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What is an athletic coach and how to become one
If you're passionate about sports and about making other people interested in sports, then the job of the athletic coach might be right for you. You could work in a variety of sports, from tennis to track and field. You could work with a variety of age groups, from advanced college athletes all the way down to adorable Pee Wee soccer players.
No matter what sport or age group you decide to coach, you need to have an extensive knowledge of the sport you coach in order to train your athletes in the best techniques and conditioning. You would also need to have an analytical mindset to plan your team's tactics and research the opposition. Some first aid knowledge wouldn't hurt--sports can be dangerous!
As an athletic coach, you probably wouldn't get home at 6 p.m. sharp every evening. You may have to practice early in the morning or late in the evening, depending on the schedules of your athletes. You may also need to dedicate your weekends to tournaments and meetings. But it's all worth it to see your athletes succeed.
Avg. Salary $45,554
Avg. Salary $59,228
Growth rate 20%
Growth rate 0.3%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.22%
Asian 5.50%
Black or African American 9.09%
Hispanic or Latino 13.53%
Unknown 5.78%
White 65.88%
Genderfemale 30.40%
male 69.60%
Age - 34American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%
Asian 7.00%
Black or African American 14.00%
Hispanic or Latino 19.00%
White 57.00%
Genderfemale 47.00%
male 53.00%
Age - 34Stress level is high
7.1 - high
Complexity level is challenging
7 - challenging
Work life balance is good
6.4 - fair
Athletic coach career paths
Key steps to become an athletic coach
Explore athletic coach education requirements
Start to develop specific athletic coach skills
Skills Percentages CPR 29.97% Student Athletes 23.39% Volleyball 7.50% Soccer 6.66% Public Schools 6.19% Complete relevant athletic coach training and internships
Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New athletic coaches learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an athletic coach based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real athletic coach resumes.Research athletic coach duties and responsibilities
- Perform additional responsibilities as deemed appropriate by school and district supervisors such as organizing and managing elementary school mathematics information nights.
- Create a positive, team-base environment focuse on teaching soccer, flag football, baseball, and life skills.
- Coach middle school women's volleyball, softball and basketball.
- Coach girls sports year-round: including volleyball, basketball, track and field.
Prepare your athletic coach resume
When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your athletic coach resume.
You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on an athletic coach resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.
Choose from 10+ customizable athletic coach resume templates
Build a professional athletic coach resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your athletic coach resume.
Apply for athletic coach jobs
Now it's time to start searching for an athletic coach job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:
- Browse job boards for relevant postings
- Consult your professional network
- Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
- Watch out for job scams
How did you land your first athletic coach job
Are you an athletic coach?
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Average athletic coach salary
The average athletic coach salary in the United States is $45,554 per year or $22 per hour. Athletic coach salaries range between $29,000 and $71,000 per year.
What am I worth?
How do athletic coaches rate their job?
Athletic coach reviews
People who think hitting is easy, see ball hit ball. Parents who want instant gratification.
I like to motivate kids into becoming acting and follow their dreams on sports they love to do. I'm always encourage kids they can do anything they want if they try hard enough and would most likely succeed in athletic activity if I'm there coaching for them. Want them to have fun and experience how fun it is being the best team in school.
Not much I don't like but if I have to decide then I would say my dislike would be kids who don't think qualified or not good enough for sports since parents don't encourage them enough, which I would help them see how much fun and talented they can be not matter what anyone says
Working with individual players in one on one lessons. That's when I get a real chance to find out what knowledge the athlete is bringing to practice, who taught him that, and how and why it may work or not be the best technique available. I am about as nuanced a coach as you could get. The game of football is one of mental fortitude, discipline, and preparation. Raw athleticism, circus catches and big hits or helmet to helmet collisions.
I don't like parents getting involved or attempting to persuade coaching decisions such as play playing time and depth chart seeding. What I would allow for is any of my concerned parents (at any potential public school) who wouldn't ordinarily come watch practice and see the way the coaching staff interacts with your student athlete as we will go through a proper tackling methods clinic for LB/defensive backs, different types of blocking for the offensive and even the multiple defensive pash rush techniques that are now able to be implemented by a modern football coach.
Updated January 8, 2025
