December 15, 2015, by Laura Estrop
Spotlight On… Sports Industry
By Gemma Porter, German and beginners’ Spanish student
Gemma went to our Spotlight On… Sport Industry last month. Although a language student, she has always been interested in a career in this industry. Here is her story of how our event inspired her to pursue her goal.
As a final year language student who has just returned from my year abroad and suddenly feels very lost back in the world of studying, I decided that I would attend some careers fairs. The problem is that while a lot of my recently graduated friends are boasting about their graduate schemes they have secured, my first thought was that I could not think of anything worse! The thought of a nine-to-five highly paid office job just does not appeal to me; I have always wanted a career in something that interests me and not one where I am simply pursuing a high salary. Since a very young age I have always wanted to pursue a career in the sports industry, the problem is that since I am never going to be the next Hope Powell or Jessica Ennis-Hill, I thought that this aspiration may be a little ambitious, but when the Spotlight On… Sports Industry event arrived in my inbox I decided there was no harm in attending and seeing what it was all about.
A degree in sports is not essential
As I arrived at the event I sheepishly walked in and took a seat in one of the small group of chairs that had been set out. I began chatting to the other students sat around me and to my surprise they were all regular students like me, studying a range of disciplines such as law, geography, politics and psychology. Not one of them was doing a degree that was specialised towards sports. This made me feel a little better knowing that I was not as far off the mark as I had suspected.
Variety of backgrounds and routes into sports
The event began with the six speakers, all from different aspects of the sports industry introducing themselves and giving us a quick background about how they had got to where they are. They were:
- David Straw from the Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club
- Mel Berry – Very Berry PR and Sports Marketing
- Emily Lewis – Join in
- Kiri Madhani, Intern with BUCS
- Tom Hicks, Get in2 Lead Activator at UCLan Students’ Union
- Hannah Webber, the Disability Sports Officer for the University of Nottingham
To my surprise only one of the speakers had actually done a degree related to sports, and one of the others had actually done a language degree at The University of Nottingham! After a quick introduction from the speakers we then had a ‘speed dating’ style session where the speakers went around answering questions and offering advice to us in our small groups.
What I took away from the event
For me, the event was really useful and gave me the opportunity to ask questions and get advice on what I should be doing now to get myself on the right track for the career that I want. Most importantly it gave me the motivation to pursue my aspiration and has really given me confidence in knowing that if you want to pursue a career in a certain field, it is not too late to do so! Along with the fact that doing a language degree I have not resigned myself to be a translator or a teacher. I can take my future in whatever direction I want!
If you are considering a career in the world of sports, book an appointment with a careers adviser who will be able to look into this area with you.
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