Histórias de sucesso na gestão do desporto: O percurso e o perfil de quatro gestores

Abstract

Over the last few years, there has been a steady evolution of the sports sector, globally. Faced with these changes, the role of the sports manager has also changed. Nowadays, sports managers take responsibility for a set of functions, which leads them, increasingly, to have to master several areas of knowledge, possessing a wide range of skills. In order to understand how managers must face and follow these changes without their success being compromised, it is necessary to understand their life path as well as their competency profile. The main objective of this work was to characterize the path and profile of four successful male managers, aged between 33 and 62 years old, working in the area of sports management. In order to meet the established objectives, a methodology of qualitative nature was used, the semi-structured interview being the main source of data collection. The interviews were carried out to four reference managers, linked to companies that work in different contexts of the area of the sports management. The results of the study were in agreement with the bibliography consulted. The analysis of the interviews revealed that most of the managers had higher education and that all of them valued the subsequent investment in specializations, according to their areas of activity. In addition, it revealed that these managers valued experiences, qualities, and competencies such as persistence, overcoming and resilience in the face of difficulties; sensitivity to manage human resources; ability to articulate professional and personal skills, so that there is a balance between the two; experience in the practice of some sporting modality; love for what they do.