How to become a sports player
Official title: Sports players
Also called: Player, Show jumper, Event rider, Racing driver, Scramble rider, Speedway rider, Professional sportsman
Professional sportsmen and women train and compete, either individually or as part of a team, in their chosen sport for financial gain.
Main tasks
- Participates in exhibitions, pre-qualifying events, tournaments and competitions
- Attends training sessions to develop skills and practice individual or team moves and tactics
- Builds stamina, physical strength and agility through running, fitness exercises and weight training
- Maintains clothing and other specialised sporting equipment
- Discusses performance problems with coaches, physiotherapists, dieticians and doctors
How to become one
No academic qualifications are required. Entry is based upon talent that can be further developed through coaching and training.
Ways in
- Apprenticeship (England): Sporting excellence professional (level 3). England. Typically 18 months. Skills England standard ST0524.
- University: Science degrees, Offered by 27 universities in the UK
Pay · Outlook
- About 15,700 people work in this job now, and about 17,400 are projected by 2035. (+11.1%)
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Questions people ask
How do I become a sports player?
No academic qualifications are required. Entry is based upon talent that can be further developed through coaching and training.
Is a sports player a growing career in the UK?
Yes. Employment is projected to grow 11% by 2035, from about 15,700 to about 17,400 people (Department for Education).
Do you need a degree to become a sports player?
Not always. 40% of people in this job hold a bachelor's degree or higher. Ways in include: Science degrees; Sporting excellence professional (level 3).
Sources
- Office for National Statistics: Annual Population Survey: employment by occupation (April 2025 to March 2026), OGL v3.0, retrieved 2026-10-03
- Office for National Statistics: SOC 2020 Volume 1: structure and descriptions (2026-08-27 edition), OGL v3.0, retrieved 2026-10-03
- Department for Education: Skills Imperative 2035: employment projections by occupation (2021 to 2035 (Warwick IER / Cambridge Econometrics)), OGL v3.0, retrieved 2026-10-03
Updated 2026-10-03
Graduate outcomes: Discover Uni dataset, HESA (www.hesa.ac.uk), licensed under CC BY 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0). Aggregated by subject and adapted by Peernovo.