Apprenticeship as a sports and fitness specialist

At the start of the apprenticeship, you should have an intermediate school leaving certificate (Realschulabschluss). Good grades in German, English, mathematics and sport are also desirable.

Working hours are generally based on the opening hours of the gym and general university sports. This means that in exceptional cases you may have to work in the evenings or at weekends.

The apprenticeship to become a sports and fitness specialist has a dual structure. It lasts three years. Trainees work in the administration of the university's general sports department and in the university's own fitness studio "UNIfit", where they gain practical experience right from the start.

The theory is taught at the vocational school on certain days of the week. The vocational school is the Paul-Julius-von-Reuter-Schule in Kassel.

During the theory phase at vocational school, trainees in sports and fitness management learn all the important know-how from the fields of sport and fitness as well as business administration and law. On the one hand, this involves topics such as anatomy and exercise theory, and on the other, areas such as marketing and personnel management.

Sales and service management: What is the best way to sell a product - in this case a fitness course, for example? That's what this learning field is all about. The trainees train how to deal with customers; for example, how to handle complaints and how to give customers individual advice on the phone. It is also about concluding membership contracts and the various sales channels.

Sport and exercise: The topic of sport and exercise covers many areas: Here, trainees learn, for example, how bones, joints and muscles interact in the body or how the metabolism works. They are taught different training methods for individual training and group courses. They soon know how to create a training plan and are familiar with the special features of equipment training.

Marketing and event management: In this learning field, trainees gain an insight into the areas of marketing and event management. They learn about marketing strategies in order to create advertising concepts and select the right advertising media and cooperation partners. In the area of sports management, trainees receive instructions on planning sports events.

Operational safety and accounting: Topics such as commercial calculation, investment planning and administration are on the timetable here. It is also about compliance with sports-specific legal and administrative regulations. Sports and fitness managers should also know what action to take in the event of an accident.

A monthly training allowance is paid in accordance with Section 8 (1) of the collective agreement for trainees in the state of Hesse (TVA-H BBiG). This currently amounts to

EUR 1,126.85 in the 1st year of training

EUR 1,181.43 in the 2nd year of training

EUR 1,231.51 in the 3rd year of training

Athlete: Of course you should be physically fit and resilient. After all, as a sports and fitness specialist, you will be active in sports every day.

Organizational talent: A lot has to be organized to ensure that operations run smoothly in general university sports and in the fitness studio: Taking on and looking after customers, setting up the course program, finding staff - all of this also falls within your area of responsibility. You should therefore have a talent for organization.

Entertainer: It is an advantage if you are a good communicator and can approach people. For example, you should have no problem standing in front of a group of 20 people and demonstrating fitness exercises.