Making sports and play available to everyone: parks, pools, camps, PE classes, rec centers, and therapy through play.
Top pay: highest pay, longest training
Parks and Recreation Director: Leads a city or county parks department: parks, pools, sports leagues, community centers, and events. Typical pay $110k.
YMCA or Rec Nonprofit Executive Director: Leads a YMCA, Boys & Girls Club, or similar nonprofit that runs sports, swimming, camps, and youth programs. Typical pay $120k.
Sports Commission Executive: Attracts big sporting events like tournaments, marathons, and championships to a city to boost tourism. Typical pay $110k.
Mid pay: solid pay, degree or apprenticeship
Recreational Therapist: Uses sports, games, arts, and outdoor activities to help people with illness, injury, or disability recover and live fuller lives. Typical pay $58k.
Physical Education Teacher: Teaches students fitness, sports skills, and healthy habits in schools. Typical pay $64k.
Recreation Supervisor: Runs a recreation center or set of community programs: leagues, classes, and events. Typical pay $55k.
Aquatics Director: Manages pools and water programs: lifeguards, swim lessons, and safety. Typical pay $55k.
Summer Camp Director: Runs a summer camp, from hiring counselors to keeping campers safe and happy. Typical pay $55k.
Campus Recreation Director: Runs a university's rec center, intramural sports, club sports, and fitness programs. Typical pay $72k.
Pickleball Director: Runs the pickleball program at a club or resort, organizing leagues, clinics and tournaments and giving lessons to players of all levels. Typical pay $58k.
Racquets Director: Leads the tennis, pickleball and squash programs at a country club or resort, hiring coaches, teaching lessons and running member events. Typical pay $85k.
Community Center Manager: Runs a city or nonprofit community recreation center, scheduling youth sports, senior fitness and camps and managing staff and the building. Typical pay $60k.
Paintball Field Operator: Runs a paintball or airsoft field, managing referees, rental gear, safety rules, and big themed games on weekends. Typical pay $55k.
Starter: fastest way in
Recreation Worker: Leads activities like sports, games, crafts, and fitness at rec centers, camps, and after-school programs. Typical pay $34k.
Lifeguard: Watches swimmers at pools, beaches, and waterparks and rescues people in trouble. Typical pay $31k.
Camp Counselor: Lives with and leads a group of kids at summer camp, running activities and keeping them safe. Typical pay $26k.
Swim Instructor: Teaches toddlers, kids and adults how to swim and stay safe in the water at swim schools, YMCAs and city pools. Typical pay $30k.
Amusement and Recreation Attendant: Runs activities at bowling alleys, trampoline parks, golf ranges, and amusement parks. Typical pay $30k.
Golf Course Starter and Ranger: Keeps golfers on schedule, sends groups off the first tee, and patrols the course. Typical pay $29k.
Bowling Pinsetter Mechanic: Maintains and repairs the giant machines that reset pins at bowling alleys. Typical pay $42k.
Youth Sports League Coordinator: Organizes youth sports leagues: registration, schedules, referees, and fields. Typical pay $42k.
Intramural Sports Coordinator: Runs intramural sports leagues at a college, scheduling student teams, training student referees, and handling disputes and safety. Typical pay $48k.
Disc Golf Course Designer: Designs disc golf courses for cities, parks and private landowners, laying out holes, tee pads and baskets and test-throwing each one. Typical pay $40k.
Bowling Center Manager: Manages a bowling center, running leagues and parties, supervising staff and the snack bar, and keeping lanes and pinsetters working. Typical pay $50k.
Playground Safety Inspector: Inspects playgrounds at parks and schools for hazards like unsafe surfaces and gaps that can trap children, and writes reports on what to fix. Typical pay $50k.
Shooting Range Safety Officer: Runs the firing line at a shooting range, giving safety briefings, calling ceasefires, and stepping in when someone handles a gun unsafely. Typical pay $36k.
Square Dance Caller: Calls out the moves for square and contra dances in real time, teaching beginners and keeping a whole room of dancers moving to the music. Typical pay $24k.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.