Abstract
M.Comm.
The world-wide professionalisation of sport has created an increasing need for trained sport managers. In the South African context, a variety of Sport Management Programmes exist but guidelines and recommendations for training specifically of the South African school sport manager have neither been set nor implemented. In the view of scarce resources, demands and challenges posed by the holistic development in the new outcomes based education the school sport manager needs to be trained. Therefore, it is necessary that research be done in this area to identify and describe the competencies of the school sport manager. The aim of the study is to describe the competencies of the school sport manager in order to provide guidelines and recommendations for appropriate education and training. To find possible solutions, the historical development (longitudinal) of sport and other means of physical participation as well as the development of children and the role the school plays in that development is explored and described. Different sociological theories informed the conceptual framework for contextual description and analysis. The competencies of the school sport manager, within a commercialized context, are described with reference to its functional components and professional requirements. The methodology includes structured self-administrated interviews, preceded by a self-designed questionnaire that was completed by 12 secondary school representatives. The results indicated that the management of school sport is especially varied, politicized and complex. There is a statistically meaningful difference between the required competencies of school sport managers and what is currently in place. Relative small differences in the requirements of the management competencies of school sport managers exist according to the focus of various sport codes. Various potential shortcomings with varying scope in the competencies of the school sport manager were identified in the survey. It would be possible for the school sport manager to acquire the necessary competencies through fundamental, core and elective contents and learning outcomes during Sport Management training. Guidelines and recommendations for future training are offered.