Learning outcome: 11.1

The student demonstrates the development of her expertise and professional skills as a sportsprofessional through reflection and refers to relevant developments in the sports world.

Looking back on the last few years in the world of sports, I can say that there were a lot of changes and things going on. From the #MeToo in sports, to the Corona pandemic which had a huge influence on a lot of sports competitions, the Olympics and inequalities in sports. Especially during the corona pandemic, the inequalities in sports between woman and male athletes came to light. Were a lot of international football leagues for males went through, the opposite happened for the female teams. Weird right? In my opinion, inequalities in sports is a topic at the moment, and will stay a topic of discussion until the inequalities increase. Especially during the Corona pandemic, I realized that I would like to work on this topic and that I would like to have a influence in the changes that needs to be made.

Some changes and attentions that gave me some personal insights were the development of female football and the international rights for females in sports. More of this and why this is of such an influence on me can be found in my essay about the inequalities in sports and in my book summary about the book Stand Up and Shout Out. One of the examples in my essay and of the last few weeks which is an inspiration to me is the fact that the stadium of FC Barcelona was sold out for a females match and this was also the world record of the most visitors of a females match of all times. This a positive development and an example for the whole world.

Where I see a lot of opportunities is for example in the prizes that different sport teams receive if they win a price. This was visible during the last Euro Hockey League (EHL) and the prizes the male and female team received. Where the male team received a huge cup, the females received a way smaller cup. This got also the attention of the media, and even the players of both sexes got upset about this. Why are there unequal prizes? And what can we do in the world together to make some changes? These are topics that I would like to focus on and do the best that I can to create a more equal sports environment.

In the last year, in comparison to the first year of sport studies, I participated in a lot of opportunities to develop myself in the sports world. In the first year of sport studies, there weren’t that much opportunities due to corona, and after that year I decided that I wanted to get the most out of the second year in order to gain more knowledge and develop myself in different areas of the world of sports. One example of this is my trip to Padova, Italy, with Gerco van Dalfsen and Ben Hattink for one of the Erasmus+ programs. In the beginning of the course Sport, Entrepreneurship and Innovation they told us that one student could join them to the final meeting of the EnRoute program in Italy. They would choose the student who showed the most effort in an online program and I saw this as a change and directly started to work on it. After a few weeks, I came out as the winner. After our trip, also together with Tamar van der Veen with who I could talk a lot about our lives and challenges, I was happy and proud that I was part of this. But this was not the only additional program that I participated in during the last year. Some of them are explained in other learning outcomes, but here is a short list of the additional things that I did during the last year to gain some extra knowledge and develop myself into a professional in the sports world.

• Trip to Barcelona, Spain, for the course European Vital Cities
• Wintersport Experience, Axamer Lizum Austria
• FIBO Köln
• Internship Topsport Noord
• Honours program
• In holland program, together with the physical week in Haarlem
• Grotius program
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In the last few months, I created more and more an idea of what I want to do in the future, or in what field I would like to develop in. This is not something that happened in one day, but I needed multiple conversations and networking events in order to gain some expertise and knowledge in all the different working areas. Especially during open days where I had a lot of conversations with different teachers, during my internship and special networking events I was able to get different insights in what people think that fits me and where they see me in the future.

If I look at my professional developments of the last year in comparison to the first year of sport studies, I can say that I grew in different ways. I have no problems anymore with making connections, talk to strangers and I like to be in an intercultural environment, but I also developed my knowledge with courses like sport, entrepreneurship and innovation and European Vital Cities. The knowledge and experiences I gained during the last few months, is something that will stick with me for the rest of my life and which I can use in my daily routine as well. Also the experience of managing a hockey team with a higher level learned me some professional skills as managing and communication which can be helpful for the future and my future career.