Jobs That Combine Math And Sports

When you first think of jobs related to sports, you automatically go to the athletes, coaches, and referees that you see on TV. But what about the jobs behind the scenes, the people who manage the team, record the stats, and make equipment? You may not realize it, but all these jobs use math every day to help the team come together.

As a general manager (or GM), you have two jobs. One is to figure out the strengths and weaknesses of the team by drafting, signing, and trading personnel. The next is to determine prices for merchandising and seating so you can have a balanced budget. GMs always have work to do, and most of the time it is related to math.

As a sports scientist, you use sports science, mathematics, physiology, psychology, and biomechanics to help players improve their health and performance. Some sport scientist create drills to help players improve in specific areas, others help work on the player's technique. The show Sport Science gives a good example of this part of the job.

Sport Engineers work on and research different sporting equipment to improve a player's performance or prevent an injury. For example, they might engineer tires for a bike that are made for keeping traction when it's raining or maybe a football helmet that is better at preventing concussions. Without sports engineers, the players wouldn't have any special equipment that could give them an advantage, so having several sports engineers on the team are very important.

Sport Statisticians record stats and take notes on all of the players on the team and then analyze the data to predict future events. They work with the scouts and General Manager to see if the team needs to make changes or trades. For example, in Moneyball, the statistician uses numbers and knowledge to create a team with no money or star players into a successful playoff team.