Sports Associate Director

APPLY BY FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2026

The Sports Associate Director is an energetic leader who loves to build relationships to serve as the Sports Associate Director to help lead our sports programs in conjunction with the Regional Sports Director at the Jerry Long Family YMCA location.

The Y is the starting point for many youth to develop healthy habits that they will carry with them throughout their lives. The benefits are far greater than just physical health. Sports at the Y is about building the whole child, from the inside out, developing confidence, positive relationships, good sportsmanship, and teamwork. The focus on healthy habits and positive experiences carries over into adult sports programs as well.

The Sports Associate Director engages staff, volunteers, and participants to develop, maintain, and grow a variety of mission-based sports programs that are diverse in terms of ages (pre-school to adult) and level of competition (developmental to competitive). The Associate Director also works with Engagement Directors at the home branch and affiliated branches to maximize involvement and engagement of sports participants and their families in other areas of the Y. The ideal candidate is flexible, innovative, organized, and personable, adept at both administration and programming.

Schedule: Varies according to season and program needs. Evenings and weekends required.

Essential Functions
Serve as Lead Site Supervisor for all youth and adult sports programs ensuring practices and games begin and end on time, monitoring weather and field conditions to make appropriate cancellation decisions to ensure participant and staff safety, and officiating games as needed.
Serve as lead contact for parents and volunteers for the branch. Responsible for returning voicemails and emails in a timely manner and reporting any communication needed to the Regional Sports Director.
Serve as Lead Coach and main contact for all pre-school sports programs such as but not limited to Rookie Basketball, Rookie Soccer, Rookie Football and Rookie T-Ball.
Recruits, screens, and trains youth sports volunteer coaches to lead teams of participants each season and ensure these volunteer coaches adhere to the YMCA Code of Conduct.
Leads all aspects of highly efficient and effective sports officials’ team including but not limited to recruiting, hiring, training, developing, scheduling and holding staff accountable on a daily basis.
Conducts coach’s meetings for youth sports as well as orientations and captain’s meetings for adult sports programs.
Follows registration calendar timeline that includes coach’s meetings, orientations, captain’s meetings, roster and jersey distribution, practice and game dates and make up dates while communicating these timelines with coaches, captains, participants and staff.
Communicates with the Regional Sports Director as needed for financial support and transactions related to activities such as coordinating refunds and other financial questions.
Ensures equipment is well-maintained, safe to use and properly inventoried after each season and completes all necessary field and court markings which include but are not limited to soccer, flag football, baseball, volleyball and basketball.
Supports philanthropy and Annual Impact in the process of everyday sports participant engagement. Helps lead sports staff to tell the Y story, and identifies Annual Impact Fund volunteers and prospects.
Completes reports, assignments and projects in a timely manner as well as attends meetings as needed.
Other duties as assigned.

Supervisory Responsibilities
Provides supervision to sports employees in tandem with the Regional Sports Director. Carries out supervisory responsibilities in accordance with the organization’s policies and applicable laws. Supervisory responsibilities include interviewing, hiring, training, role-playing, modeling, appraising performance and taking corrective action, if necessary; addressing employee complaints and resolving issues.

We Take Care of Our People
We're passionate about fostering health and wellness for all, and we have a comprehensive benefits package that has been thoughtfully designed to prioritize your well-being. 

Health Insurance: We provide comprehensive health coverage, including medical, dental, and vision plans, to ensure the well-being of our employees. 
Retirement Savings Plan: We offer a 12% employer-funded retirement plan upon meeting eligibility, empowering employees to plan for their future. 
Paid Time Off: Work-life integration is important to us, which is why we provide up to 48 days of paid time off over vacation, holidays, and sick leave. 
Additional Perks: Employee household membership to facilities operated by the YMCA of Northwest North Carolina and discounts on programs throughout the association. 

Associate’s degree (A.A.) or equivalent from a two-year college or technical school; or one to three years of experience and/or training.
1-2+ years of experience leading staff and/or volunteers strongly preferred.
Prior experience playing/coaching/refereeing organized sports, particularly basketball, soccer, volleyball, football and/or baseball strongly preferred.
CPR/First Aid/AED – must obtain certification within first 90 days of employment and maintain a current certification thereafter.
Strong ability to develop innovative programming for participant retention and revenue growth.
Strong ability to recruit, retain, and coach staff; while fostering a positive team atmosphere.
Exemplifies a proactive, hands-on approach, as well as a professional work ethic.
Ability to work a non-traditional schedule including majority nights and weekends.
Strong interpersonal, organization and communication skills.
Energetic, devoted, mission driven, team oriented individual.
Bilingual (English/Spanish) is a plus.
Ability to relate effectively to diverse groups of people from all social and economic segments of the community.