Professionals in the sports, physical activity and health sector need a variety of skills appropriate to the area in which they specialise. Areas of expertise can be within several areas for example preventing health issues, recovering from operations/disease such as cancer or for general well-being, health promotions through nutrition, physical activity and lifestyle choice and interventions within the community encouraging health and activity.
Knowledge, expertise and experience are needed along with the confidence and ability to convey information and advice clearly to the client or audience in an engaging manner. To be successful professionals need to be empathetic and listen to their clients in order to fully understand their needs, expectations and limitations. It is then expected that the individual tailors their approach with obtainable goals to suit the client and be adaptable and able to motivate even when the client has little enthusiasm to participate so that the client is more likely to reach their goals.
Similarly when promoting physical activity for health having knowledge, enthusiasm and awareness of the background research and evidence in the area being promoted is necessary in order to provide professional and up-to-date, accurate information. Any observations of success professionals in this field will find that they have the ability to get the information over to people clearly and at the level they require, while being able to build and maintain the audience’s interest and enthusiasm on the topic which is being promoted. This is key to help ensuring future participation and success.
Individuals who choose to specialise or help out with people recovering from illnesses such as cancer or from injuries or operations need a great deal of empathy, flexibility and an ability to adapt to the client’s limitations. It must be remembered that each individual’s needs must be taken into account., These include key factors such as age, fitness level and abilities in order to make each program specific and tailored to each individual’s needs and goals.
Within each area of expertise there will be guidelines and recommendations on how to be professional and successful. For example according to the IDEA Fitness Journal “hand-on coaching skills” and “people skills” are required to assist in becoming a successful personal trainer. Many skills such as the ones mentioned above are useful across the different areas and these skills help enable the trainer or health professional to build up a more personal and understanding relationship with their client, whilst maintaining a professional environment. Therefore making it more likely to lead to success. Quickly understanding and assessing what motivates the client is very important to enable the professional to keep them on track when their enthusiasm and motivation inevitably dips. Another important attribute is having the knowledge and expertise to understand what the client requires and how to deliver it to achieve the desired results.
Another important but often overlooked area within the sports, physical activity and health sector is the psychology of sports and exercise. “Exercise and physical activity can be related to a participant’s self-concept, self-esteem and self-efficacy” (Fox, 1998). An understanding of sports psychology theories and concepts can help professionals to identify and understand the psychological reasons why people behave around physical activity. For example, the theory of planned behaviour can help explain why some people do not participate in regular or any exercise (Conner and Norman, 2005) and can enable the professional to come up with strategies to overcome this psychological barrier.
Each area in the sports, physical activity and health sector requires the professional to “interact successfully with colleagues and other health workers” Dickson, D. (Ed.) (1997). All the areas in the sector interrelate with each other in some way so an interaction between the areas allows for success across all the sectors.
References
Luka H (Ed.) (2016) Fitness Jounal . (1st ed.) US: IDEA.
Conner and Norman, (2005) Predicting Health Behaviour. (2nd ed.) England: Open University Press.
Eleanor James 