Coaches Future career

[Shatha Mohammed]

If I want to be a (gymnastic) coach, which major should I go for in college/university?

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Psychology

But I also recommend against planning your college major around a coaching career. Mainly because I don't recommend coaching as a full time career.

 

[Aussie_coach]

Physical education teacher perhaps. Then if you don’t end up wanting to coach gymnastics for your whole life you can also go into education, if your passion is helping kids develop.

But as Geoffrey Taucer says, this isn’t the worlds most lucrative career, nor is it terribly stable. I own a large gymnastics club as well as head coach so if that is your goal, it can be very financially rewarding it be prepared to eat, sleep and live your gym. But most of our coaches work part time and it’s often a job they do while studying.

 

[Shatha Mohammed]

Tbh actually my goal is to have my own gym (because here in my country we do have a lot of gymnastics club/gym) but I’m so scared and worried about everything because that will be my only financial income, (I’ll graduate college as a coach) Do you recommend this idea (having your own gym/club) I mean can you talk about you Experience in having a club?

 

[Aussie_coach]

I coached and managed gyms for many years before I owned a gym. Many skills to learn first.

Also there is quite an initial financial outlay. Whether you are going to buy an existing gym or purchase equipment and start from scratch you need money to start. It’s very unusual to have the means to set up a gym straight up. You will need a source of good income to get you there.

Most businesses take a period of around 5 years of operation before they start to draw a profit, so you either need a lot of savings, a supportive partner or another job to tide you over while your gym is building.

If you have the skills it can become very financially rewarding down the track. My gym built quickly and earned good money very quickly but that was after years and years of developing my coaching and management skills in other environments.

If you love it, it is a magical career, but it takes a lot of time and there are personal sacrifices. I had to make the choice not to have any children of my own.

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Tbh actually my goal is to have my own gym (because here in my country we do have a lot of gymnastics club/gym) but I’m so scared and worried about everything because that will be my only financial income, (I’ll graduate college as a coach) Do you recommend this idea (having your own gym/club) I mean can you talk about you Experience in having a club?

In that case, some sort of business management degree is probably best.

However, a few things to keep in mind:
1) If you own a gym, you likely will spend a LOT more time on management and ownership than you will on actually coaching. Think long and hard about whether this is what you want.
2) You are not going to turn a profit your first year. Or your second. Or your third. So you need to either have a LOOOOT of money saved up before you start, or you need to scrounge up enough to buy an already-successful gym. In other words, the only way to make a lot of money is to already have a lot of money before you start.
3) It's anybody's guess what the gymnastics industry will look like in the post-covid and post-usag-being-a-disaster world. Maybe the industry will bounce back. Maybe it won't.

In other words, aiming for gym ownership is a gamble.

Whether you want a career in gym ownership or in coaching, have a backup plan. Sorry if this sounds cynical and pessimistic, but I don't want you to get into something that's just going to burn you out and drain your bank account. My cynicism comes from 25 years in the gymnastics world. Unless you can afford for the whole thing to crash and burn, I don't think it's an advisable endeavor.

tl;dr: the best advice I can give you is to reconsider. Should you ignore that first piece of advice, I wish you the best of luck.

 

[Aussie_coach]

To further on what Geoffrey Taucer said on hours spent coaching versus hours spent on admin. As a gym owner I spend 26 hours per week coaching and 45 hours per week running the business.

So 71 hours a week working on a good week. Unless we have competitions on Sunday, in those weeks it is more.

I earn good money but there are other (less time consuming ways) of doing that.

 

[Shatha Mohammed]

In that case, some sort of business management degree is probably best.

However, a few things to keep in mind:
1) If you own a gym, you likely will spend a LOT more time on management and ownership than you will on actually coaching. Think long and hard about whether this is what you want.
2) You are not going to turn a profit your first year. Or your second. Or your third. So you need to either have a LOOOOT of money saved up before you start, or you need to scrounge up enough to buy an already-successful gym. In other words, the only way to make a lot of money is to already have a lot of money before you start.
3) It's anybody's guess what the gymnastics industry will look like in the post-covid and post-usag-being-a-disaster world. Maybe the industry will bounce back. Maybe it won't.

In other words, aiming for gym ownership is a gamble.

Whether you want a career in gym ownership or in coaching, have a backup plan. Sorry if this sounds cynical and pessimistic, but I don't want you to get into something that's just going to burn you out and drain your bank account. My cynicism comes from 25 years in the gymnastics world. Unless you can afford for the whole thing to crash and burn, I don't think it's an advisable endeavor.

tl;dr: the best advice I can give you is to reconsider. Should you ignore that first piece of advice, I wish you the best of luck.

Yes I got your point , btw you let me reconsider everything (deeply) I was planning to check the universities and colleges today but thanks god I’ve seen your message before checking them ...you saved my life, thank you

 

[Shatha Mohammed]

To further on what Geoffrey Taucer said on hours spent coaching versus hours spent on admin. As a gym owner I spend 26 hours per week coaching and 45 hours per week running the business.

So 71 hours a week working on a good week. Unless we have competitions on Sunday, in those weeks it is more.

I earn good money but there are other (less time consuming ways) of doing that.

That’s so tiring, but I guess it’s worth it . In my opinion gymnastics/coaching is such an amazing thing to have as a business, the most important thing is because you can consider your gym/members at the gym as you second family like you always have fun coaching them.

If you don’t mind I have a question, how much do you give your employees/coaches ? (Salary)

 

[Aussie_coach]

How much I pay my employees would be irrelevant to you because I live in Australia. The value of our dollar, our cost of living, our minimum wage requirements etc are quite different to what you would see in the USA.

To give you a ballpark figure though, the minimum wage in Australia for a lower level adult coach (age 20 or above) on casual employment (as most are) is about $28 per hour.

 

[Shatha Mohammed]

I coached and managed gyms for many years before I owned a gym. Many skills to learn first.

Also there is quite an initial financial outlay. Whether you are going to buy an existing gym or purchase equipment and start from scratch you need money to start. It’s very unusual to have the means to set up a gym straight up. You will need a source of good income to get you there.

Most businesses take a period of around 5 years of operation before they start to draw a profit, so you either need a lot of savings, a supportive partner or another job to tide you over while your gym is building.

If you have the skills it can become very financially rewarding down the track. My gym built quickly and earned good money very quickly but that was after years and years of developing my coaching and management skills in other environments.

If you love it, it is a magical career, but it takes a lot of time and there are personal sacrifices. I had to make the choice not to have any children of my own.

I’m a gymnast now so does this count that I have enough skills?

 

[Aussie_coach]

Coaching gymnastics and training in gymnastics are very different. I would recommend at least 10 years of full time coaching before considering owning a gym. Unless you plan to have nothing to do with the coaching side and just run the business.

 

[JBS]

You will be running a small business and teaching people. Business and education would be the direction I would go.

I do not have a degree... as far as small business goes... you can learn everything you need on the internet and in the real world.

Being an educator / motivator is something that is either in you... or it’s not. While education is great to study... it won’t really line you up that well to coach gymnastics. You’ll get more from real world experience than anywhere else.

So I would study business on the internet while working at a gym somewhere.

 

[profmom]

An undergrad business degree won't be super helpful in acquiring the skills to run your own business. Major in something you will enjoy so that you do well. Gain experience coaching on the side to make sure you actually enjoy life in the gym on the employment side of things. Once you graduate, work some in the business for a while and then go back part-time and get an MBA or MPA.