What's next for community-based sports coaches, instructors and trainers?
A lot has been said about the death of certain jobs and industries as well as the need for those still around to adapt, change and evolve into something else. The sports fraternity fits snugly into that mould. In the recent webinar on "From Theory to Application: How Sports Will Operate Now" (https://www.facebook.com/sstc.page/), it was an honour and privilege to share about the impact of the pandemic on small and medium enterprise, specifically those providing freelance services as coaches, trainers and instructors. The gist of the presentation was the focus on what these service should do about their services and what could be done for their customers, given the circumstances and the future of sports services.
At the service provider level, there are essentially 3 areas to consider:
A) Relook, review the services and then re-train, recalibrate to suit the new landscape of consumption - Technology is playing a huge role in the mode of the consumption so a different business model, with a revenue component, must be designed to meet the demand.
B) Expand or increase the product lines - explore complementary products and services which can facilitate or aid the provision of the main services.
C) Build communities, collaborations and partnerships - leverage on other complementary services and products and create opportunities for cross-selling for not only mutual benefit but ultimately to also achieve the desired satisfaction levels of the customers.
Small operators need to now work smarter and in more creative ways to not only reach and connect with their customers but also look at how they can retain them. Somewhat similar to a membership or fanbase retention programme but in a much smaller way. Larger and more established sports communities like Australia are also fearing that their fan base, which accounts for a substantial bulk of their revenues to stay afloat, will reduce significantly, leaving only 'super fans' who will still religiously support their clubs (https://sports.yahoo.com/when-sports-return-after-coronavirus-pandemic-fans-will-have-changed-if-they-even-come-back-at-all-145618338.html & https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-10/coronavirus-community-sport-clubs-feeling-impact-of-pandemic/12137910), This shift in fan support has a massive impact on how clubs, its grassroots network and the sport itself will operate, and it will most definitely affect the freelance service providers as well.
Facilities will undergo some level of change and adjustments. From singular use sports centres to multi-sports arenas, the advent of the pandemic has forced many large sports facilities to close, prompting the need to make adjustments to seating, control of access and usage (https://johancruyffinstitute.com/en/blog-en/sport-management/impact-covid19-sport-organizations/).
Sport media, rights, sponsorships, digital platforms, augmented and virtual reality, sports simulators and e-gaming have taken on an accelerated growth path. It is projected that these will see more integration sooner than later and begin to play a more significant role in the delivery of sports, competitions and sports entertainment.
It is still anybody's guess as to how it will eventually turn out and where the whole sports landscape will be headed for and many in the sport fraternity are quietly anticipating a return to some level of normality with a few interesting suggestions being thrown around, with a handful already being tested out to great effect (https://www.todayonline.com/commentary/covid-19-crisis-drags-sports-organisers-caught-between-rock-and-hard-place).