Friday night varsity home games have given NC’s Sport Management student new reasons to cheer.
Funded in part by the Government of Canada’s Innovative Work-Integrated Learning Initiative and CEWIL Canada’s iHUB, a $38,000 investment has supported a new Sport Communication Lab at the College which brought small group of Sport Management students to NC Knights athletics games each week during Fall term to take on sports communication tasks.
April Tyrrell, associate dean of NC’s School of Business and Management Studies, applauded the financial support from CEWIL Canada, which is helping to expand opportunities for the College’s Sport Management students.
“We thank CEWIL Canada for this essential funding which is creating new opportunities for our students through our Sports Communication Lab, with improved access to technology and financial support for students,” said Tyrrell. “Sport Management is a business focused program, and it’s critical for our students to understand the marketing and promotions of sport management.”
Professor Mike Puillandre, who led the introduction of the Sport Communication Lab for the BUSN1301 Media and Sport course, noted that each student covered two games over the course of the Fall term – a men’s and a women’s . Working in pairs, students wrote media releases, game previews, post-game recaps and interviews with coaches and players. In addition, they took on social media responsibilities during NC Knights games by monitoring, creating, curating and posting content to ‘NC Sport Communications Lab’ social media accounts via Instagram and Twitter. They also captured game day photos and created graphics.
The student-created content is monitored by NC Athletics’ staff who shared select items through its website or via its social media accounts.
“The Sports Communication Lab is a really strong hands-on learning experience for our students, and they seem to really enjoy it – engagement is far higher in this class,” said Puillandre, when the lab was in full swing during Fall term. “They are tapping into their skill sets, diving into their lab assignments and tasks, and expressing themselves creatively based on what they see.”
Puillandre noted that there has been a high demand for sports communication content in the industry and noted that NC’s Sport Management students have been capable of producing a high volume of quality content which can help meet this demand.
“Communications is a trade-based industry, when it comes to having the skills to create quality content, and some of our students have never thought of pursuing this as a career before,” he said. “Our Sport Communication Lab is opening their eyes and minds and equipping them with the experience they need to pursue this exciting career option.”
Students are provided workspace and access to current technology (iPads and printers) during home games to complete their sport communication tasks. At the end of the semester, students also received financial renumeration for their work, time and travel expenses.
About half of the funds received from the CEWIL Canada grant have been put towards the purchase of technology, including iPads, for students to use, and the other half supported the stipend.
“This experience has provided me with many skills like creativity, editing, communication, writing, and many more amazing useful skills,” said Sport Management student Kennedy Costa (Ingersoll / St. Catharines). “Since a career in media or communications is something that interests me a lot, all of the skills I utilized in this work integrated/experiential learning experience will help me greatly in my future career.”
Costa noted that her whole life has revolved around sports, and she was drawn to NC’s Sport Management program with a desire to keep it that way – intrigued by the media and communications aspects of sport.
“I value the entire experience I had with this Sport Communications Lab. I had a really fun time throughout the whole lab, and I really am glad I got to experience my creativity and editing skills by making all of the posters to post on social media,” said Costa. “I learned a lot in the area of writing media releases. Talking to the coaches post game was something very cool to experience.”
Joseph Sangers (Ayr, Ontario) enjoyed working on a Twitter and Instagram page and creating content for a volleyball doubleheader, as well as writing media releases for the games.
“I found it awesome that I now have something I can put on my resume related to Sports Communications and it made me look into a career in sports media/communications,” said Sangers. “One thing that enhanced my experience further was getting two of my pre-game articles posted on the NC Knights page! It just felt very rewarding.”
Ivy Cassibo (Port Perry/ St. Catharines) is interested in pursuing a position for a sports team someday, handling marketing, social media and sales.
“I felt more involved in the actual production of the game. I was able to pay more attention to the game because I was the one responsible for creating content for it,” said Cassibo, who participated in the lab during Fall term. “Also, it was a perk that we were getting paid to be there, but it was not a main driver for me because I genuinely enjoy doing social media tasks.”
One of the learning experiences for Cassibo was that “it is not as easy at it looks.”
“The sport environment is fast paced and can be very high pressure where it is important to remain calm, be professional and be organized to produce a good product,” she said. “Overall, this learning experience was fantastic, and I am happy that Niagara College and Professor Puillandre has provided me with the tools to help me succeed.”
More than 40 second-year Sport Management students participated in the Sports Communication Lab during Fall term, and Tyrrell said they hope to continue the initiative in the .
Sport Management students will also be involved with the OCAA Women’s Basketball Championship March 3-5, 2023 at the Welland Campus.
Sport Management is a three-year advanced diploma program at Niagara College, aimed at preparing sports enthusiasts for a career in the dynamic sports industry
