporting events that have brought the focus to sports careers. Today there are a number of universities and institutions across the country, both government as well as private, which offer a number of courses in the field of sports. They include both diploma and degree courses in various disciplines like Sports Coaching, Sports Medicine, Sports Management, Sports Business, Sports Science and Nutrition, Physical Education, Sports and Recreation Management and so on. People are also pursuing PhD research work in various areas and disciplines of sports.

When it comes to choosing an institution, there is no dearth of reputed ones. While Netaji Subhash National Institute of Sports obviously stands out, the list includes Indira Gandhi Institute of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, (New Delhi), Lakshmibai National Institute of Physical Education (Gwalior), Lakshmibai National College for Physical Education (Thiruvananthapuram), Tata Football Academy (Jamshedpur), National Cricket Academy (Bangalore), to name a few. In Assam, while Lakshmibai National Institute of Physical Education has a campus at Tapesia near Guwahati, Abhiruchi Institute of Physical Education in Guwahati is drawing students from all over the Northeast. The National Sports University, Manipur, set up in 2018, has four schools - School of Sports Science and Sports Medicine, School of Sports Management and Technology, School of Sports Education and School of Interdisciplinary Studies – offering both undergraduate and post-graduate courses. Dibrugarh University in 2009 opened a Centre for Studies in Physical Education and Sports, which offers a two-year Bachelor of Physical Education programme with an intake capacity of 100 students. The Government of Assam meanwhile has announced its decision to set up a Sports University, which will come up at Chabua near Dibrugarh.

Look at the various emerging career options for those having a diploma or degree in various sports disciplines. It includes teacher, coach, physical instructor, biomechanics, sports psychologist, sports trainer, sports journalist, sports photographer, commentator, personal trainer, health advice officer, health and public services leader, and so on. The sectors in which the new types of sports-related jobs and livelihood opportunities are gradually becoming available include sports associations, educational institutions, training and coaching centres, sports advertising companies, sports management companies, sports goods manufacturers, merchandising (retail) companies, and the media. There is also ample scope for the well-trained and professionally qualified youth to set up their own sports-related enterprises, which may include training centres, coaching institutes, gyms, sports goods outlets, health food dealership, to name a few.

With Sports Management emerging as a new career option, several universities and management schools across the country have started MBA courses in this area. Avenues for those doing a course in Sports Management include jobs in sports clubs, sports associations, public sector undertakings, and so on.

It is equally important to look at the entry levels into such institutions. While the plus-2 level is the most common eligibility criteria, aspirants can also join certain institutions after completion of a degree course. Those looking at sports medicine as a career however have to first obtain an MBBS degree.

Teaching yoga meanwhile has already established itself as a popular profession in demand, with thousands of people across the country earning a decent sum as yoga instructors. A yoga instructor not only teaches various yoga postures and breathing techniques (pranayama), but also acts as your guide to help you reach eternal harmony. Several institutions like Patanjali University, Dev Sanskriti Vishwavidyalaya, Gurukul Kangri Viswavidyalaya, Dr Hari Singh Gour University, SDM College of Naturopathy and Yogic Sciences, and Bihar School of Yoga have been imparting education to potential yoga teachers, many of whom have also found employment outside India. Going beyond the regular yoga instructor is the emerging profession of yoga therapist, who is in demand today as a medium to learn to control or cure ailments through the practice. Yoga therapists can find jobs in health centres and resorts and even at people's homes as a family yoga therapist. 

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