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The current portfolio will include all type of work experience, job description and other requirements that are needed

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Introduction

A professional career development portfolio is an essential approach that is used for different purposes. It is a proper way to demonstrate abilities and skills. These are the strategies that keep good portfolios from the bad one. The current portfolio will include all type of work experience, job description and other requirements that are needed in the professional resume. The main objective of the career development goal is to achieve specific skills in the desired job. 

Job Description

Sports Participation officer is a person who is responsible for increasing participation and generating interest in sports (Chelladurai & Kerwin, 2018). The main work of the sports officer is to plan and organize the campaigns and inspire the people to take part in sports. They have to develop a rule or plan in which different sport projects are involved. They have to keep an update on the sports participation level of a student and has to make sure that the sports union continues to grow and increase. More and more students should be able to join sports, especially those who are not currently participating at any level. 

The main function of the participation officer is to keep the focus of the student in sport and to promote the sport to all students within the university (Winnick & Porretta, 2016). The main duty of sports participation officer is to engage students in sports and make them realize the true value and importance of sports. In this way, the students who are not good at studies think they are not better. There are several types of projects that are organized by the participation officer such as equality and diversity projects, disability development programs and other campaigns related to sports union. All types of sport-related event and the participation process are overlooked by participation officer. Their aim is to make the sport more accessible and get people to live a healthy and happy lifestyle (Mullin, Hardy, & Sutton, 2014). Their skills depend upon their specialization and experience. They give their best to make student worth and provide the best opportunities to make an individual’s life much better. They also provide every kind of benefit and support that is needed for an individual in case of sports participation. Having a job of participation officer means you are enthusiastic about sport and have good leadership skills which help the local community in order to become more active. A participation officer makes sure that all sections of the community are well aware of the available activities related to sport and they do have a chance to get involved in these activities. 

The best participation officer distributes all kind of information in advance through conducting seminars, short classes, coaching club and various programs, and then select them for training (Limsuknirun, Samahito, & Kutintara, 2017). However, these opportunities are not just available for the special community but also target those who want to participate as fun, or only to enjoy. Furthermore, it also involves people who are interested in competing in all levels, for example from local to national, and from national to international. They also work with the organization such as charities, regeneration initiative and sport national governing bodies (NGBs).

Description of Organization

The University of Nottingham is one of the famous university in England, which is giving opportunities to many people to make their life better (Nottingham, 2019). It is a public research university in the state of Nottingham and was founded in 1881. It was awarded the honour of royal charter in 1948. It ensures that every student can easily achieve the learning outcome in a reliable way. It is a well-established institute that gives the best opportunity for the student to make their future. The students of the University of Nottingham receive their degrees from the University of London. There are several campuses of the university in the town and on an international level. The main campus lies in Nottingham. It was rewarded as the University of Year in 2006 and named as Times Higher Education. 

The university also offers a unique chance to get involved with physical activities and allows them to take part in every kind of sports. There are at least 76 student clubs in the university, where sports arepractised. They inspire the students, local community and even staff members to stay active and reach their full potential in the world of fitness and sport. It offers a number of sports club than any other university. The university consists of a new 40 meters David Ross Sports Village, world-class supporting events and inclusive and disability sport provision. From an academic point of view, it allows us to have a professional degree in almost every subject. Moreover, the university participates every year in the sports activities and in Varsity series. It is a number of sporting events between staff members and students and traditional rivals. Moreover, the university was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2003 and has remained a strong research centre into MRI (Hentschel, 2015). It does not only gives the opportunity to the students to learn something but also gives the opportunity to the staff members, to give their services and learn something better from the institute. 

Work Shadowing Experience

The basic objective of work shadowing experience is to gain experience by observing someone. The main work of sports participation officer is to generate interest of the students (Pedersen, Laucella, Kian, & Geurin, 2018). The mentor of sports participation officer is the senior sport officer or sports development officer. I have learned a lot of things under the guidance of my mentor. I have observed the organizing skills that are used to arrange several projects related to sports. A varied range of supporting activities is arranged by the participation officers that keep their focus on a particular group of people or have a general remit. I also learned how to increase participation in all kind of sport and how to address the individuals about health issues.

I learned, how to find funds to conduct different sports programs and to manage those budgets. All the budgets are settled according to the number of people participating in sports activities. The main goal of the participation officer is to give an individual an opportunity to prove themselves in the world of sport (Tomlinson, 2014). I learned how this job is best as it serves the students to choose their right path. It can enhance my leadership skills,and I can be able to motivate anyone. I have learned the basic roles of a sports participation officer, its main objectives, responsibilities and skills. It is good to keep people motivated and getting them to live a healthier lifestyle. Basically, there are four types of sports development officers in different places, such as local authorizes, sports councils, universities and sport governing councils and bodies. They have to make sure that everybody will take part in sport and everyone will be well aware of all type of sports activities. I have learned, how to increase the interest of an individual in the sports section but this is not just the only work. I have also learned how to address those people in the context of health issues, social inclusion and crime. I learned how to motivate them so than that they can make the right choices regarding sport career. 

Career Research

In the interview with the mentor, who was a senior sport participation officer, I learned different skills, responsibilities, duties and about vocational and academic qualifications. The interview with the officer was conducted for thirty minutes in which I asked all those questions related to my desired job.

During the interview, I learned how a participation officer develops its communication skills. Communication skills are necessary to build interaction with the people,and it also helps in further future vendors (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, & Wright, 2017). He told me that through this communication skills, we are able to convince an individual to take part in the sports activity. These communication skills also help when we have to arrange a sports program or sports event. The main framework of communication is to interact between receiver and sender. It simply indicates that communication is dependent on the speech content.

I also learned the basic interpersonal skills that are necessary for the participation officer. It is the part of their job, even during the job an individual learns how to manage things, how to solve problems and how to communicate these problems. These are a very important part of the job that needed to follow. These interpersonal skills not just help in learning management, but also helps to learn a wide variety of skills such as listening, understanding, questioning, body language and communication (Boud, Cohen, & Sampson, 2014).

By doing a job as sports participation officer, a person is also able to learn the time management skills. It is an important skill which is a sort of help in both professional and educational life. It allows us to accomplish more in a short time. It also allows to lead with more free time and gives the opportunity to take advantage of time (Bergson, 2014). It also helps in lowering our stress and focus on the career in a better way. Every step of time management, improve the different aspects of life. 

Moreover, good team working skills are also acquired in the job of sports participation officer. These types of skills are only acquired when we work with a team or lead a team. It helps in solving problems, as collaboration with the group can solve the most difficult problems. In this job, there is a good chance of increasing ideas,and in this way, the solution to the problem is easily solved. In this case, brainstorming helps in exchanging ideas and other creative things to find a solution. This skill is very important to acquire as it helps to work with a team or to deal with a team.

The adaptability is another excellent skill that is acquired while performing job sport participation officer (Headrick, Renshaw, Davids, Pinder, & Araújo, 2015). It is a kind of skills that help a person to change actions when needed. Adaptability is important for an individual when we start new something new in our life, or to adjust in a new situation. It is important to acquire because our lifestyle changes at every step and it is important to adopt these changes with the time.

I have also able to learn the basic duties and responsibilities of the sportsparticipation officer. A sport participation officer is responsible for health initiatives, identifying sport and recreation. They also make sure all type of strategic planning and how these planning can be implemented. They are responsible for the coordination and promotion of relevant activities, events and classes. They have to select a target group and then motivate them to take part in the sport. Their duties include supporting, employing, managing coaches, training and volunteer staff. They keep all type of financial and statistical records and also keep an eye on administrative tasks. Sport specialists will be able to check venues and manage facilities. 

The important duties of sports participation officer also include attending, regional, local and national meetings. It also includes attending seminars and conferences related to sports. They have to form links with the national, country and regional sporting representatives. Sometimes, they also work in sports clubs and work with the NGBs for specific sports. A participation officer will be only able to guide an individual to join the sport,but they also offer coaching and supervision when it is necessary. Moreover, there is also a specialized post available for the disability sports participation officer who will educate and train the facility staff and create awareness when it will be necessary. Their main activity will be to deliver programs by working into a partnership with the appropriate organization. They will use the publicity and information to make sure that people with disability can have more sporting opportunities and also be aware of all kind of sporting opportunities. 

The job of sport participation offers requires too work with specific guidelines, for example, child protection, equal opportunities and health and safety. It is a full-time job which requires some unsocial hours including school holidays, weekends and other essential days. These hours can involve evening meetings and other occasional seminars or conferences. 

For being a sports participation officer, it is important to have full knowledge of health and exercise sciences. This training basically helps to gain knowledge about health, whileexercise keeps us physically fit. It is important to understand the physical activity and why it is necessary to keep the body fit so that we can easily make others understand and persuade them to participate in the different support activities. It is also important to have complete knowledge of leisure studies. It is a branch of social science that helps us to understand and analyze the leisure. It helps us to learn how to incorporate leisure into recreational activities. In this way, people do not feel stressful and enjoy the sport fully. It gives a complete study of both traditional and non-traditionalsports including outdoor and indoor physical activities. 

The graduates, especially those with the degree in sports science, management or development or any other degree related to physical education can be a sort of advantage for the sports participation officer. However, these degrees are not necessary,and one can start its career without a postgraduate qualification, any degree or HND. Furthermore, some postgraduate skills are also available in sports development. Although a post-graduate degree is not required for the post of sports participation officer, some sports development officer does hold such qualifications. 

Moreover, it is important to have a knowledge of sports development and management, as it will help in the job to manage events, funds and budgets and develop the sports programs. It is also important to have a degree in physical education, sport in community and sport sciences or sport studies. However, these degrees are not so important but can help and improve chances to have this job and work in the relevant area and play specific roles as sports participation officer. Moreover, the experience related to the work is also essential, which can be gained through vacation employment or by working a paid assistant or volunteer in a sports centre.

The job of sports participation officer will also enhance my personal skill. Funding management and other problems need honesty. Most of the work done here is done within the circle of ethics. So, I am sure this job will not violate my work ethics. It will allow me to with determination and persistence and to work in harmony, developing a teamwork skill. 

Professional Development Plan

1. Reflection on development/skills evaluation

• Evidence of personal and professional development 

After meeting with senior sport officer, he highlights some skills which can help to get the required a professional designation. The senior mentor told that to be a professional sports manager there must be excellent communication skills, personal development skills as well as good team working skills. The mentor also highlights the importance of teamwork, interpersonal skills and others. 

The interpersonal skills may refer to the nonverbal, verbal and listening skills. The more will have these skills in sports assistance manager the more he will manage things and can negotiate. To be a professional sports manager, interpersonal skills must be in a person. Sports assistant manager should able to cultivate the right skills and must spend a great time with their players (Li & Guan, 2016). The sports manager should build string boundaries and trying to meet it up. As an assistant sports manager, the individual must spend a lot of time with their players and share them some of their most emotionally charged moments. The mentor highlights that build solid boundaries helps an assistant sports manager from frustration and disappointment. 

Interpersonal skills also include how to handle the situation. For a sports assistant manager, the worst and best situation could be wins and losses. To handle both situations the sports manager should evaluate the things. For example, when a team wins the audience appreciate all players and team manager for his equal sport while when team loss audience criticize both team and coach. Therefore to cope with this situation a sports assistant manager should encourage team players to be humble and do not validate their difficult feelings. The assistant sports manager should teach them how they can learn by this situation and avoid to make mistakes (Williams, Brown, Kitterlin, & Benjamin, 2018). A good interpersonal skill includes everything from communication skills to all attitude and deportment skills. After meeting with a mentor, it learns that interpersonal skills are very important in many positions in an organization. 

The primary responsibility of a sports manager is to build a strong team and strengthen their team working skills (Tsitskari, Goudas, Tsalouchou, & Michalopoulou, 2017). The mentor highlights that to be an effective sports manager an individual must have team working skills. The sports assistant must learn to their team players how they should work together and how they win in every situation. Team working skills required different ways and skills that help to develop a good team. Mentor suggests that self-access on skills can help me to achieve future goals and personal growth. While, top team working skills are communication, conflict management, listening skills and collaboration. 

To build an effective team, the sports assistant manager should have effective communication skills to convey his message and opinion (KeonYoo, Smith, & Kim, 2017). The assistant manager should able to convey information or message via email, phone or through a person. However, it must ensure that the tone of the coach must be polite, flexible, professional and always being friendly. It basically helps a sports manager to improve the performance of the team,and their skills as both verbal and nonverbal communication skills are important when to build a team. 

At the same time, the sports assistant manager should have a skill in conflict management. The conflict management refers to the skill to mediate problem within a team or an organization. In case there is any conflict between team members of the team so the assistant manager should negotiate with all team members and trying to solve. A good sports assistant manager skills clearly indicate the importance of team management. Another important skill under effective team management is listening skills. Listening skills under conflict management are very important (Ivashchenko, Yarmak, Galan, Nakonechnyi, & Zoriy, 2017). By asking questions from team members, demonstrating concerns and using nonverbal cues highlights effective listening skills.

The mentor accesses me that time management skills are also a very important skill to be a good professional in any organization. Time management refers to decide the priorities and objectives of an individual. For example, as a sports assistant manager, an individual has to set priorities and then makes decisions. For a sports assistant, the top priority should be team management and their regular coaching to get the desired outcomes. Then after that, the assistant sports officer make strategies on how to attain these objectives. Here, a goal-setting theory lies. The goal setting theory demonstrates that a theory which involves coming up challenging and achievable goals which time can be managed (Downes, Kristof-Brown, Judge, & Darnold, 2017). 

The major purpose of goal setting theory is to make a goal, set priorities and identify strategies to achieve those goals. However, to get the desired goals an individual must need to understand time management. 

Adaptability skills refer to the leadership skills in an individual. The mentor highlight that an assistant sports manager should need a work shadowing for self-development activities. Mainly an adaptability skill refers to the skills of a person to change his, action, attitude and approaches to doing new things according to the situation. Therefore, adaptability skills havecritical importance to get the things done. The assistant sports officer should focus on its learning ways and team member’s performance. In case, if team members continuously fail to grab the information and learning ways, then sports manager should change his action through adaptability skills. However, adaptability starts with awareness. 

In meeting with a mentor, he also highlights the importance of other skills such as confidence, communication skills, organization skills, enthusiasm and energy. 

• The student should refer to individual skills

To be a future professional developer and sports manager, it is important to evaluate and analyze an individual’s skills. The individual's skills give strengths to how to improve and development areas. 

There are numerous individual skills such as helping others, active listening, build rapport, active listening, problem-solving skills, positive attitude, honesty as well as integrity and to show loyalty. 

Active listening skills

The most important skill that I have to be a successful professional assistant coach manager is listening to skill. Mainly, active listening skill and respond can help me always to keep on the mind and be relaxed (Brownell, 2015). I have the ability to respond to a situation and being actively attentive. Effective listening skills help me in professional as well as personal development skills and employers looking for. An individual can easily break down the information into smaller parts and can easily interpret the message. An active assistant sports officer need to be an active listener as well to handle the situation and nature of communication. 

Positive attitude skill

Another most important skill for a sports officer is to behave positively and according to the situation. The worst situation for a coach is to face loss in the match. In that situation, an individual must be nice with his team members and assume the responsibility at the same time. I have skills of showing a positive attitude in best as well as in the worst situation and focus on how to respond. Although this is true that a negative attitude promotes fear, less focus on things while a positive attitude does the opposite. It involves a greater ability to understand and less fear. Different studies have shown that positive attitude allows an individual to make life seem broadway and full of possibilities (Knight, Skouteris, Townsend, & Hooley, 2017).  Showing a positive attitude allows team members to do respect and be polite to others. Therefore, to be a professional coach assistant I have a skill of showing a positive attitude. 

Honesty and integrity

To be a professional developer in the field of sports management I have an ability of honesty and integrity. It is truthful to everyone and every time with having strong moral principles. There is a skill to respond to any situation truthfully and positively. The theory of leadership says that if you want to be an effective leader in an organization, you should, to be honest, and showing integrity in actions. It will lead to a professional developer in future times. A great leader integer by standing about what they say and how they respond to the situation (Gergen & Hersted, 2016). Therefore, to be a professional assistant manager in sports industry an individual must keep with commitments, stay focuses, take responsibilities of doing things and surround self with honest people. 

Team management skills 

I have an effective skill of team management and problem-solving. I have the ability to handle all team members effectively and efficiently to learn how they can be a professional team player. Effective team management skills also include time management, problem solving and leadership skills. I have the ability to solve the problem chose the best solution to meet any complication. This shows how these skills help me to be a professional sports manager in further future time. 

• workplace diary and mentor evaluation Form

The workplace diary and mentor evaluation form is given below in appendices

2. Career development plan

To be a professional sports assistant officer in the sportsarea, this regard to the career development plan. The career development plan consists of various strategies and action plans. Mainly it depends on the short term, medium term and long term development goals. The career development plan consists of different sections like personal skills, chosen area for the career, and academic elements. 

• Chosen area

I have selected an area of the sports industry. I have select this area because I have different capabilities and skills regarding team management and coaching. It allows me to keep on individuals skills and aligned with organizational needs. The career which I have select will help me to learn a lot of things regarding leadership skills, problem-solving and enhance my current skills. Moreover, I have select this area for career development because I want to motivate such players who have abilities and skills of playing. Through this way, I will be able to make people realizewhat is the actual importance of games at national and international levels. 

The sports for coaching and assistance that I have selected give me quick abilities to work with different people of different backgrounds with varying levels of sporting ability.  This career will help me to enhance my skills and make me understand of psychology that underpins successful competition particular at senior coaching levels. It gives me enthusiasm, flexibility and patience. This career does not only helps me to enhance my interpersonal skills and communication skills but also helps me to enhance my motivational skills. It will help me to build a strong team and desire to help other people to succeed in professional life. Therefore, to enhance my existing skills in team management and learning, I have select this career as a development. 

• Personal, professional and academic elements

In order to achieve the required professional level, there is a need to have some personal, professional and academic development skills. I have done a qualification in sports science and sports studies. However, to be a professional participation sports officer, it takes a long time. to achieve the desired level, there is also need some skills and experienced such as training and development. 

The personal qualification and skills which will need to achieve this career are interest and enthusiasm for many sports. A participation sports manager should know about all sports and plays. Another important skill that a participation sports officer should have is team management. To effectively evaluate the teamwork at each level of the game. The primary objective of the participation sports officer is to assist all individuals to play as a team, notan individual. Sports manager also a part of the team; therefore, he must actlikethe same person and work closely. 

The personal skills to be a professional manager in the sports industry also include mastery and passion. I have skills of personal commitment, acquisition of knowledge and skills. Honesty and integrity are the top interpersonal skills that can help me in my career development plan. However, there is a need to flourish these skills to get the desired outcomes.  

Moreover, there is also a need to enhance professional development skills in the sports industry and career. As a professional developer, an individual must have business knowledge about sports. A successful sports manager have business knowledge,and that is relevant to the sports industry. Passion for the game is another professional development skill that a participation sports officer should have. Moreover, the participation sports manager should have innovation and level of creativity to get better-desired results. 

• Smart action plan

The career development should base on the SMARTapproaches, such as it should be specific, measurable, attainable, and realistic and finally, it should be time horizon. 

My career development plan or goal is specific. Specification of goal defines what actually a person want to achieve and what strategies to achieve that goal. Therefore, my specific goal is to be a participation sports officer in the sports industry and management. According to my specific goal objectives made and achieved. 

The goal that I have to plan is measurable; the measurable elements of my goal are the paths trough I will reach upon my goal. Similarly, the goal is attainable. Attainable is also called accepted. It is accepted by society and surrounding people in society. To be a professional sports manager, my goal is realistic. Finally, my goal is based on the time horizon. I have set a benchmark to attain my goal in 2 years, and this is enough time to achieve my suitable career place. 

• Short-term, medium and long term plans

The career development plan categorized into three categories such as short term, medium term and long term plan. 

Short-term plan

Short term medium plan of a career define the process of show results within one year. The short term plan of my life related to career to be a participation sports officer in the sports industry. In the near future,the short term medium plan converts into a medium-term development plan. 

Medium term plan

The medium-term development plan of participation sports manager is to how an individual will achieve this level. The medium-term plan will include what pathways and strategies will to achieve this level. This is howmedium-term plan can be achieved. 

Long term medium plan 

Moreover, the long term plan of my career is when I will achieve the level what future levels should be achieved. Therefore, both long term and short term medium plans are important in career development. 

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