Your Workforce Bestie Kevina Fullwood is back with her first 2026 blog! Two sports-related posts in a row, we must be ready to get up and move.🏃➡️
Sports are a cornerstone of the Boys & Girls Club experience. Each year, hundreds of thousands of young people across the country participate in Club sports programs — a gateway not only to physical activity, but to confidence, leadership, and belonging.
For many teens, the gym or field is the reason they show up. What if that same space could also be where they begin to explore careers, build real workplace skills, and connect with future opportunities?
Through intentional design, your Club’s sports program can become a powerful in-Club work-based learning experience — one that equips teens with practical skills and exposes them to career paths across the sports industry and beyond.
The industry of sports includes far more than athletes. Careers such as sports marketing, event planning, facilities management, concessions operations, and athletic training all play a role in powering games and teams. Here are ways your sports program can give teens a real look at those opportunities.
Sports Marketing
Getting teens involved in promoting Club sporting events is a practical way to introduce them to sports marketing. This field ranks among the higher-paying roles in the sports industry and combines creativity with strategy and communication.
Try this: Challenge teens to create a simple marketing plan for your next season, including
- Promotional fliers
- Social media content
- Captured footage of games, concessions, halftime highlights, and player spotlights
Through this experience, teens can explore pathways in journalism, broadcasting, marketing, or sports management — all while building creativity, communication, and organizational skills.
Event Planning
Sporting events require coordination, problem-solving, creativity, and collaboration — all hallmarks of strong executive functioning.
Try this: Let teens plan the schedule of games, half-time shows, awards celebrations, hydration stations, and parking logistics. They can build
- Run-of-show plans
- Talent coordination
- Participant communications
These experiences prepare teens for careers in project management, business operations, and procurement — while honing their time management and planning skills.
Sports Agent/Talent Scout
Not all teens want to play — but many care deeply about the game and their peers. These teens might thrive in roles like sports agents or talent scouts.
Try this: Invite teens to help recruit participants for your sports leagues. They can
- Host interest meetings
- Promote the benefits of participation
- Create player headshots and profiles
This approach strengthens their interpersonal and networking skills and introduces them to career paths in brand management, contracts, or human resources.
Facilities Management
Without safe and well-maintained spaces, games don’t happen. While authorized adults must double-check inspections for safety purposes, this builds great transferable skills for youth.
Try this: Have teens take responsibility for aspects of facility readiness by
- Cleaning and organizing sports equipment
- Inspecting floors, bleachers, and storage areas (with a follow-up check by adult staff for safety)
- Managing checklists for game-day setup
This introduces them to building management and operations — and develops problem-solving, communication, and crisis response skills.
Concessions
No game day is complete without food and refreshments. Managing concessions for sports and other events can also serve as great fundraisers for your Keystone or Torch Clubs.
Try this: Engage teens in
- Designing a concession menu
- Practicing food preparation and safety (under adult supervision)
- Creating budgets and pricing items for profit
This experience introduces hospitality, culinary arts, inventory management, and basic finance — helping teens understand revenue, costs, and customer service.
Tip: Use BGCA’s Money Matters program to support financial skills development as part of this experience.
Athletic Trainers
Programs like Triple Play and Healthy Habits already prepare teens to care for their bodies and understand healthy lifestyles. These skills transition smoothly into roles like sports officials and trainers.
Try this: Encourage teens to
- Lead warm-ups and stretches
- Identify healthy snacks for athletes
- Support teammates in injury prevention
Consider pairing this with first aid training, but be sure to also have trained adults also available. Teens gain valuable interpersonal and conflict-resolution skills while exploring careers in athletic training and health sciences.
Compensation and Recognition
Compensating teens for their participation not only honors their contributions — it also supports equitable access to work-based learning. Compensation can take many forms including
- Stipends tied to participation
- Incentives for skill mastery
- Recognition awards for achievement
If financial compensation isn’t available, be sure to highlight and celebrate their development — badges, certificates, or public recognition go a long way.
Now that you’ve seen how sports can power work-based learning experiences within your Club, take the next step with the UpNext: In-Club Work-Based Learning Planning Guide.
This guide provides
- Essential components of high-quality work-based learning
- Practical examples from Clubs already doing this work
- Tools to design intentional, industry-aligned experiences
Work-based learning doesn’t have to wait until after graduation — it can begin right on your field, court, or gym floor. At Boys & Girls Clubs, we know that sports do more than teach kids how to play. They teach kids how to lead, collaborate, persevere, and dream bigger. Whether your teens see themselves as an athlete, creator, planner, or leader, sports can be the first step in a journey toward career exploration and lifelong success.
How do you support teens as they make decisions about their next steps? What are your favorite work-based learning programs? We want to know! Comment below, on the BGCA Youth Development Facebook page, or email ClubXBlog@bgca.org.
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