I am a second year student at Nottingham Trent University, and as part of my course (Sports Education and Psychology), I am required to complete a 6-week placement. At first I thought what a waste of time it was going to be, 6 weeks unpaid work, no thanks! But I kept thinking to myself, it needs to be done if I want to pass, and so I got my placement for 6 weeks at NTU Sport, based on Clifton Campus.
When I first arrived, I met with one of the managers and found out I was also on placement with two other students from my course. I was made to feel very welcome when I arrived, and was shown around the facilities, followed by a brief of what was to come over the next 6 weeks.
I was shown to the office, where I met everyone else on the team, and quickly adopted my own computer space where I would be working. My thoughts were still the same, in the fact I really didn’t want to be doing 6 weeks work. However, I was asked by the staff what my interests in the job would be, so that they could try to tailor specific jobs for me to do that I would enjoy, rather than sitting at a computer doing jobs that I would hate. I was also set tasks based on what I would like, and I quickly started to get into the swing of things.
One of my particular interest was around the gym, and so I had some tasks based around that. In just my first week, I was invited to attend an important meeting about technology in the gym, which I found very interesting and gave me more tasks to be getting on with in the research around technology, which was also one of my interests.
I worked under pretty much every member of staff during my time at NTU, giving me a wide range of experience in different areas, as I didn’t have a clue what I wanted to be after Uni! Working under different staff helped me discover what I really enjoy and what I don’t, and one of the things I enjoyed most was the Wednesdays.
Wednesdays are the big day at university…game day! All the sports teams compete to try and bring home the bacon for NTU, and with this comes a busy office at NTU Sport. Every Wednesday, the office is pretty much full with all the staff trying to make sure everything runs as smoothly as possible. My job on a Wednesday was mainly match reporting, which was probably my favourite thing to do over the 6 weeks. I got to go out every Wednesday to watch one of the big games, which is ideal as I love watching sports, and get my match reports published on the NTU Sport website! I also got to walk around campus watching all the other sports and cheering on NTU as best I could.
As time passed, I got more and more comfortable in my role at NTU, getting to know the staff and the job better every day. Football is my sport, and I was invited to play 6 a side for the staff team on a Friday evening, which made me feel even more part of the team!
Even though at the start of the 6 weeks I thought I would hate every minute of a 9-5 job, I actually really enjoyed my time here, and would recommend a placement at NTU for any student looking to gain experience. I feel like I have come out of the 6 weeks with more skills and confidence than I had before, and hope to pursue something similar in the future.
Callum Rowland – 2nd year Sports Education and Psychology student
NTU Sport Blog 