In this blog, current student Shrey talks about his experience working with organisations as part of his MSc Sport Business and Innovation during the pandemic.

When I started studying MSc Sport Business and Innovation in September 2020 it was a time when the whole world was dealing with the pandemic and there was some uncertainty with respect to how this would effect the course itself. Almost everyone in my cohort had doubts regarding the student experience, especially in relation to being able to interact with external organisations, as it is one of the key factors we were looking for in a master’s course.

But we needn’t have worried – even with the situation shifting online, we have had amazing opportunities to interact and connect with people outside of the University! For example, we have had three major hackathons where the partner organisations have come from organisations like Ticketmaster Sport, West Ham United Football Club Foundation, Sports Interactive and so on. Even with respect to our course, we have had guest lecturers from various backgrounds and organisations which has helped us build an understanding of concepts from a practical point of view.

This was also supplemented by our assignments focussing on partner organisations and dealing with a problem the face and aiming to find or create a solution for them. One of the major assignments which I have been involved in was with Surrey County Cricket Club (SCCC), the club that plays at the famous Kia Oval stadium! The assignment involved an interaction with the SCCC marketing team, where we were provided with data about the consumers and their demographics and the purchase information for the last three seasons. Using this information as a basis, in teams of five we had to analyse the data, find patterns and results, and make recommendations to the club for the current season, primarily focussing on marketing recommendations to the SCCC for the 2021 season. The main part which I enjoyed about this experience was having the opportunity to present our recommendations to the marketing team and get actual feedback from them.

In a similar way, we have also had the opportunity to work with Sports Interactive on our Collaborative Project. The Collaborative Project is a module where we are put in teams of five and are given a brief by a partner organisation, in my case Sports Interactive. We then have to find a solution to the problem addressed in the brief over the course of two months and then present our findings to the team at Sports Interactive. This enhances the experience of our learnings by not only cementing the understanding of what we have learnt in the course but also giving us the experience of working on problems in real life. There is so much to learn working with the external organisations and it also adds to the networking opportunities.

Another interesting opportunity that I have experienced during my time at Loughborough University London has been the Monday Mentoring sessions. This is run by the Future Space team wherein for every Monday for six weeks, we are partnered with individuals working in the industry who act as our mentors. The aim is to identify a goal and work towards achieving your goal using the help of the mentors.

Overall, personally I felt that the whole online learning might have changed the experience of learning in lectures, but, I have had a good experience of working with people in the industry and making use of the concepts I have learned practically, which I feel is one of the most interesting and key aspect of the course so far.

Loughborough University London would like to thank Shrey Nilvarna for this blog.

To find our more about the Institute for Sport Business and their programmes, please visit our website.

To find out more about the Future Space team, please visit our website.