Unlike Self-Driving Cars, Sports Facilities Do Not Manage Themselves – Yet…
A good game, be it a soccer match, baseball, or football match, needs to be held in a state-of-the-art facility. Such facilities, though, and any other that hosts sporting events, need maintenance. A sports facility management plan needs to be in place and enforced by a sports facility manager.
What is a sports facility manager?
This is the title given to a person that oversees the running of a sports facility. Sports facility managers need to have a variety of skills that enable them to perform their duties effectively. Some of the skills required of these individuals include:
- Time management – To run the schedule of a sports facility, prudent time management skills are necessary. This helps in the avoidance of late kickoffs or any other time inconveniences for the athletes or spectators.
- Planning – It is important that a sports facility manager be good at planning. Planning skills allow the manager to come up with sporting fixtures and slot them in well so that they do not overlap.
- Event management – The sports facility manager handles everything that happens in the sports facility. The events that take place here need to be planned by him or her.
What does a facility manager do during game time?
Game time is the most crucial time in the job of a sports facility manager. It is during this time that they need to assess what’s happening and be ready to respond to anything that might go wrong. Most commonly, some of the things that you will find sports facilities managers doing during the game are:
- Ensuring security checks are running well
- Ensuring the availability of emergency services
- Coordinating with teams to ensure proper use of the sports facility
- Ensuring that all items in the facility, such as lights and the public address system are functioning well
School sports facilities management
Playing is an important aspect of children’s growth. It’s therefore inevitable that sports facilities in schools need to be made available and conducive to use by students. The management of school sports facility needs to be entrusted to a qualified sports facility manager.
This manager will be responsible for handling all use of the facility. For schools that use communal or external community sports facilities, it is recommended to have someone to handle any issues and collaborate with the facility.
For sports facilities that have modern equipment such as artificial turf, extra effort should be put into orienting the students on the use and maintenance of the facility.
Risk management in sports facilities
This refers to the management of any risk factors in sports. Sporting facilities and events have many risks that need to be managed with clear policies elaborating how each one will affect the facility and its occupants.
Some of the risk factors that require this include terrorism, player injuries, and fan stampede. A good risk management plan will put measures in place to ensure the above-stated risk factors are not an issue.
