Revista Intercontinental de Gestão Desportiva (Mar 2021)

Perspective on the profile of a technical director of fitness centers in the northern region of Portugal

  • Maria Vitória Soares,
  • Maria José Faria,
  • Vera Pedragosa,
  • Celina Gonçalves

DOI
https://doi.org/10.51995/2237-3373.v12i1e110034
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12
pp. e110034 – e110034

Abstract

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Fitness is an evolving and changing market, and currently, Fitness Centers are one of the main choices for sports and physical activity. The Technical Director (DT) is important in the management and organization of these spaces, as well as their proper functioning, fulfilling their duties. Thus, it is relevant and pertinent to know the DT better. Thus, the main objective is to understand and describe the functional profile of the DT of the Fitness Centers, specifically in the North region of Portugal. Regarding the methodology, it was decided to develop and apply a questionnaire to the Technical Directors of Fitness Centers. 128 Technical Directors from Northern Portugal responded to the questionnaire. Data analysis was carried out using the SPSS program, the consistency of the questionnaire was determined (α> 0.70) and descriptive measures, frequency tables, graphs, and cross-tabulation tables were used. The results show that the Technical Directors are mostly male, aged between 30 and 39 years old, who mostly have higher education in Physical Education and Sports, few of them have training in Sports Management and most of them accumulate extra functions. The main areas of intervention are coordination and evaluation, organization, planning, and management of human resources. However, professionals with different levels of experience (years in the field of Sports Management) value the areas of intervention differently. Finally, the present study clarifies that the functions of the Technical Director defined in the Law are not performed by everyone. This study revealed for the practice of Fitness Management that, on the one hand, the position of Technical Director changes uniformly according to changes in the Fitness Industry and in a different way according to the type of Fitness Centers where it operates. On the other hand, it also revealed that training in the area of ​​Sports Management will be an asset for the performance of the position of Technical Director.

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