50012 Recreation, sports and fitness program and service directors

What this occupation covers

Recreation, sports and fitness program and service directors plan, organize, direct, control and evaluate the operations of comprehensive recreational, sports and fitness programs and services, national or provincial sports governing agencies and professional athletic teams. They are employed by municipalities, community and private recreational and fitness organizations, sports governing agencies and professional athletic team organizations.

Official main duties

The NOC profile lists 9 main duties for this code.

• Plan, organize, direct, control and evaluate the operations of recreation, sports and fitness programs and services
• Provide technical and professional advice on recreation, sports and fitness matters
• Prepare budget estimates and develop policies and procedures to implement programs
• Manage the operations of a sports governing agency
• Organize and administer national and provincial training, coaching, officiating and other programs associated with a particular sport
• Manage the operations of a professional athletic team
• Recruit professional coaches and athletes
• Direct fundraising drives and arrange for sponsorships from public and private organizations
• Develop long range plans and negotiate business contracts.

Do not copy these lines into your reference letter. The letter has to describe what you actually did, in your employer’s words. DUTYPROOF flags wording lifted from the NOC as something to review, and an officer reading a letter that mirrors the NOC reads it the same way.

What DUTYPROOF screens for

This is DUTYPROOF’s screening threshold, not IRCC’s decision. For this NOC, screening requires at least 2 of its 9 official duties to be evidenced in your own words, plus the required letter elements. IRCC asks that you performed the actions in the occupation’s lead statement and a substantial number of its main duties — so treat the duty coverage as the number that matters, not the badge.

Same job title, a different TEER

These job titles are filed under 50012 and also under the code below, which sits at a different TEER level. TEER affects which immigration programs an application can use and how work experience is counted, so this is not a labelling detail.

Your job title does not decide your code. The duties your reference letter actually describes do — which is the one thing a search engine cannot check for you.

Codes this one is confused with

The NOC profile names these itself. Choosing the wrong code of a look-alike pair is the most common way genuine work experience fails to establish eligibility.

• 53201 Coaches
• 53202 Sports officials and referees

Excluded from this code

• Coaches (See 53201 Coaches)
• Program leaders and instructors in recreation, sport and fitness (See 54100 Program leaders and instructors in recreation, sport and fitness)
• Recreation, sports and fitness policy researchers, consultants and program officers (See 41406 Recreation, sports and fitness policy researchers, consultants and program officers)
• Sports officials and referees (See 53202 Sports officials and referees)

Job titles filed under this code

A title on this list does not by itself put your experience in this code — the duties in your letter decide that.

amateur sport manager · bingo hall manager · casino operations manager · cruise ship director · director of fitness administration - government · director of leisure · director of leisure and sports · director of recreation · director of recreation and sports · director of sports administration - government · director of sports and leisure · director of sports and recreation · entertainment, sports and leisure director · entertainment, sports and recreation director · fitness administration director - government · fitness centre manager · fitness club manager · fitness programs director · health club manager · health studio manager · horse racing director · leisure administrator · leisure administrator in chief · leisure and sports director

Employment requirements

• A university degree in recreology, physical education, sports administration or a related field or A college diploma in recreation management or sports administration is usually required.
• Several years of experience in an occupation related to recreation and sports administration, consulting or programming are usually required.
• Some directors of recreation may be required to have a Municipal Recreation Director's Certificate.
• Executive directors of sports governing agencies may be required to have coaching certification in a particular sport.