Athletes and Sports Competitors
Compete in athletic events.
Most important skills
- Speaking
- Active Listening
- Critical Thinking
- Coordination
- Monitoring
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Reading Comprehension
- Social Perceptiveness
Key knowledge
- Administration and Management
- English Language
- Customer and Personal Service
- Personnel and Human Resources
- Communications and Media
- Education and Training
- Sales and Marketing
- Mathematics
What the work involves
- Attend scheduled practice or training sessions.
- Participate in athletic events or competitive sports, according to established rules and regulations.
- Exercise or practice under the direction of athletic trainers or professional coaches to develop skills, improve physical condition, or prepare for competitions.
- Maintain equipment used in a particular sport.
- Maintain optimum physical fitness levels by training regularly, following nutrition plans, or consulting with health professionals.
- Assess performance following athletic competition, identifying strengths and weaknesses and making adjustments to improve future performance.
- Represent teams or professional sports clubs, performing such activities as meeting with members of the media, making speeches, or participating in charity events.
- Lead teams by serving as captain.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Enterprising, Social.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Less than a High School Diploma (34.8% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 4 years, up to and including 6 years (26.7%)
- On-the-job training
- None or short demonstration (24.4%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Athletes and Sports Competitors is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Moderate | Lower on contact with others than 55% of occupations compared | 60% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Moderate | Lower on dealing with the public than 54% of occupations compared | 26% of surveyed respondents chose “Fairly important” |
| Teamwork | High | Higher on teamwork than 68% of occupations compared | 54% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Moderate | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 50% of occupations compared | 53% of surveyed respondents chose “Some freedom” |
| Time pressure | Moderate | Higher on time pressure than 50% of occupations compared | 41% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | High | Higher on conflict situations than 68% of occupations compared | 41% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | High | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 62% of occupations compared | 48% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Consequence of error | Low | Lower on consequence of error than 73% of occupations compared | 40% of surveyed respondents chose “Fairly serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: moderate
- Conflict situations: high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: high
- Consequence of error: low
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 12.28%
- Contact with others about half the time: 3.1%
- Contact with others most of the time: 24.67%
- Constant contact with others: 59.96%
n = 23, Incumbent 07/2016
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 7.48%
- Fairly important: 26.31%
- Important: 17.54%
- Very important: 22.84%
- Extremely important: 25.83%
n = 24, Incumbent 07/2016
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 1.83%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 0.78%
- Very important: 43.78%
- Extremely important: 53.61%
n = 24, Incumbent 07/2016
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 3.35%
- Very little freedom: 4.13%
- Limited freedom: 3.53%
- Some freedom: 52.95%
- A lot of freedom: 36.04%
n = 24, Incumbent 07/2016
Time pressure
- Never: 10.57%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 21.92%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 26.96%
- Every day: 40.55%
n = 24, Incumbent 07/2016
Conflict situations
- Never: 0.78%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 30.59%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 27.03%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 40.82%
- Every day: 0.78%
n = 24, Incumbent 07/2016
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 4.91%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 20.22%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 47.74%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 26.34%
- Every day: 0.78%
n = 24, Incumbent 07/2016
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 27.55%
- Fairly serious: 39.97%
- Serious: 7.52%
- Very serious: 4.31%
- Extremely serious: 20.65%
n = 24, Incumbent 07/2016
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O*NET-SOC 27-2021.00 · SOC 27-2021 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8