The sports industry is rarely named among the top places for tech writers to work. But, actually, there’s a lot of technical communication going on there. Today, let’s take a look at what a technical writer is needed for in the sports industry.

User Manuals and Standards for Sports Equipment

Technologically speaking, sports equipment can vary in its complexity. But the first impression can be deceitful. Even producing soccer balls for official tournaments is a serious process. Soccer fans would know that every serious championship has legends about the official equipment. Some soccer balls are known to defy physics and move with unbelievable trajectory curves!

Each piece of sports equipment needs standards. They are often reviewed and changed in accordance with the new requirements — here’s one way for a tech writer to be part of the sports industry. Another thing is creating user manuals for more complex stuff, like a biathlon rifle or a fencing sword.

Visualizing Data

To be a successful athlete or coach, one should analyze a lot of data. Naturally, it is unsystematized and scattered across different resources. Technical writers can help make things clear and visible. Sports infographic can be used in presentations and as a theoretical basis during training to help athletes and coaches stay on top of their game. Besides that, the ability to work with statistics and turn it into easy-to-understand graphs can help you kick start your own sports-themed blog.

User Manuals for Sports Apps

Special apps are being developed for many sports. They are created for different purposes, like:

• Storing and analyzing data.
• Helping coaches build training sessions based on pre-recorded material.
• Tracking fitness activity of athletes.
• Helping with team management — choosing tactics, collecting payments, notifying players, sharing locations.
• Notifying about sports news, results, and events — such apps are getting info from multiple sources and delivering it to their users.
• Broadcasting sports events.
• Providing a platform for purchasing and exchanging tickets.
• Hosting video recordings of athletes for comparison. Works great for sports where precise technique is required like gymnastics, ski jumping, or to work on certain moves in practically any sports!
• etc.

There are definitely many more app types on this market. But even just scratching the surface gives a nice overview. All these apps require user manuals, as any other app would. And, we see that more apps are being built, which leads to increasing demand for technical writing.

Conclusion

The sports industry is another place where you can unleash your tech writing potential. Are you a sports fan or an athlete yourself? Even better! This is a great opportunity to be part of something you enjoy and make a living from it.

This is one of the most awesome things about being a tech comm pro — your skills are demanded across so many professional fields. If you feel like you want to change things around without the need to start from scratch, you can do that by simply choosing a different industry.

Good luck with your technical writing!
ClickHelp Team
Author, host and deliver documentation across platforms and devices