20 tasks, each one witnessed by the sources that watched the job — and behind every one, a prompt you can use tonight.
You spend mornings reviewing game footage and stats in Microsoft Excel and Word, making scout reports and slide decks in PowerPoint. Midday you meet coaches to plan practice content and select players to focus on. Afternoons often involve attending practice to watch players, note strategy tweaks, and update performance records.
Evenings can include travel planning in Outlook or Bloomz for away contests, contacting parents or staff, and prepping the next day’s drills. The job mixes office analysis (data, reports) with on-field work (observing, advising, substituting).
Start with Microsoft Excel for performance tables, filters, and basic charts — coaches rely on Excel to keep athlete and opponent stats. Learn PowerPoint next to make clear scouting presentations and Word for written reports. Outlook or Google Docs are used for scheduling, sharing reports, and emailing parents or staff.
If your program uses Bloomz, learn it for parent communication and team notices. These systems cover most daily tasks: data tracking, report writing, and team coordination.
Use AI to speed up repetitive tasks: transcribe interviews, draft report outlines, or summarize opponent tendencies, but always verify facts against game footage and your Excel data. Don’t feed AI private player medical or sensitive personal data. Keep original video and stats as your source of truth.
Label any AI-generated suggestions clearly and review them with coaches before implementing. Treat AI as a drafting tool, not a final decision-maker for team selection or safety rules.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) for 2025, there were about 248,950 people in this occupational area. The median annual wage was $47,320; the lowest tenth earned $28,790 and the top tenth earned $98,860. These are BLS figures for the occupational group.
Local pay varies a lot by level (high school, college, professional), responsibilities (travel, recruiting, budgeting), and region. Use the BLS numbers as a starting point, then check team or school pays.
Volunteer with a local club or school program: help keep practice records, run stats on Excel, and create simple PowerPoint scouting slides. Offer to coordinate travel or parent communications using Outlook or Bloomz so you learn logistics and safety procedures.
Take a few Excel and basic video-analysis classes online, record and track practices, and ask coaches to let you present a short scouting report at a meeting. Practical, regular work with real teams matters more than formal credentials.
A scouting analyst focuses on analysis: collecting opponent and player data, making reports in Excel and PowerPoint, and recommending strategies. An assistant coach spends much more time running practices, directly motivating athletes, making substitutions, and enforcing safety rules on the field.
In small programs one person may do both jobs: you’ll analyze in the office and then teach drills or substitute during games. Larger programs separate the roles so analysts can spend more time on deep prep and scouting.
Excel and video breakdowns are the quickest to make you valuable: clean stats, opponent tendencies, and searchable tracking let coaches make better selections and game plans. Learn to produce a one-page scout report and a short PowerPoint; that has immediate impact.
Coaching players (motivating, teaching technique) takes time and practice under supervision. If you can pair solid analysis skills with basic on-field coaching, you become far more useful to a team.