Development of Soft Skills in Sports Management

Significance of the study. In Russian sports industry, little attention is paid to the development of soft skills. Applicants who want to work in sports can get a great competitive advantage over others if they impose advanced soft skills. To the current employees, soft skills will help in career growth and simplification of solutions to everyday tasks. Problem statement. A limited number of studies have been conducted in Russia on the development of soft skills. Therefore, key skills are not defined. Today, the industry needs competent specialists more than ever, not only knowing and understanding the sport, but also possessing the knowledge and skills of a professional manager. Solutions. The study was conducted in the VTB United League. This is a basketball league, consisting of 13 teams from 5 countries. A survey was conducted among the team workers on the identification of important and developed soft skills. After that, the data was analyzed, and a conformity model was created. Based on that, the recommendations were presented. Conclusion. According to the results of the study, two directions were selected: recommendations for the development of educational programs and recommendations for the development of skills, which turned out to be underdeveloped on the basis of conformity model. The recommendations are practically significant for future employees of the sports industry, universities ready to implement the educational program, as well as for VTB United League workers whose skills need to be developed.