1.1 Definition and presentation

Coaching consists of personalized support aimed at helping customers achieving a specific goal. It is possible to find coaches in different fields, including personal and professional development, and sport. In the latter case, coaches usually work in two different areas: either fitness room or home-based, depending on whether they are employees or self-employed.

The global market for sports coaching is expected to grow by $9.07 billion during the period 2021-2025, progressing at a CAGR of 4.83%.

In 2018, almost the 35.3% of the Italian population was considered to be a regular or occasional sports practitioner. Even if this proportion counted for 20.7 million of Italian citizens, a significant part of the population did not carry out the minimum recommended level of physical activity. On average, adults should exercise at least thirty minutes each day, five days per week, while youngers one hour per day. However, due to other impediments including work, as people get older, they find it objectively difficult to perform physical activities on a daily basis. These negative facts are also reflected in the average amount of money spent by Italian families to do sport annually, which counts only for the 2.3% of total Italian consumptions.

Surprisingly, the pandemic played a positive impact on the proportion of people practicing physical activities. Most declared they wanted to exercise while being home because of the beneficial effects on both physical and mental health. Consequently, having experienced positive results for the well-being, a vast majority of the population continued to train even after lock-down was released. In addition, as the situation was still critical, only a part of the population decided to go back to gyms and fitness centers, while a relevant part opted for personal trainers who delivered home service.

Therefore, following the increasing demand for home services to practice physical activity, the profession of sports coach is evolving towards more personalized offers.

1.2 Global Market

The sports coaching market is poised to grow by $**,***.** million over ****-****, accelerating at a CAGR of *.**% during the forecast period. The market is driven by increasing government initiatives, technological integration in sports coaching, and increasing demand for sports coaches [***].

The sports coaching field is expected to continue performing well in ...

1.2 Italian Market

The economic value created by sports coaching services can be consulted on the istat website, taking the following ateco code as a reference: **.**.** – Sports and recreational courses, which includes the activities of:

sports training (***) sports training centres and camps gymnastics courses riding courses or schools swimming courses sports instructors, teachers, and ...

1.3 Impact Covid-19

The closures and limitations of gyms have forced all operators to reorganize: this situation has been seen as an opportunity to experiment with online or distance coaching. Online coaching, in fact, allows one to manage one's current clients but also to expand one's clientele, providing a diversified source of income when ...

2.1 The practice of sport in Italy

In Italy, only **.* percent of people aged * years and over practice sport continuously, some **.* million. The highest percentage is recorded for those who practice neither sport nor physical activity, a total of **.* million. It was also seen that almost * out of ** children practice sport when both parents are regulars, compared to ...

2.2 The numbers of federal sporting activity

THE FEDERATIONS WITH THE MOST REGISTERED ATHLETES IN **** Football Tennis Volleyball Basketball Athletics THE FEDERATIONS WITH MORE SPORTS CLUBS IN **** Football Volleyball Basketball Tennis Cycling AMONG THE DSA THAT HAVE MORE ATHLETES AND MORE SPORTS CLUBS, RESPECTIVELY. Checkers Sports billiards The ranking of the most widespread federations in Italy in almost ...

2.3 Italians' interest in the fitness world

The ** percent of Italian respondents answer to the Statista survey on "Fitness and health service purchases" with "Gym membership". The personal trainer option counts just the *% of the respondents. The survey was conducted in ****, among *,*** consumers, between **-** years old.

Fitness and health service purchase Italy, ****, in % Source: ****

As Italy tops ...

2.4 New Fitness trends after the pandemic

To find out what habits have become and how they have changed over the course of a year, *,*** sportsmen and sportswomen (***) from *** countries worldwide were interviewed.

The first and clearest result was that the most popular trend in **** was outdoor activities. Indeed, **.* percent of respondents chose outdoor activities such as running, ...

3.1 Structure of the Italian Market of sport coaching

Based on the ateco code described earlier in part *.*, it was possible to derive the number of practitioners of sports and recreational coaching services in Italy, from **** to the last updated year of ****. We can see from the graph a steady growth, dampened in the year **** by the advent of the ...

3.2 Federal sporting coach

The figure of the sports coach comes in various guises, there is the fitness coach who refers to the figure of the personal trainer, practicing both within sports facilities and at home, and coaches associated with a regulated sport, related to the federal sports world, e.g. football coach, volleyball coach ...

3.3 Professional fitness coach

A professional fitness coach is a professional in the field of fitness and exercise, most often instructor (***), including professionals sports club's fitness trainers and aerobics and yoga instructors and authors of fitness instruction books or manuals [***].

In all, there are ***,*** fitness instructors who help gym-goers find the right type of workout. ...

3.4 Major players in the provision of sports coaching services

Corresponding to ateco code **.**.**, there are the largest Italian sports centres whose offer is very diverse, from swimming courses to motorbike sports instruction.

The table below shows the largest companies in this role:

4.1 Analysis of the sporting coach figure

Coaching is a practice that is also becoming increasingly popular in the world of sport, where it is called Sports Coaching and focuses on all situations related to motivation, concentration, performance anxiety, improving technique, and more. The goal is to unlock the athlete's full potential. Put another way, coaching is a ...

4.2 Cost of the service

The range is very varied: it starts at a minimum of **–** euros and goes up to *** euros for an hour's lesson. There are several factors that influence the price of a session with a gym trainer, including education, the level of specialization, the type of client and training, the time required ...

4.3 How is the figure of the sports coach evolving?

In the past, the coach was seen as a mother technician, with tasks limited to athletic preparation and choice of formation. However, this conception has changed, and today the coach is seen as a true leader, with a strategic vision and ability to manage group dynamics.

As an example, we can ...

5.1 Regulation

The new provisions on sports work for amateurs and professionals:

On * January ****, the new provisions contained in Legislative Decree No. *** of * October **** aimed at a reorganization and reform of Italian sports regulations will come into force.

Last * November, the following was published in the Official Gazette Legislative Decree no. *** of * October ...