Math on the Job: Working in Sports

Math on the Job: Working in Sports — page 1 — Professional Sports Being involved in professional sports is exciting interesting and challenging Many children dream of becoming a professional athlete but there are many other interesting jobs within the field of professional sports Imagine you are a baseball player and you have been invited to a professional baseball team’s training camp You know the coaches will be watching you You wonder if you’ll perform well enough to be considered a prospect 4

Math on the Job: Working in Sports — page 2 — There are also opportunities for sports fans They know the players and the game and keep up-to-date on data from recent sports games There are ways to use your talents to help the team off the field You could become the team statistician Your job is to track the team’s performance watch for promising players and use mathematics to give the team management an advantage Your work helps build the team Are you a fan of many different sports How would you like to be a professional sports journalist You would watch the games then interview coaches and players afterward to get the story behind the big wins and heartbreaking losses What amazing ways to earn a living 5

Math on the Job: Working in Sports — page 3 — career 1 career 1 professional baseball player Some baseball players spend much of their childhood on the baseball diamond As they get older the game can become more competitive and only the top players may be chosen to join All-Star teams Top players who are graduating from high school may be invited to show off their skills at scouting camps At these camps scouts from college and university teams come to look for prospects or promising players who may be talented enough to play for their teams 6

Math on the Job: Working in Sports — page 4 — Think Like a Baseball Prospect Some colleges and universities offer athletic scholarships to top prospects to play for their teams Imagine you are a talented baseball pitcher You get invited to a scouting camp to show off your pitching skills to college and university scouts Pitch speed is the main thing that scouts measure and compare when searching for the best pitcher prospects Other things measured include the numbers of strikes and walks a pitcher throws Baseball scouts use radar guns to measure the speed of a pitcher’s fastball at a scouting camp 7

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