For most athletes, sports have been part of life for as long as they can remember. Practices, games, teammates, competition, and preparation become part of the weekly routine. That can make the end of a playing career difficult to picture. The games may eventually stop, but your involvement in athletics does not have to end with them. That is one reason students choose the Sports Management program at Grace Christian University. Many have spent years around athletics and already know they want sports to remain part of their future. Kurt Klassen, Assistant Professor of Communication and chair of the Sports Management major, sees that desire in many students.
“It can be really hard for athletes, high school athletes, college athletes, when your career is over and done,” Klassen said. “You kind of feel like, well, I’ve now lost sports the rest of my life.” Sports Management gives students another way to stay connected to what they love. “If you’re passionate about athletics and you don’t want to see it go away after your career is done, this is a great major for you,” Klassen said.
Turning a Love for Sports Into a Career
Students enter Sports Management with different career goals. Some want to coach. Others want to become athletic directors, manage facilities, work with professional teams, lead sports organizations, or manage athletes. Tucker Loynes has been around athletics throughout his life. “I chose Sports Management because sports is all I know,” Tucker said. “I’ve been around sports all my life, and I want to work for a professional sports team or be an athletic director.”
Parker Corell is also interested in sports leadership. “When I graduate, I would like to be head of an organization for travel baseball or be an athletic director at a college or high school,” Parker said.
For Breylan McPhaul, Sports Management became an option after conversations with teammates and friends at Grace. “I spoke to some of my teammates and friends at Grace,” Breylan said. “They got me into some of the classes, had me speak to the registrar, and they got me registered. I’ve loved it since I’ve gotten into it.” Breylan is now considering coaching at the high school or college level. He is also interested in working directly with athletes as a manager.
Riley, a junior in the program, has another goal. He is interested in esports team management. His experience shows how broad the sports industry can be. A Sports Management degree can prepare students for careers well outside the traditional role of coach. That variety is important because students may love sports for different reasons. Some enjoy competition. Some want to lead teams. Others want to work behind the scenes. The common thread is simple: they want athletics to remain part of their future.
Learning How Sports Organizations Work
Playing a sport gives students one perspective on athletics. Working in sports requires another. “We really want students to have a good base of management,” Klassen said. Students learn how to build budgets, manage teams, understand financial decisions, and think through the responsibilities involved in running athletic programs. They also take business courses that support that foundation. In Klassen’s Sports Management classes, students discuss issues currently affecting athletics. Those conversations have included Title IX, sports betting, injuries, finances, adding new athletic programs, and controversies within sports. Students do more than learn about those topics. They have to think about how they would respond if they were the person responsible for making the decision.
Tucker has already seen the practical value of that coursework. “I learned some great skills about how to manage a team, how to manage a budget, and skills to put me ahead in my future,”
Parker has also learned that working in sports takes more than enjoying athletics. “Be ready to do work, because there’s a lot of work involved in Sports Management, but it’s well worth it in the long run,” he said.
Marquese English has taken another lesson from the program. There will be ups and downs. His response is to stay grateful, have perseverance, and “keep pushing.”
Those lessons matter because careers in sports rarely follow a perfectly predictable path. Teams change. Budgets change. People change. Leaders need to know how to respond.
Communication Is Part of Sports Management
Budgets and operations are only part of the job. Sports professionals spend much of their time working with people.
That has stood out to Breylan during his time in the program. “The biggest thing I think I’ve learned so far is how to communicate with different people,” Breylan said. He has also learned the importance of connecting with people on more than a surface level. That skill matters in nearly every sports career. Coaches communicate with players, parents, administrators, and other coaches. Athletic directors work with staff, students, families, and university leadership. Facility managers work with teams, employees, vendors, and guests. Strong sports organizations need people who can communicate clearly and build trust.
A Program Students Can Connect to Their Interests
Not every student wants the same career. Riley is especially interested in esports management. Although Grace does not offer a separate esports management major, he has been able to connect that interest to what he is learning in Sports Management. “What stood out to me the most about Grace Christian University’s Sports Management program is that they’re very flexible with how you want to learn the program,” Riley said. That flexibility has helped him think about how broad Sports Management can be. Riley credits Klassen with helping him work toward his specific interests. “I came to Grace this year with a very specific goal in learning how to grow myself in the area of Sports Management, more specifically esports management,” Riley said. “Professor Kurt has been nothing but a guidance in helping me understand what I want to grasp from this program.”
That kind of faculty support can matter when students are still figuring out what direction they want to take. Riley knows that firsthand. He has changed majors during his time at Grace, moving through Leadership and Ministry, Business, Biblical Studies, and eventually Sports Management. Through each change, he said faculty members helped him think about his career and the person he wants to become.
Gaining Experience Outside the Classroom
Students also need opportunities to apply what they learn. Riley is doing that through a marketing internship at Grace. The internship has given him experience with cameras, video editing, content creation, and communication. Sports organizations need people who know how to promote teams, tell stories, create content, communicate with fans, and build interest around a program.
Those experiences can become especially useful for someone interested in esports, where digital content and online communities play a major role. Grace’s weekly class schedule also gives students space to pursue internships, jobs, homework, and other opportunities. Grace does not hold regular classes on Fridays. Riley said that extra time gives students more flexibility to work, pursue internships, spend time with friends, or focus on schoolwork. For a student preparing for a career, that time can become an opportunity to gain experience before graduation.
Bringing the Bible Into Sports Management
At Grace, students are challenged to think about what Scripture means for the decisions they may face in athletics. That becomes especially important when the answers are not simple. Klassen recently discussed sports gambling and some of the controversies surrounding it with his class. Instead of looking only at the business or financial side, students considered another question: How should someone following Christ respond? “How do we show character in sports through different Biblical principles, through different understandings of how Christ would want us to act?” Klassen said. “We want to be different.”
Tucker has seen those conversations happen when classes address difficult ethical situations. “Anything ethically or tough decisions, we always go look back to the Bible,” he said.
Students consider what Scripture says and how biblical principles should affect their response. One class discussion that stood out to Tucker involved the Olympics and issues surrounding money management. Looking at the ethical concerns involved was “a big eye-opener,” he said.
Riley sees the same emphasis throughout his education. “At Grace, I see the Bible in everything that I do and everything that I learn,” he said. “The faculty and the university itself keeps the Bible at the center of everything that they teach.” That has helped Riley see that glorifying God is not limited to traditional ministry careers. A student can serve Christ as a coach, manager, marketer, athletic director, facility leader, or esports professional. The job may change. The purpose does not.
Sports Can Be About More Than Winning
Winning matters in athletics. Teams want to compete well. Coaches want their programs to improve. Athletes want to succeed. Klassen believes students also need to see a greater purpose in sports. “We really want to take athletes who are on fire for Christ and also passionate about sports and blend those two things together for their future career in sports,” he said. The goal is not simply to prepare a successful coach or capable professional. Klassen wants students to influence the players, fans, coworkers, and communities around them while representing Christ. That changes how students think about success. “Athletics, a lot of places, can really become all about winning and just being the best at it,” Klassen said. Students are encouraged to think about what it looks like to honor Christ while competing and leading. A coach can demonstrate that through the way players are treated. An athletic director can show it through difficult decisions. A facility manager can show it through the way employees and guests are treated. A sports marketer can show it through integrity and communication. The position may change, but the opportunity to represent Christ remains.
Doing It All for the Glory of God
Riley points to 1 Corinthians 10:31 as a verse that captures what he has learned at Grace. “Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” For Riley, that applies to athletics, work, school, and whatever career comes next. Grace’s Sports Management program has helped him see that faith belongs in every part of life. That same idea sits at the center of the program. Sports Management students learn how sports organizations operate. They learn how to lead people, manage resources, communicate well, and think through difficult decisions. They also learn to ask a bigger question: How can I honor God in the way I do this?
Is Sports Management Right for You?
Students interviewed about the program kept coming back to a similar idea. If you love sports and want athletics to remain part of your future, Sports Management is worth considering.
Tucker called it “a great opportunity for anybody who wants to work in sports.” Breylan encourages students to research the field, talk with people in the program, and find out what Sports Management actually involves. Marquese keeps his advice simple: “Check it out. Give it a try.” For students who can picture themselves coaching, leading an athletic program, managing teams, or working behind the scenes in sports, this degree can turn a lifelong interest into a career path.
