entertaining your community

Introduction

Councils run leisure or sports centres for use by the local community. They own the premises, but often contract out the organisation of activities and maintenance of the building to private contractors under Compulsory Competitive Tendering/Best Value Monitoring.

Leisure assistants (sometimes known as recreation attendants or sports centre assistants) work in all ‘dry side’ areas of the centre - and sometimes in the swimming pool areas, but only if they are appropriately qualified.

They work for district/borough, unitary and metropolitan councils.

Work Environment

A normal working week is 37-40 hours on a shift pattern that includes days, evenings and weekends. Typical shifts could be from 8.30-3pm or 3pm-11.30pm.

The work is mainly indoors although some centre may have outdoor tennis courts or pitches that can be used for football, basketball or hockey.

Daily Activities

Leisure assistants’ duties vary on different days. Some centres employ receptionists to staff the reception desk, answer the telephone, take bookings and hire out equipment like racquets and sell tickets. In others, leisure attendants take turns at working in reception. They will know in advance where they will be working - through reading a duty sheet worked out by the duty manager.

At the beginning of each shift they go to the area they have been assigned to and prepare it for the first session’s activities. These could be sports like badminton or table tennis, activities such as circuit training, indoor team sports, trampolining or ‘tumble tots’ ‘gymnastics’ for small children or sports in the outdoor area.

The work is very physical and includes setting up and moving trampolines, portable goal posts and nets for racquet games. They might have to prepare an area for use by a craft fair or public meeting and set out tables and chairs.

They supervise the area, explain the use of facilities and make sure that customers know how to use them safely. They may have to intervene and tell someone that they are behaving dangerously. At the end of a session, they have to dismantle everything and store it in the correct place.

They might also take turns to work in the cafes and bars, serving food and drinks and run children’s birthday parties - organising games and supervising tea.

Their general duties around the centre include cleaning changing rooms, general areas and toilets.

Skills & Interests

Leisure assistants need a keen interest in all kinds of sports and fitness activities. They must be physically fit and have plenty of stamina.

They must like working with people and be able to deal with them diplomatically. But they must be capable of being firm when necessary.

Entry Requirements

There are no specified requirements although most councils expect a good standard of general education including GCSE/S grade passes in English and maths.

Many entrants have higher qualifications, such as GNVQs/GSVQs and BTEC/SQA National Certificates in relevant subjects.

Holding a first aid certificate may be an advantage.

Apprenticeships in Sport and Recreation may be available.

Training is given on the job and staff are encouraged to work towards recognised qualifications, such as those offered by the Institute of Leisure and Amenity Management (ILAM) and Institute of Sport and Recreation Management (ISRM) (see ‘further information’).

S/NVQs in Sport and Recreation are available at Levels 1 and 2; and in Coaching and Activity Delivery (for both adults and children) and Facility Operations at Level 2.

Estimated salary range

£10,278 - £13,044.

Part-timers are paid an hourly rate of around £5.00

There are opportunities for overtime and enhancements for weekend working.

Please note that salary information is a guide only and there may be local agreements in place. For further information about salaries for particular positions, please contact your local council directly.

Future prospects & opportunities

Leisure is an expanding area of employment. There are council-owned sports centres or swimming pools in most towns.

Some recreation assistants work for fitness qualifications and transfer over to work in fitness centres or gyms, which are often in the leisure centre complex. Or they might qualify as coaches in individual sports or as aerobics instructors and take classes.

For leisure assistants who are also prepared to work for supervisory qualifications there are prospects of promotion to duty manager and to centre manager.

Related Occupations

Follow this link to view a list of all related occuptions in Entertaining Your Community.
Alternatively, follow this link to view all career profiles placed in the same job area.

Further Information & Services

Institute of Leisure and Amenity Management www.ilam.co.uk

SkillsActive www.skillsactive.com

Institute of Sport and Recreation Management www.isrm.co.uk

Apprenticeship information www.apprenticeships.org.uk

You may find further information about this area of work in your local Connexions service/careers office/school careers library - under MA.

What should I do next?

Look for current local government Leisure Attendant vacancies in the following places:

• LGjobs.com - the official recruitment website for local government.
• Weekly, bi-weekly or monthly jobs bulletins produced by local councils themselves, available from libraries, community centres, town halls/main civic buildings and central council personnel departments.
• Local council websites.
• Local newspapers
• National newspapers - The Guardian is particularly well known for its public sector job advertisements on a Wednesday.

Find out about the council and get some work experience if possible by:

• Making the most of work experience placements arranged through your school, college or university.
• Contacting councils close to your home to find out about the work experience opportunities they offer.
• Talking to someone who does the job you are interested in - ring your local council to see if someone can spare some time.
• Making an appointment to see a careers adviser for more specific information about jobs and training.