Sports Development Assistant Review

Within my day to day role, I monitored participation for the participation sports programmes, ran various sport sessions and worked to increase the offer of sport participation available to both staff and students. A lot of my work was based on Excel, analysing and making data easily readable whilst still being able to use all that was being collected. I was responsible for monitoring equipment used in these sessions and so had to make sure I was always checking the different aspects and allowing room in the budget to keep up with the demand of the equipment needed.

Within my placement, I learnt how to analyse data and use this to generate reports. Also how to use this data to improve the offers of sport and see the areas that were struggling and those that were successful and analyse why. I became more confident communicating with people from other companies, as a lot of my role was contacting businesses to see what they could offer alongside MMU for the students and staff.

Yes, I coordinated some of the staff to ensure they all knew what they were doing. Ran a league with one of my colleagues that involved 3 different unis bringing multiple teams. These all involved me being the main point of contact for a lot of the members of staff so I had to ensure that I stayed on top of communication with them, but also made sure it was a positive communication so they could trust me.

I received a good amount of support on my placement. My colleagues and placement supervisors were within reach and always on hand to help me when needed. A lot of my role was similar to past experience I had so I didn’t require support on all aspects of my role. The task I required support most on was my monitoring of participation as I was using parts of Excel that I had never come across before.

The company culture and atmosphere were definitely based around a setting of growth. You could see how the staff appreciated each other and respected each other. It was an atmosphere very different to any I had experienced within a workplace. But it was one I thoroughly enjoyed. The atmosphere made me feel very welcome and I settled in very quickly. The office was a very easy space to be in and my colleagues were always there to help when needed.

I gained lots of valuable experience from my placement. Whilst at times it was challenging, it was nothing that I couldn’t overcome either individually or as part of my team. My placement taught me some very valuable skills that will be taken with me on my career. It allowed me to realise that when looking at graduate jobs, sports is a huge market and I need to be specific about what I go into.

Yes

When applying for any role it is really important to make sure you understand what you are applying for. Within a placement role it’s important you try to gain as much experience and learning out of it as you can. It really is a year to explore the world of working and understand what you want from your future. MMU really helped me gain experiences in various areas, and they allowed me to have a clearer picture of what I want my career to look like.