SPO101 Sports Management Report Sample 2

SPO101 Sports Management Report

Context:

Both Assessment 2 and 3 in this subject are connected in building towards the overall assessment goal – creating your own sport or modifying an existing sport. In Assessment 2 you will outline the future direction of your sport (Mission, Vision, Goals, SMART Objectives), the target market for the sport, the risks and rules of your sport, and conduct a SWOT Analysis of the sport you have created.

Instructions:

You are required to create a new sport or modify an existing sport for a new market. This could be an individual or team based sport. You should write from the perspective of the new Governing Body and outline the sport you have designed, including:

• Introduction to the sport – name, brief concept, season or time of year

• The target market – who will play this new sport and why?

• Mission and Vision Statements – what is the mission and vision of this new sport?

• Goals and SMART Objectives – how will you establish this sport in the next 3-5 years?
  (You should have at least three goals, and each goal requires SMART Objectives).

• SWOT Analysis – table format with a minimum of five factors in each of the four segments, followed by a brief summary of the information in the table.

• Risk Management Table – identify at least five potential risks and strategiesto minimise them.

• Proposed Rules for the sport including scoring and how to win.

• Equipment and Uniforms required to play and to minimise risks.

• Proposed schedule or competition for the first year – what will you offer in the first year to allow your target market to play this sport?

• Conclusion – convince the reader that this sport has a future.

Use appropriate referencing to acknowledge all sources utilised in your report. It is   expected  that you will draw heavily on your learning from Modules 1, 2 and 3 in this subject to complete your paper.

Solution

Introduction 

The report here aims to modify an existing sport, that is, Aikido, that has decreased in popularity in the recent years. Aikido was founded in 1942 in Japan by Morihei Ueshiba (Budo Dragon, 2020). According to MBA Assignment Experts Like other martial arts, Aikido demands physical exertion and mindful concentration. It is considered as a compassionate practice providing a social human tough along with spiritual perspectives to the players. The translation of Aikido is path or do and union or ai with life energy or ki (Lukoff & Strozzi-Heckler, 2017). Here, it involves working together with a partner instead of fighting, sparring or grappling the opponent as generally observed in competitive tournaments. Aikido is based on the philosophy of the founder that is described as “the way of harmony”.  This sport can be played throughout all seasons and time of the year. It has been selected for the report because of its decreasing popularity to other martial arts like Jiu-Jitsu and MMA (Canaria, 2015).

Target Market 

The target market of this sport will consist of men, women and children aged between 12 to 35 years. 

Fig 1: Population by Age

(Source: Gold, 2020)

It has been observed that attracting and retaining young people as aikido practitioners have been difficult in the recent years. This is clearly evident from the fact that the US contains only 2% practitioners below age of 24 and 4.8% age of 30 (Jacobs, 2020). 

Fig 2: Gender Balance

(Source: Gold, 2020)

Besides, the female population is also lower in this sports community across the world. Thus, the primary focus would be to attract young people and female individuals in this sport. In addition, the target market will also include Asian markets, mixed ethnicities and Black people.

Mission and Vision Statements 

The vision of the sport will be to teach individuals about the principles of balance of energies, way of harmony and respect for partner by involving men, women and children. This will be achieved by the mission of teaching various Aikido techniques through the basic principles of martial arts (Lukoff & Strozzi-Heckler, 2017). These include movements, seizures, dodging and distances for tackling work with bare hand techniques, projections and other weapons. 

Goals and SMART Objectives 

Below represents the three fundamental goals that will be targeted for modifying Aikido’s scenario in the next 3-5 years. These goals will be accompanied by various SMART objectives that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound.

First Goal: Spreading the Aikido sports in more than 5 countries, namely, Australia, Thailand, South Korea, Mexico and New Zealand

Here, the objectives for achieving the goal will be:

• Conducting international competition of Aikido sports by involving various countries,
• Enhancing marketing and communication activities about this sport in the said countries through digital media,
• Opening up more than 10 to 25 schools in each country within 3 years,
• Increasing advertising expenditure by 10% for spreading awareness about Aikido

Second Goal: Ensuring that around at least 50% of the Aikido practitioners belong in the age group of 12 to 30 years

• Introducing Aikido as extra curriculum activity in more than 35% of schools and 25% colleges or universities within 4 years,
• Assigning extra credits to this sport in such schools for attracting young people within the next four years

Third Goal: Increasing the popularity of this sport amongst children, men and women irrespective of their geographical locations

• Conducting Aikido awareness programs in public places, schools, colleges, supermarkets and auditoriums,
• Giving one week of free classes in each community school of different target markets within 4 years,
• Increasing number of Aikido practitioners in local, state and national competitions by 30%, 45% and 50% respectively within the next 5 years

SWOT Analysis 

From the above table it is evident that Aikido sport consists of various strengths and limitations in terms of a physical sport or activity. These include providing a spiritual mindfulness to individuals along with causing harms without unsupervised training. It has various opportunities of expanding in different countries, but faces intense competition and decreasing popularity in the recent years.

Risk Management Table 

Proposed Rules 

There are various rules or regulations that should be practiced with regards to Aikido sport. This sport should be taking place in a dojo or training facility involving two participants. Any woman, man or individual can undergo this training irrespective of their age as it does not require any intense physical strength. Furthermore, the practitioners or participants of Aikido should refrain from folding their arm sleeves inside the Dojo and should not also lean their back on the walls (DeMarco, 2016). While the former shows a symbol of disagreement, the second one is against the rule. Here, the practitioner is further required to make a semi-venia before beginning the training, at the starting of each fight and further at the end of such fight. In addition, the practitioners should only be using defensive techniques instead of attacking ones as pointed under Aikido.

Equipment and Uniforms 

The practitioners of Aikido will be wearing their special uniform named Aikido Gi. This includes wearing simple and baggy trousers along with a wrap jacket or robe in white or off white colour with short sleeves and a belt. These short sleeves are specified as they help participants in practicing their wrist locks alongside performing swift movements through these loose-fitting clothes (Ryde Aikido, 2022). Here, the pants will be dark or light coloured and the uniform should always be clean. Female students can wear white t-short or sports top under their wrap jacket or dogi. Other items that will be included are wooden staff or Jo, tanto, Shoto and Bokto.

Proposed Schedule or Competition 

In the first year, competition will be conducted between different training centres, states and inter-school or inter-college. It will help in increasing the interest of young individuals in participating in Aikido competition for representing their schools, colleges, universities or training centres. Students succeeding in these local competitions will be given a certificate of award, certain percentage of reward money, opportunity of training at a renowned facility and participating in the state level competition. On the other hand, other candidates will continue to receive training and enhance their Aikido efficiency by getting extra training classes every weekend.

Conclusion 

The purpose of the report was to modify an existing sport named Aikido for a new market. For this purpose, a brief background and concept of the sport or martial art was provided in the introduction section. The target market was identified as consisting of men, women and children belonging to the age group of 12 to 35 years. Furthermore, the mission and vision statements were provided for this sport. Goals were displayed followed by specific SMART objectives for achieving them. SWOT analysis helped in identifying potential risks, which were followed by mitigation strategies. Lastly, proposed rules, equipment and uniforms and competition for first year were provided in this report. 

References

Baldwin, H. R. (2019). A review of the benefits and risks associated with the practice of martial arts. International Journal of Martial Arts, 5, 62-75.

Boguszewski, D., Suchcicka, B., Grzegorz Adamczyk, J., & Białoszewski, D. (2013). The functional efficiency and incidence of injuries in men practicing aikido. Pilot study. Journal of Combat Sports & Martial Arts, 4(1), 67-73. https://doi.org/10.5604/20815735.1073629 

Budo Dragon. (2020). Why Aikido has lost popularity? A look into the decline of Aikido. https://budodragon.com/why-aikido-has-lost-popularity/#Aikido_has_a_passive_philosophy 
Canaria, K. (2015). How Aikido’s Loss It’s Popularity Because Of Jiu-Jitsu And MMA. https://jiujitsutimes.com/how-aikidos-loss-its-popularity-because-of-jiu-jitsu-and-mma/ 

DeMarco, M. (2016). Aikido: O-Sensei's Sublime Synthesis, Vol. 1. Via Media Publishing.

Gold, J. (2020). Aikido Demographics: A Special Report. https://aikidojournal.com/2020/12/11/aikido-demographics-a-special-report/ 

Jacobs, M. (2020). Report Shows Aikido in Severe Decline. https://blackbeltmag.com/aikido-decline 

Kimmel, M., & Rogler, C. R. (2018). Affordances in interaction–the case of Aikido. Ecological Psychology, 30(3), 195-223. https://doi.org/10.1080/10407413.2017.1409589 

Lukoff, D., & Strozzi-Heckler, R. (2017). Aikido: A martial art with mindfulness, somatic, relational, and spiritual benefits for veterans. Spirituality in Clinical Practice, 4(2), 81-91. https://doi.org/10.1037/scp0000134 

Ryde Aikido. (2022). Uniforms & Equipment. https://rydeaikido.org/classes/uniforms-equipment/ 

Szabolcs, Z., Szabo, A., & Köteles, F. (2019). Acute psychological effects of aikido training. Baltic Journal of Sport and Health Sciences, 1(112), 42-49. https://doi.org/10.33607/bjshs.v112i1.778 

Vitale, J. A., Bassani, T., Galbusera, F., Bianchi, A., & Martinelli, N. (2018). Injury rates in martial arts athletes and predictive risk factors for lower limb injuries. The Journal of sports medicine and physical fitness, 58(9), 1296-1303. https://doi.org/10.23736/S0022-4707.17.07536-3