Cost of competing.
add to it a crippling exchange rate as a South African wanting to match up against athletes at an international level and it becomes a daunting task. Having spoken to a number of athletes in a variety of sporting codes, many don't know what they need for or are currently spending in a year.
Building a budget will give you a better idea how to plan your calendar which may have to include prioritising events/trips or equipment in order of necessity. Having a budget will also show you the investment you will be making in yourself and in turn assist you when making partnership decisions. It must be noted that the amount of expenses is not your value to a brand.
Building your budget can start with four pillars:
Training
Competing
Recovery
Living
Click for Spreadsheet template to assist you getting started.
includes itemising what you need in order to actually do your sport, equipment, coaching, alternative exercise (gym/swimming pool contract), nutrition, equipment services and a sports psychologist.
is vitally important to any athlete, this may come in the expense of recovery shakes or supplements, massages or physiotherapy, perhaps you have invested in airtec boots or electro therapy units.
is everything around each event, entry fee, travel expenses (flights, fuel, visa), accommodation, car rental, food. This needs to be itemised for every event in order to way up the opportunity against the cost if budget is limited.
is everything in your day to day, rent, car payments, insurance, medical aid, food, cellphone contracts, spending money. Although not related to your sport it is still apart of life and needs to be noted in order to know what you need to be aiming for to be a full time professional athlete.
Once these figures have been identified it will show you what you looking at spending in a year. You then need to look at refining the number into absolute necessity versus “nice to have” and in doing so work out what is the best strategy for your career in terms of events to attend should you not have the full budget to cover everything.
We want to reiterate, your expenses are not your value to a brand. You need to be able to justify your value with a true offering of realistic and measurable return on investment for a brand - for more on this read through our previous article “knowing your value”. You will more than likely be needing assistance from a number of brands in order to help cover the costs. The budget is also a good way to show yourself what really costs you in a year and where you should be focusing your energy to partner with particular brands for the products/services they offer.
You should start by minimising your expenses through product support of the bigger items and build your way into financial contributions. Your forecasted budget is going to be constantly updated as the expenses are incurred or partnerships formed and expenses alleviated.
We hope what we have shared will help you on your sporting career journey. We are going to continue sharing knowledge from our own experiences as well as those of industry member and both past and present athletes to try assist you in your career.
Should you have any queries or be interested in the service we offer, please don’t hesitate to drop us a message: info@onemovement.co.za