jakemarnie-blog

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The American way is to have everything bigger than the rest of the world. Bigger cars, bigger food and bigger sporting events. Coming from a life of following and attending sports in Australia such as Aussie Rules Football and cricket I thought that the experience of attending these matches live couldn’t get any better. Now that I’ve been able to observe the American way to deliver sporting events, it is now clear that we have a long way to go in how we go about our sports. I was lucky enough to interview and attend a few of these events with the sports mad Jake Marnie which can be listened to in the above clip.

My first US sports experience was at Capital One Arena in Washington DC for an NBA game between the Washington Wizards and the Los Angeles Clippers. Before the game even started I had goosebumps from the singing of the American National anthem which the whole crowd were belting out in unison showing their pride in their country and their home team. I thought I was pumped up for the game until it came time to announce the team. Being a Wizards home game it allows for the whole event to be tailored purely to the Wizards fans. The announcement of the Clippers starting lineup was a mere whisper with no special lighting or effects. Then it came time for the Wizards. This started with the lights being turned off and with each player announcement, fire torches would get let off. Its safe to say this definitely built the excitement for what was to come throughout the game.

The excitement did not seem to stop no matter what was happening on court. If the Wizards were dribbling up the court the DJ would play music keeping the fans into the game and if the Clippers had the ball drums would bang encouraging the crowd to get behind their defense with the classic, “DEFENSE,” chant.

At the breaks in play there was always something keeping the crowd engaged from full stadium dance contests, choirs, t-shirt cannons, competitions, music and lighting. All of this beating the usual Auskick “entertainment” we see at half time of the football in Australia.

Attending my next event at the Barclay’s Centre in Brooklyn was the Washington Capitals against the New York Islanders. The atmosphere at this game was again electric and added to this event was lightshows, live videogame contests amongst the crowd and a loud foghorn for the players entrance and for home goals adding to the party environment and encouraging the crowd to get even louder. Even having minimal understanding about the teams or ice hockey, the crowd involvement and atmosphere made this event more enjoyable than I could imagine.  

The next event gave  me a totally different experience again from anything I have ever been to. I attended an NFL game between New England Patriots and the New York Jets at the 80,000 seat capacity Metlife Stadium. Everyone who knows anything about the NFL or has been to a game before will tell you, you cant go to a game without tailgating. I can now reiterate that statement.

A carpark which would have been kilometers long was full of cars, marquees, trucks, music, beer and barbecues created an amazing festival atmosphere that you just dont get at an AFL game. Jets fans were mingling with Patriots fans before the game, strangers would welcome other strangers to their area for a drink and some food and the buzz around the stadium added to the anticipation of the game that was soon to get underway.  Its no surprise the crowd was fully immersed in the game from start to finish.

Theres been times in Australia where I have been to a footy game or the cricket and gone home disappointed because my team has lost which has affected my enjoyment of the game. The American way of fan engagement and interaction would not allow for a negative experience. The party atmosphere these events bring should be seen as the benchmark and the standard for Australian sport. Could you imagine Yarra Park lined up with thousands of cars, embracing the tailgating culture, before a blockbuster game at the MCG with 100,000 in attendance to watch the footy accompanied by light shows, DJ’s, competitions and partying? It would be something else and an experience like no other. There’s no reason why Australia cant be the benchmark of fan experience and we should embrace this before fans turn elsewhere or completely convert to purely watching on their screens. Australian teams need to invest heavily to bringing the crowd back to games. There is nothing quite like being at a sporting match live and definitely nothing like a sporting event, the American way.

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3. Being an effective team member, contributor, building confidence and being efficient. At the conclusion of my first few events I have gained a considerable amount of experience in such a short period of time. I have been fortunate enough to have been given an opportunity to work at many different types of events such as the Australian Superbike Championship, Bendigo White Night, Eastland Icerink, Real Madrid Fan Experience and also the Chinese Moon Lantern Festival. Working across many different areas of events and performing whilst being an effective team member has allowed me to realise I have the tools and passion to be able to continue in the industry. This has continually built my confidence more and more each week. Bump in and bump outs of events I can now work autonomously and perform all tasks to a hjgh standard. At Bendigo White Night I was given the responsibility of a new task that I have not performed previously. As the event required tasks to be completed at different stages, it meant new staff were starting and ending their shifts at different times throughout the bump in. This meant that I was made responsible of inducting staff to the sight and ensuring they knew were abouts around the sight they were needed. Being given such an important task made me feel like I was providing significant value to Miles Per Hour. It also allowed me to develop vital transferrable skills within the sporting industry such as staff management, risk management and organisation. With each event I definitely am getting more confident and my efficiency is getting to the level required to work in events.

4. Challenges To date, the internship experience has been a positive one with very little challenges or hurdles. Due to the somewhat unpredictability of events there are always going to be various dificulties which will need to immediately be addressed and also putting together plans so it doesn’t happen in the future. The first challenge as previously mentioned was my lack of Microsoft Excel experience as I havent had to use the software at my previous roles. My major project at the MotoGP required me to build a schedule and budget using excel. I knew that excel is such a useful tool that all workplaces use in the industry so I made sure I took the time upskilling in this area but watching tutorials and experimenting using the different features. This was a relatively easy challenge to overcome. Another challenge we had to overcome at the first Australian Superbike event at Morgan Park, QLD was the severe winds throughout the weekend. This was an issue with all of the signage around the track as each morning we inspected the signage a lot had shifted out of position or blown over. This was also because the ground was way too hard to peg the signage into the ground. This would obviously be an issue on race day with the sponsors, camera crew and also safety. To ensure all signage were correctly placed for race day we had to be on track even early and improvise by filling each sign with tyres to weight them down. This was a one off issue as all other courses we were able to peg the signs into the ground. Another isssue at this event that was totally unavoidable was the podium skin being ripped off of the truss knocking down the grid girls. To ensure the podium was still available for the main presentations I took the initiative to hold the podium down from behind so that Motorcycling Australia and its sponsors would be happy. We identified that this issue cannot happen again in the future as it could have ended in injury and also significant costly damage to the podium. This meant that we made sure and planned that in future events, that the podium be facing a certain direction so its not affected by the wind. Another challenge in the industry is the long working hours. At some events I was working at we had to start at 6am and not finish until 10pm. This wasn’t an issue for me as I thoroughly enjoy this type of work and love being at events.

5. Achievements and milestones both technically and professionally Having now completed the entirety of my internship it is a perfect time to refllect on my major aachievements. From a professional standpoint I believe firstly I worked extremely hard and perfected all of my duties that were handed to me by all of my supervisors. Completing all of the different aspects of the staffing logistics for the MotoGP is definitely something I am proud of as the weekend could not have run any smoother. The briefing document I created was professional and will be used as a template going forward. The skills I have shown and developed over the course of the internship are much more than what I thought id be able to develop in such a short space of time. My initial goal and aspiration was to show enough skills and technical and professional growth to my supervisor with the hope to secure a role at Miles Per Hour. Having met with the owner at the conclusion of my 228 hours I can now say that because of my hard work and commitment I have been offered some part-time or casual work, working at events with the possibility of some office responsibilities. This is a great achievement for me now having completed my bachelor of sports business and searching for a start in my career in the industry. This will be a great starting point for me to be able to further enhance my skills and experience and add some real value to the company. 6. Career aspirations including goal setting (reflections on submitting job applications) Prior to beginning my studies at Holmesglen I have always aspired to have a career in the athlete management industry. Now that ive completed this has not changed. Hearing various guest speakers throughout the degree who have worked in that field, were able to secure an agency job after some time working in events. This is due to the transferrable skills of managing, problem solving and organisation. Working in events also allows you to deal with a range of people and clients which offer a great opportunity to network with the right people. As Miles Per Hour work in conjunction with one of the leaders of athlete management TLA Worlwide, moving forward this may provide me wi th the opportunity to network and build my professional brand to level where I may be sought after. This is now only a dream but given the opportunity to do so I would grab it with both hands. As completing the degree is still so fresh I do not currently have any immediate plans for starting my career in the industry other than the casual events role as previously mentioned. I have however also secured a role at Basketball Jersey World and have sent a job application for a duty manager role at YMCA managing the Casey Stadium. This internship process has allowed me to almost perfect writing job applications as I did annoyingly have to write numerous applications to land an internship role. Being a manager at a local facility would be a different kind of challenge all together but believe I do have the skills necessary to excel in this thanks to the course at Holmesglen as well as my jnternship and work experiences. As I am in America for a month I only applied for this role as a requirement of the unit but would be ecstatic given the opportunity. Once I do get back however I will definitely be on the lookout for a role whjch would suit my skills and aspirations. Im fairly confident that I can put together an attractive cover letter and resume addressing the selection criteria. I will ensure I regularly scan sportspeople and LinkedIn for the next big role. 7. Supervisor evaluations and future career professional development requirements   Not to be over confident but I was not surprised with receiving such a positive evaluation from the owner of Miles Per Hour, Geordie. All of the strengths of mine he has mentioned such as Ability to learn quickly, Communicate with other staff, Stay calm under pressure and Hard working attitude I have acquired through my various other jobs particularly at US Sports Down Under. These strengths however have undoubtedly been further developed through the 228 hour internship. When looking into whether or not I require further professional development I would say I believe I am ready to tackle role that im fortunate enough to land moving forward. Due to the nature of the course with all subjects being so industry specific which is not a feature at all universities I believe I already have tbe required knowledge in my focus areas such as sponsorship, events, marketing and athlete management. I would not require any further study. If anything, I would benefit and would love to do an internship in the US which many professional clubs offer numerous of. Working in the US would be a dream and completing an internship there would be a big step in achieving that.  

8. Student showcase and reflections on internship and studies Now that the internship, my studies and the student showcase are over I am first of all relieved to say the least. It has been an extremely long road to get to this point but I a mm extremely proud with what I have been able to achieve to date and definitely looking forward to the future. It was extremely exciting to hear all of the great experiences that my fellow classmates had throughout their internship and was quite pleased that I too had such a positive outcome from mine. I wasn’t short of exciting things to talk about and really wanted all the awesome events I was fortunate enough to attend to be a focus. I was happy for the students also who have actually been able to secure full time roles in the industry. Being such a competitive person this has made me even more determimed to put myself out there and try and land a full time role myself either in events, player management, sponsorship or venue management. After studying for 3 years at Holmesglen I believe it has prepared me well for the workforce especially with the sport and industry specific subjects ive been fortunate enough to undertake. Because of this I am extremely confident that I am well skilled and equipped enough to look attractive to potential employers. Due to feeling so prepared I believe I will have the confidence to deliver high standard interviews moving forward. Right now im looking forward to a little break, refresh and then search for that first full time role in the industry.    

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2. Finding your feet in the internship and completing initial tasks

My first day was a bit of a shock but definitely looking forward to the challenge of the rest of the internship and complete the major project I was fortunate enough to be given by the owner of Miles Per Hour. Getting pulled into the meeting room I was excited to hear about the exciting things I’ll be able to achieve. My first and major project I was given was to be in charge of staffing logistics for the MotoGP Corporate Suite Hosts. This involves securing accommodation for all staff on Phillip Island, transportation from Melbourne to the Island as well as from their accommodation to the track and back each working day, creating job descriptions to be posted by Event Workforce and a detailed budget and schedule. Having not worked a day in my life in events I was a little bit nervous that I wouldn’t be up to it but know if I struggle I have some helpful and experienced workers around me that would give me the support I would need. I was extremely please with myself however, now knowing that my supervisor obviously has faith in my skill set and my abilities to be giving me such a large and important task in his events calendar. After my first day in the office I already had accommodation organised, set up the budget template on excel (albeit after excessive research on how to use excel) and also started the detailed schedule. I believe my supervisor was impressed with the volume of work I was able to complete which is what I will look to continue into the future in order to try and create a role for myself and build my personal reputation in the industry.

 In just my second day with working with Miles Per Hour, I was on a plane to Brisbane to work at the Australian Superbikes Championship in Morgan Park, QLD. This was a weekend event where the company is charge of bump in and bump out and the on track and surrounds signage. There was definitely much more involved with this type of event than I initially thought. The on track sponsorship signage was to be set up at 6:30am on the Thursday to ensure they were in the right position in relationship to the Fox Sports camera points. We also needed to create the podium structure and attach using cable ties all of the sponsors signs and flags. Throughout the weekend it was our job to make sure all signage was still where it should which was a challenge due to the 50km/h winds.

 On race day I had the task on my own to manage the podium, which involved, crowd control, checking off media and team accreditation making sure only the proper accredited people were entering the area as well as handing riders drinks, trophy’s, champagne and winners hats as they enter with the bikes. For my first ever time working at an event I believe I did an extremely good job as I showed initiative, worked under minimal guidance and made sure I fit even further within the culture of the workplace. I now feel as though I have the right skills to work in the events industry and thoroughly enjoyed my weekend.

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1. Preparedness prior to commencing the internship and assimilation into the organisational culture

The internship process has been a long time coming which I have been looking forward to since the beginning of my time at Holmesglen but it has finally arrived. My previous work experiences particularly at US Sports Down Under has allowed me to develop some key transferrable skills for any role in the sports industry, however, having no experience in events at all I am not 100% what the role at Miles Per Hour will entail. The skills I know I do have are communication, initiative, sales and a quick learner so I am confident I will be well equipped to eventually succeed in the role and hopefully create a job for myself in the future.

 After my initial meeting with the Miles Per Hour team (Geordie and Will), it was clear I would be a suitable organisational fit. This was reassured by Geordie, the owner of the company in his follow up email, highlighting the fact that this was a key reason for bringing me on as an intern, along with the previous experience and transferable skills of course.

 A positive organisational culture is vital for all workplaces and usually stems from management but a full buy in by employees must exist for this to be possible. This can affect the way employees communicate and collaborate with each other and often translates into a successful work place.

 After being in the office on my first day of my internship, it was evident there was a strong culture within the organisation as everyone seemed to work well together and have healthy banter and competition. For my first task and my major project throughout the internship experience I was given the responsibility to look after staffing logistics for the MotoGP corporate hosts. I believe the main reason Geordie felt comfortable giving me this task wasn’t necessarily because of all my skills  I have gained through work and my studies, but because I assimilated myself within the culture of the organisation. Not having any experience in events at all, I feel extremely nervous about my knowledge in this area, especially for such a big event but am looking forward to learning more about the grand scheme of events and to start working at a few that Miles Per Hour are working at such as the Australian Superbikes Championships.

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The 2018 MotoGP season may have already been sewn up by French Honda rider Marc Marquez with three races remaining, but this didn’t mean it wasn’t an action filled weekend at Phillip Island. It didn’t take long into the event weekend for the fast, tricky corners of Phillip Island Circuit to claim its first victim with Cal Crutchlow coming off his bike at the tracks, Doohan Corner during the second practice session on Friday. Crutchlow was immediately air lifted to Melbourne’s Alfred Hospital with a shattered ankle and required two rounds of surgery.

SOURCE: EUROSPORT

Changeable weather conditions during the qualifying rounds on Saturday, resulted in some tough riding conditions, with riders needing to make the most out of the breaks in rain to get every chance of posting the quickest times. Marquez used the wet track to advantage posting his fastest time and locking in pole position, searching for back to back Australia wins. Spaniard Maverick Vinales adjusted well to the conditions claiming second place on the grid while the French Johann Zarco rounded out the first row.

Conditions couldn’t have been any more perfect for Sunday’s race day, bringing a huge crowd to the corporate suites and general admission areas. Ticket sales for the event in Australia managed to eclipse that of Casey Stoners farewell victory in 2012. The tremendous support by the local and international fans for this event has strengthened the Victorian Governments argument for hosting the Australian leg of the MotoGP. The fans were out in force early on in the day where many took the opportunity to take photos around the paddock and taking selfies with their beloved riders, with Marquez being the track favourite amongst punters. Australian rider, Jack Miller was also heavily represented by local fans at Phillip Island, hoping for the Aussies second MotoGP win.

Many supporters who made the trip into the track early were treated to plenty of drama and excitement from the Moto2 and Moto3 races with many spills and lead changes and eventually Brad Binder and Albert Arenas came out on top in their respective moto classes.

SOURCE: MOTOSPORT.COM

SOURCE: SPEEDCAFE.COM

The RAAF flyover is always a spectacle for racegoers as the MotoGP riders take their place on the grid within the hustle and bustle of the media with many expecting Marquez to be a clear winner. 

Unfortunately for Marquez however, the theme for the weekend continued just 5 laps into the race, resulting in himself and Zarco crashing out of the race in a scary incident. Official replays showed Marquez cutting in front of Zarco’s Honda where both riders tyres made contact at 280km/h flying Zarco into the gravel trap and shredding Marquez’s rear tyre.

SOURCE: BOLT HD

SOURCE: MOTOSPORT.COM

It is a quick turn around for the next event, kicking off this Friday in Malaysia at the Sepang International Circuit where Marquez will look to bounce back from his crash and resume his dominant season. Strong performances in the next two races could see Vinales push MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi out of 3rd position in the season standings.

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Kodoth Looking For First Win With New Club

2018 Kingston-Hawthorn recruit, Akshay Kodoth has started his first season for the Hawks with a bang, scoring 66 against the bowling attack of Frankston on the weekend. The club is hoping with the help of the former Indian first-class keeper-batsman, they can cause a few upsets this year with a young 1st XI line up. Kodoth has played 4 seasons of first-class cricket for the state of Kerala, but has made Melbourne his home in 2017 to study a Masters of Sports Management.

Kodoth was a stand out for sub district side Ivanhoe Cricket Club in 2017/18 scoring over 500 runs for the year at an average of 51 and this year has made the step into Victorian Premier Cricket. He has also been part of the Melbourne Renegades Multicultural League, training and playing with the best players in Melbourne of players from Indian, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistani backgrounds. The best players chosen from these games will get chosen to play against other Big Bash League Multicultural teams which could eventually lead to a BBL contract for Akshay.

The level headed Kodoth doesn’t want to get too ahead of himself as he is focused on performing for the Kingston Hawks and also finishing his Masters degree this year and is striving for a career in Australia in the sporting industry.

After his first few games playing Victorian Premier Cricket, Akshay acknowledged that the standard is comparable to the first-class cricket he was playing in India, which is a huge compliment and a show of the depth of the highest league in Victoria. He will be looking to make a name for himself this week and to improve on his 66 runs last weekend when Kingston look for their first win for the season against a less than impressive Prahran Cricket club at Toorak Park this Saturday.

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The 2018 VFL women’s season saw the incredible feat of first year VFL goal umpire Jack Stammers officiating on the final day of the season at Marvel Stadium. What makes this achievement even more remarkable is the fact it is just his second season behind the goals, dropping the whistle for the big white flags just last year in the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA).

With some handy work and plenty of potential shown in his first season at the VAFA in 2017, Jack was lucky enough to be nominated by VAFA head coach Bernie Jephson to trial for the VFL development squad. Jack endured some “stressful” times during his audition period but managed to find himself a spot on the list when time came to make the final squad selections prior to round 1.

During the year, VFL listed goal umpires are heavily scrutinised by the observers each week with the aim to find the cream of the crop come finals time. Jack, along with fellow VAFA teammate, Jake Marnie, officially made the top 6 on the development squad. Jack completely exceeded his own expectations by having an outstanding finals series and was named as one of the officiating goal umpires for the VFL Women’s Grand Final between Casey Demons and Box Hill Hawks.

“When my name was read out for the VFL women’s Grand Final that was a complete shock to the system.”

 Jack puts down his rapid improvement down to his extreme professionalism and enjoying the lifestyle of being a VFL umpire and being surrounded by his peers. Goal umpiring isn’t Jack’s only talent though, and can be seen on the bowling green being a paid professional player at Brunswick Bowls Club.

 Jack’s not looking too far ahead however and has a big pre-season in his sights next year with the aim to earn himself a spot on the VFL season squad.

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2018 NFL Season Opener

It was a year to remember for Philly fans in 2017, but after what seems like an eternity, we launched into our championship defence on Thursday night at Lincoln Financial Field when we took on the Atlanta Falcons.

As what seemed to be a perfect day at our home of football.

 The weather gods gave football goers a huge scare as wild weather fell onto the field, delaying the first game of the 2018 NFL season.

 This season we have transformed from the hunters to the hunted, but tonight it was made a little tougher, through the loss of injured starting Quarterback Carson Wentz who was unable to take the field.

 Falcons Quarterback Matt Ryan, put us on the back foot early, driving Atlanta to field goal range..

 Where Matt Bryant was able to kick a 21 Yd field goal to open the scoring for the night.. 3 – 0

 The Eagles defence was then able to swarm the opposition every time they got the ball giving it back to our offense, where Kicker, Jake Elliott was able to score a 26 Yd field goal to level the scores 3 – 3 until the Falcons were able to kick another 3 points giving them the lead at half time 6 – 3.

 The second half was all Jay Ajayi, scoring two rushing touchdowns either side of a Falcons touchdown of their own giving the reigning champions a lead with only two minutes left on the clock 12 – 18.

Victory looked a certainty, until Matt Ryan was able to drive the ball all the way down to the Eagles 5 Yd line with 1 second left on the clock. The last play of the game. The pass targeted receiver Julio Jones who was able to leap in the air and make the catch…..

 Only to remarkably be carried out of bounds by Corner Back Ronald Darby before grounding in the end zone! Fly Eagles Fly! Final Score 12 – 18!

Watch out next week Buccs! 

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Entry 7

This semester in the Transition to Professional Practice subject has been filled with excitement (finding out the industry partners), stress (applications) and anxiety (the interview process). Even though I am still without an internship I have taken away some extremely valuable tools and skills from undertaking this subject. A clear physical takeaway was that I was able to develop my past cover letter and resume into two high quality documents and as you can see it has been a huge improvement. The new design for these two documents look more professional, more visually appealing and include relevant information which I feel makes me more appealing to potential employees in the future (even after my internship).

 I have been able to define my UVP have created a dynamic paragraph which introduces myself, sets the scene and gives off a great first impression to whoever is reading.

“I am a future Sports Business graduate who is always driven to improve not only myself but the rest of the teams I am involved in. I am always well-presented, organised and professional with the goal to secure a role within the talent management industry where my University studies, work experience and transferrable skills can be utilized.”

When being interviewed for my previous roles, they have been fairly informal processes so I haven’t felt the need to prepare for these and have usually just “winged it”. This subject has allowed me to practice and develop certain techniques to help me prepare for professional interviews which I definitely will use and need to do when going for interviews in the future.

I have put absolutely everything into this subject to give myself the best opportunity to get the most valuable internship I can. It’s the first chance to put my foot in the door so as I’ve mentioned it is a bit disappointing that I haven’t been able to secure one yet but I’m still excited to start once the right opportunity comes along. Once I start, there’s no doubt I’ll do everything in my power to either create a role for myself, gain some good skills or network well enough to start building a positive professional reputation.. watch this space.

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Entry 6

Due to AFL Yarra Ranges pulling out of the internship program and the VAFA not being able to attend an interview I was stuck with only be able to go through two interviews. This didn’t bother me too much as the two I was interviewed for were my first and second preference. I thought I put together two solid interviews which came down to some solid preparation. I wrote notes on each organisation, my skills, experiences and formulated some answers to potential questions on paper which allowed me to refine and improve on this.

I put all of my semesters effort into these two applications and interviews so I was extremely disappointed that both W Sports and Media and AFL Victoria pulled out of this process due to their own internal reasonings. I am currently without an internship and unsure about how I was perceived during the interviews and from my applications. This makes it extremely hard to critically analyse my performance in these two areas. I am thankful that the VAFA have said that they would love having me back there but as I have already undertaken a volunteer role there I think it would be more beneficial for me and give me more experience going elsewhere. But it is a plan B at this stage. I am however still hopeful that another suitable organisation will come on board in the process as I believe my application, my skills, experiences and enthusiasm will allow me to get a valuable internship.  

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Entry 5

Organisational culture was the theme for week 9 and it was interesting to hear about the NBA team San Antonio Spurs. Even though I am an NBA fan I didn’t know much about the culture at the club and why they have been a successful team over a long period of time. A strong culture is only possible with a good leader. Gregg Popovich, the head coach of the team has been the big driving force behind their culture. Popovich has ensured that all of the players and the staff are connected in order to achieve what he calls, ‘relationship excellence,’ and only recruits players and staff who are selfless, disciplined and value teamwork. Honesty and open-mindedness is another stand out attribute of the Spurs’ culture. This creates an environment that encourages frequent conversations to identify the best solutions.  Relationship excellence and task excellence with the Spurs, when moulded together, have been the key to their success.

Culture is always widely talked about within successful sporting teams, but is also so important to have a strong organisational culture in the work place. Earlier in the year we read an article about the Herald Sun interns shock about the culture that she was exposed to and obviously did not fit into that workplace. It has made me reflect on how I am going to tackle this internship.

I don’t believe I will have any issues performing the tasks set out for or working as hard as I possibly can. The biggest challenge for me during my internship will be fitting into the culture of a new workplace and fitting in as quickly as I can. I have extremely high standards of myself and also at my current workplace, so I am fairly confident I will be able to contribute to any organisation as long as our values, standards and behaviours match their current employees. My aim once I begin my internship will be to work as hard as I can to hopefully create a role for myself and to truly put my foot into the sports business industry.

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Entry 4

DONE! The internship interviews have been and gone and I am feeling much more relieved than I was at the start of the semester. My goal since the start of my time studying at Holmesglen was to eventually begin a career in the athlete management industry and I was hoping that there would be an athlete management company included in the internship process. I was excited to see that W Sports and Media (a talent management company) were wanting to be involved so I made sure that I submitted a high-quality application for them. I also submitted entries for AFL Victoria, VAFA and AFL Yarra Ranges.

If I am to take anything away from this subject that will help me immensely in the future, it would be how to address the key selection criteria. I learnt that this is to be included at the end of the resume and is as simple as listing the criteria and then including your own experiences and skills that match.

The finished and more professional layout of my cover letter and resume is below, which is a real improvement to the ones I previously had, and thought were sufficient.

 Upon hearing that the industry day had been cancelled I was extremely disappointed as I had been looking forward to the day since I started studying, but this immediately turned to excitement when I found out we had the opportunity to go through full interviews. In the past, I haven’t really been put through a formal interview so I was quite anxious about the whole experience. The one thing that made me somewhat confident was that I prepared well for the two interviews I had, one with W Sports and Media and one with AFL Victoria. I knew that the common question or phrase that would be asked would be, “So tell us about yourself?”

I made sure that I had a crisp clear and dynamic response to this question as I knew it would set the scene for the whole interview and create a positive first impression. I focused on my current role, the tasks and skills that I have developed through this role and also included my volunteer experience at the VAFA. I knew that I also needed to be well prepared to talk about the organisation that was interviewing me. The week prior, all of my focus was spent on learning all about the organisation by studying both websites and taking notes so that I could easily remember and tailor my interview responses to these. Surprisingly, I felt confident during and after these interviews and now I am excited to find out where my 228 hour internship will be!

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Entry 3

The above image is one of the most recognised logos in the world which is reflective of the strength of the brand image that NIKE has been able to create. To be honest before week four, I have never considered the importance on personal marketing and building a strong brand from an individual career perspective. Social media is obviously such a great tool that connects people from all over the world, but it can also be detrimental if there is something on there that doesn’t accurately reflect the type of person you are or the values of the organisations you are applying for as 91% of US employers have visited a job hunters profile on social networks (Bolles2015: 22), which would be a similar percentage in Australia.

This week I frantically googled myself and inspected all of my social media pages to make sure there was nothing on there that would reflect negatively. I was safe. I did recently sign up to LinkedIn to try and build my personal brand and to hopefully connect with potential internship supervisors and people within the sports industry. Currently my profile is very basic, but to improve my future to be prospects I will need to add all my work and volunteer experiences, skills and to be more active on this than I am on my other social networks.

What I have struggled most with this week, is to come up with a dynamic Unique Value Proposition (UVP) statement which defines my brand and makes me sound attractive to employers and to put on my resume.  The below image is a clear, easy representation of what should be considered in developing a UVP.

 Being in a room full of students who have similar experiences and passions as me I am having trouble identifying what would set me apart from them moving forward to the internship applications. I do however have some attractive and relevant skills such as customer service, organisation and communication. I also want to portray my commitment and drive that I can bring to the table throughout my internship and beyond which I already show in my current workplace. I will now have a week off to be able to do this and to get my head around the application process. Exciting times ahead!

[jakemarnie-blog]

Its only week two but my excitement is already building to get cracking into my internship preparation. I think I have an advantage over this as I have recently went through the job application process over the holiday’s so I believe I have a fairly good resume. I also wrote over 30 cover letters over this period so I am aware of how important these are to get right and to customise based on the type of role and the organisation. The below is a screen shot of my current resume which I have recently reformatted for retail jobs.

The main area of change I believe would be to create a more professional layout that still stands out. I have had coaching on how to put together a resume so I think I have included all of the important aspects needed but am welcome to any other changes that would need to be made. The below shows one of the cover letters that I have put together for a retail role at JD Sports.

 I always ensure that my cover letters are customised to each role and this is no different. I have included my recent work experience, skills I have developed and also addressed the key selection criteria. I am looking forward to developing my resume and cover letter skills and gain more help on how to make these two pieces more professional for the workplace. 

This week we looked at numerous articles highlighting a Melbourne Uni students experience of her internship at the Herald Sun. An internship is such a valuable opportunity which helps to gain an insight into the roles we will effectively be applying for after we have finished our Uni life and helps develop some key skills that are needed. This student who was sent to the Herald Sun in fact had quite a traumatic and negative experience. She had to endure sexist, racist and discriminatory remarks, which shows that some workplaces may not have the best culture or one that you don’t fit into. It has highlighted for me that I must look out for not only the perfect internship role for me, but at an organisation I believe I can add value and to also fit in to ensure my internship experience is a positive one.  

[jakemarnie-blog]

About Me

2018 has already been a big year for me. I have a new job at US Sports Down Under, I was lucky enough to make the AFL Victoria Development Goal Umpire Squad and here I am starting my final year of my  Sports Business degree. I wanted to actively seek out a new job that would enhance my resume more than my old role as a delivery driver. This job will be my first opportunity to develop my customer service and selling skills which we all know is vital to many of the commercial roles in sport.  To begin my career in the athlete management industry has always been my goal since I started studying and that hasn’t changed at all. I do however have interests outside of this such as sponsorship of sports development through being exposed to these subjects last year.

I have been fairly pleased with my performance throughout the course to date, but the challenge for me would be to continue this whilst balancing all of my new commitments. My aims for this subject is to really push to improve the professionalism of my resume and to hopefully secure an internship with an athlete management company. Getting my foot into the door of this industry I believe would be the hardest part but through an internship, It would be a real opportunity to do that and to hopefully create a role for myself or at least get some real world experience that also looks good on my resume. My biggest concerns so far is having to go through so many interviews. I haven’t had too many interviews so far so the thought of having to go through a number of these to get an internship makes me extremely anxious but I guess it will be all worth it in the end.

[jakemarnie-blog]

Sport Event Infrastructure Enhancement

We all know that hosting a mega event such as the Commonwealth Games gives the hosting or potential hosting nation a great incentive to create stadia and infrastructure, promote their country to an international audience to increase tourism and commercial partners (Matsuoka de Aragão, 2015). Many destinations have blown out their budget to build these new facilities needed which then go unused after the event.

If we use the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa as an example, the government spent over $4 Billion on roads, airports and brand new stadia. People could argue that many of the South African Premier League Soccer teams are now housed at these new 40-70 thousand seat soccer stadiums. The only issue is most crowds throughout the season range between 5000 – 15,000 spectators and are struggling to ensure financial sustainability of the stadiums. A primary example would be the council owning Cape Town stadium situated on the world-famous Table Mountain, are stuck with maintenance costs of over 4 million dollars a year with very little income to contribute towards this. The hiring of this stadium for the city’s only premiership soccer side are far too expensive so the stadium has been virtually unused besides the rare international concerts (Fortune, 2014).

The Gold Coast government however, were smart with the way they used tax-payers money to facilitate the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate advised that the plan was to keep costs down and ensure the venues and public investments would not only meet the demands during the Commonwealth Games but continue to serve the city after the closing ceremony (https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/state-politics/gold-coast-does-commonwealth-games-without-draining-cash-pool/news-story/e56cff703f4a601def2fce6792df9e19). They were able to achieve this by not just building new stadia but revamping existing facilities and using available funds to build the second phase of their light rail system and upgrades to major arterials. The $2 billion state, federal and local government funding to host these games is set to deliver $4 Billion in economic stimulus, whilst creating 16,000 jobs.

Host destinations for future mega events must adopt the same smart approach that Gold Coast have in order to make sure infrastructure is sustainable and to avoid negative backlash like South Africa has had to endure on the back of the hosting of the FIFA World Cup.

[jakemarnie-blog]

London 2012 Olympics Legacy

 Mega events such as the Olympic Games created a huge opportunity to promote the host city to assist in attracting tourists and boosting revenue and can also create a long-lasting legacy. Having a vision for not only the event but for the future for many years post the event is a requirement for the bidding process of an Olympic Games.

The planning of the London 2012 games revolved around creating a legacy within the East side of London and the sporting venues and also to achieve stronger participation rates across all sports for the younger generation. The successful bid of the Olympic games meant that the country had to invest in infrastructure such as more sporting venues, transport and housing for the Olympic Village for the East side of London which was in need of regeneration.

The 2014 report on the successful legacies from London 2012 reveals that the British economy has seen a trade and industry boost in excess of £14 billion following the Games, smashing their four year target of £11 in half the time (https://www.olympic.org/news/london-2012-legacy-continues-to-be-felt-across-the-uk). Tourism to the country also rose by 6% and approximately 2,800 homes were created after the Olympic Village was converted into residential housing. The government also hit their goal of increasing sport participation and saw a rise of 1.7 million participants from 2005 when they won the bid.

London also successfully planned for the new sporting venues to be reused such as the Velodrome and the Aquatics Centre which now provides affordable facilities for the public (https://www.olympic.org/olympic-legacy/london-2012.) Stratford train station was also constructed for the East of London which is now the second most connected part of the city only behind Kings Cross (https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/olympics-legacy-did-the-games-succeed-in-rejuvenating-east-london-8711691.html)

The legacy of a successful Olympic Games isn’t just about how much revenue can be brought in. Its imperative that all of the infrastructure and facilities built are sustainable and can be an opportunity to regenerate parts of the host destination. It can be said London 2012 left an incredible legacy that achieved all the goals it set out and will be evident for generations to come.