Management competencies of sport club managers in the North- West Province, South Africa

The professionalization and commercialization of sport have created an increasing need for trained sports club managers globally and in South Africa. In the past, sports clubs in the country were run mainly by volunteers, but the new demands that require professionally educated, permanent staff mean that it is necessary to identify and describe the competencies required of sports club managers. This study compared the managerial competencies of sports club managers as they themselves perceived it with their managerial competencies as perceived by sports club coaches from selected sports codes in the North West Province. The data were collected by means of a structured questionnaire. A total of 63 respondents participated in this study out of a sample of 80, selected from different sporting codes. An independent t-test determined the difference between what sports club managers thought were the competencies required to manage a sports club and what the sports club coaches thought were the competencies necessary. From the 25 questions in the questionnaire, the results of 18 questions showed statistically significant differences (p ≤ 0.05), 15 showed moderate practical significant differences (d ≈ 0.5) and 3 showed large practically significant differences (d ≈ 0.8). From the results it can be concluded that the coaches of the sports clubs perceived their sports club managers not to be competent in performing their tasks as managers of the club.Keywords: Sport clubs, managers, competencies, sport management