Sports management is the process of planning, organising, staffing, directing, controlling and evaluating every activity connected with a sporting event or a sports organisation. In a school or college setting it covers everything from framing the annual sports calendar to arranging equipment, forming committees, drawing fixtures and publishing results. Good management is what allows a competition to run safely and fairly; poor management is the single most common reason school tournaments collapse.
Committees are formed before, during and after a tournament. Pre-event committees handle publicity, entries, finance, grounds and equipment. During the event, the committees for officials, first aid, refreshments and the announcement of results take over. After the event, the committees for prize distribution, accounts and reporting complete the work.
A tournament is a series of contests conducted to determine a winner. The two basic forms are the knock-out tournament and the league or round-robin tournament, and combination forms are built from these two.
A fixture is the programme that shows which team plays which, and when. Drawing fixtures correctly is the most frequently examined part of this unit.
Intramural comes from intra meaning within and muros meaning walls: these are competitions conducted within the walls of one institution, among its own students. Their aim is mass participation, health, recreation, discipline and the identification of talent. Extramural competitions are held outside the institution, between different institutions, and aim at higher standards of performance, exposure and sportsmanship.
Community sports programmes bring physical activity to people outside formal education — run for fun events, sports days, health awareness rallies and yoga camps. Specific sports programmes include events such as Sports Day, Health Run, Run for Unity, Run for Fun and Run for a Specific Cause, each of which combines participation with a social message.