Sophie Walker

BSc (Honours) Sport Business Management

'My experience at Sheffield Hallam gave me everything I expected a university to give me and more. I look back on the last three years as being the best three years of my life and I wouldn’t change it for the world. The friends, memories and experiences I have gained will stay with me forever.

'One of the highlights of my course was the managing people and work-based learning module in year two, where I took a six week placement with an organisation of my choice. This module gave me the opportunity to work with Sunderland AFC and witness firsthand the preparation that goes into staging such large scale events, such as premiership football matches and stadium concerts. I was lucky enough to work on the lead up to, and the opening night of the ‘Take That’ come back tour, ‘Progress Live’. The organisations I met and meetings I attended gave me a heads up on what it would be like to be involved in the industry. I also had a lot of trust put in me when asked to write the operations manual for the Stadium of Light. This gave me a great insight into the ins and outs of what goes on behind the scenes and confirmed for me the industry I would like to begin my career in. I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Sunderland AFC and I am still in contact with the team today.

'I also thoroughly enjoyed management applications in my final year. Although this was such a huge piece of work with the added pressure of individual dissertations, our group came together to produce a fantastic project which we are all extremely proud of.

'Ever since I was little I dreamt about being one of the crowd in the Olympic stadium, cheering on team GB and being able to say to my grand-children, ‘I was there’.

'Not only has volunteering for the games given me the chance to witness the Olympics at an angle most people could only dream of, it has also enhanced my CV, helped with my employability and given me memories to last a life time. In today’s financial climate employers are looking for more than just a degree, they are looking for something that makes you stand out from the crowd and more than anything they are looking for experience. Being a ‘games maker’ has given me the best experience on the biggest stage to help with my future career in Sport Event Management and I couldn’t thank Sheffield Hallam enough for this opportunity. Summer 2012 has been the best summer of my life.

'I have gained a variety of skills which could be transferred to many different careers, however, the opportunities such as working with Sunderland AFC and being part of London 2012 have given me that something different employers will be looking for. It is very important to make sure you get as much experience as possible to help with your future career and the Sport Event Management team will always be on hand to help you do this.

'I would recommend this course to anyone who enjoys planning and organising, who works well in a team as well as individually. You don’t have to have a passion for sport just an imagination and the ability to work well under pressure. This is a very exciting and rewarding course and you will get out of it as much as you put in.

'I would recommend Sheffield Hallam to anyone who is looking for a friendly, vibrant student environment who is willing to mix work with pleasure. It is a great university to get involved with sports and societies but even more so it is a great university to get a degree you are proud of.'

Paul Dane Harker

BSc (honours) Sport Business Management, 2011 graduate

'Sheffield Hallam is awesome! The University is situated in a student orientated city that offers a vast array of sporting and leisure facilities and excellent night life.

'The set up at Sheffield Hallam University means that you are never too far away from university facilities, Sheffield Hallam has two campuses - City and Collegiate Campus. Collegiate offers a newly refurbished library which is not far from the lecturers and lecture rooms. The City Campus also is well laid out with all university facilities close together.

'The key strength in the Sport Business Management course is the lecturers. Many of whom are actively researching, publishing findings in journals and books ensuring that they have the forefront knowledge on current theories and opinions on the areas covered in the course.

'The course is unique in the way that the subject areas covered, offer you the opportunity to learn and apply yourself to a wide range of topics. There is a great flexibility in the modules taught giving the students the opportunity to develop their skills in the direction they want to develop. Whether you are interested in sport, sport development or leisure this course can be self tailored to research and learn about who, what, how and why people engage in leisure activities and spend their leisure time.

'In summary, this course does not only cover the sports sector but also incorporates the management on how people spend their leisure time and what people spend their disposable income on.

'Teamwork is something which takes a lot of consideration and effort to be effective at. In the first year in the undergraduate programme your team-working skills are particularly stressed as you will be working with new people with different opinions. As you progress through the course you will have to present group ideas and projects in the form of group assignments and presentations. My communication skills have markedly improved and particularly helpful in my working environment as I work in teams, communicate to others and consider client needs. Presentation skills are also quite handy when you have your first job interview after graduating.

'My work placement was at two local authority leisure centres – Heeley Swimming Pool and Stockbridge Leisure Centre. My role within the organisation was to assist management in decision making. During my placement I attended managerial and general meetings. I completed research in the motivation/motivators of people to use leisure centres. This included data collection from both members of the public and current users of the leisure centres. Many students also use the work placement as an opportunity to make connections for future employment or even assistance in their final year research project.

'I work in the Isle of Man for an international accountancy firm as a business advisor. I am part of a team that provides audit, accountancy and business advisory services to a wide portfolio of local and international businesses. My employment gives industry experience, further education and the opportunity to gain a professional qualification. I am a part qualified chartered accountant with Chartered Institute of England and Wales.

'I also have worked on a broad range of audits and accountancy jobs of varying sizes. Some jobs I work with a team of producers and other jobs I am the sole producer. What I find most enjoyable is that my job offers me the opportunity to learn about a wide range of businesses in various sectors from investments, retail, shipping and pensions.

'Part of auditing clients is proof reading financial statements for errors and gathering audit evidence from the responsible financial officer (RFO).The course gives you the opportunity to see various methods of presenting information in different ways and improve your communication skills. You have to complete group and single projects to tight deadlines. Time management is a skill which is also important at university and in employment.

'I really enjoy being a business advisor. I aspire to complete my accountancy qualification and gain greater exposure to more clients. As I become more senior I will take on more responsibility in audit, accountancy and advisory services.

'My advice to prospective students is that in your first year you develop a foundation of knowledge of Sport Business Management. As you enter your second year you apply your knowledge further and research topics into more depth.

'Do not underestimate the importance of background reading before starting an assignment/project. It will help you in your later studies if you gain a good working knowledge in your first and second year.

'I personally found this approach helped me to learn about my interests and specialties with a wealth of research and knowledge to apply in my final year. This also made choosing an area for further research for my final year project a simple choice.'

John Lee

BSc (Honours) Sport Business Management, 2010 graduate

'Sheffield has some of the best sporting facilities in the country, and with it being such a large part in my life, it made sense to me to choose somewhere with world class facilities to train at. I also wanted a city that wasn’t too far from home, or hard to travel to, which, travelling from Manchester made Sheffield an ideal location.

Sheffield was also an ideal choice as it is a modern city with thriving student populous, making it an ideal place to study.

'I didn't achieve the grades required for the course I originally wished to do (sport and exercise science) and was offered sport management instead. I had no other options besides university planned and so I took the chance. This worked out very well, as the course suits my style of learning and my practical mind.

'The course has many practical elements on top of the theory, so you get a better understanding of what you are doing by putting things into a real world context. The tutors all have experience in the field in which they are teaching, which means they are able to explain things a bit more thoroughly.

'The highlight of the course for me has been the event management module, in which you are given the chance to plan and run an event of any nature you wish, giving the responsibility of sorting out venue, marketing, entertainment, and every other detail that goes into planning a large scale event.

'There were no opportunities for a work placement on the course, however that has now been addressed. Despite this, there is still plenty of opportunity to gain work experience outside of the course, with tutors sending regular requests out to students asking for volunteers which are all based in the industry.

'The teaching has been great, as all the tutors have experience of what they are talking about. The facilities are really good, the learning centre being right in the middle campus makes it very easy to get to, and being a 24 hour facility is also a benefit if you think of a book or journal very last minute you need to get.

'Sheffield is a modern vibrant city with a thriving nightlife for social side of thing, a great sporting reputation which is increasing more and more and tutors who engage you. Everything you could want from both a city and university. Having such a central location means that most major cities are easily accessible, so travelling around the country is not a problem.'

Sophie Moyses

BSc (Hons) Sport & Leisure Management, 2009 graduate

'I really enjoyed studying at Sheffield Hallam, I made some great friends whom I am still in contact with now, and found all my lecturers easy to get on with, approachable and very helpful. I still receive emails occasionally from my dissertation tutor to see how I am getting on. The facilities at Sheffield Hallam were great especially the learning services and I always felt supported in my studies. The course I studied was great as we joined groups with a number of different students on other similar sports courses and the modules were interesting.

'I believe our lecturers gave us great advice for equipping ourselves for the graduate jobs market. They encouraged us to involve ourselves in work experience and find ways of gaining workplace experience so we had practical skills as well as knowledge in the relevant industry. One particular module within my course involved working as a team to conduct customer research for an actual company and pull together a report of our findings which we presented to the company. This gave me great skills in working with a professional client and also improved my communication and presenting skills. Specific skills which helped me get into marketing was the marketing module within my course. This module required me to write a full marketing plan for an operating company. This helped greatly when applying for jobs as it demonstrated that I understood the planning process of marketing including understanding target markets, budgets and campaigns.

'Unfortunately whilst I was studying, my course did not include a work placement, however through encouragement from my lecturers I carried out occasional work experience with Sheffield Events (now known as Yellow Bus Events). This experience involved me working as part of the events team, helping with the promotion of events and also working with and organising entertainers for events including time management of acts. This work experience enabled me to gain work place experience, time management skills, understand the marketing of large scale events and gain skills in communicating and working with external clients.

'I have recently moved jobs and am now working as a Marketing Officer for Sheffield Hallam University in the business-to-business team. My portfolio includes marketing for the conferencing and events team and the faculty of health and wellbeing which includes the research centres. For me this is very exciting as I studied sport so I will be working with the faculty that I studied with. I have started this role at an exciting time as I am working on creating a new identity for the conferencing and events team which means working with an external design agency to produce a brand new creative for the team. Before this I worked for Sheffield International Venues for two and a half years as a Marketing and Promotions Assistant.

This was my first job in marketing and I started there as part of the team at Ponds Forge International Sports Centre. This role was very exciting for me as I was a sport graduate and this is the largest sports and entertainment management company in Sheffield. Whilst in this role I got the chance to move around the sporting venues and work on large sporting events.

'The main skills I developed whilst studying were organisation and time management, presenting skills and I believe the course also enable me to become a better communicator. I became more confident working in a group and my IT skills were also developed further. This all helps me in my current role as I have to communicate with a number of different teams and faculties and be able to manage my different portfolios.

'I would love to work my way up to a marketing manager position, ideally in events as this is the area that I enjoy the most. There are also other areas that I would like to gain experience in such as PR and design.

'My advice would be to gain work experience whilst you are still studying, as I believe having the work place skills as well as the theory and knowledge will enhance your employability for when you graduate. Also to make the most of the facilities at Hallam and get involved in sports, other groups and put yourself forward for voluntary opportunities; take advantage of the experience; gain new skills and meet new people where ever you can.'