Situation
One of the important points of the student's assignment is the ability to scan trends and developments in sports and physical activity.

This is a crucial part of the task to be able to move towards the future. The student has agreed with the manager that she will go to different congresses, symposia and workshops. Some together with the manager, some alone. Some invitations run through the manager but some of the congresses and symposia are free to entry and together with the manager the student paid online attention to interesting congresses and symposia. This resulted that the student attended multiple congresses, symposia and workshops during the internship. All with different themes, different speakers and different locations.

Task

Tasks

Congresses, Symposia & Workshops attended

·       Tijd voor Toekomst 06/10/2022 ·       EFDN Meer dan Voetbal Congress 18/10/2022 ·       Symposia Zorg Nabij 08/11/2022 ·       Gezondheidsfestival 28/11/2022 ·       Workshop Upshot Eredivisie 06/12/2022 ·       Sport Erasmus + Subsidies 07/02/2023 ·       Sportdebat SSIG 23/02/203 ·       19th More Than Football Conference – Sevilla 20 – 23 March 2023 ·       Workshop IT4Kids Impact Monitoring 04/04/2023 ·       Sportnetwerk 050 20/04/2023

 

Action

During the past year, the student attended various conferences, symposia, and workshops with the aim of exploring trends and developments in the fields of sports, football, social impact, health, and movement. Often taking the initiative to attend these events, the student also had an agreement with their manager to inform each other of any interesting conferences and symposia. As a result, the student attended nearly all major events in these fields in the Northern Netherlands. To share knowledge and keep themselves sharp, the student learned from their manager that she could easily take notes on their iPhone and share them later. This enabled her to pay more attention during sessions while retaining the information better.

In addition to acquiring knowledge, networking was one of the most important actions during these events. For the subject of the student's assignment, it is crucial to expand their network. During the events, the student met many new people by adopting an open attitude and familiarizing themselves with the topics beforehand. This allowed her to participate in discussions and keep up with certain subjects. One of the biggest conferences the student attended last year was the 19th More Than Football Conference in Seville in the spring of 2023, which is further explained in Chapter 11.

 

Result

The result of attending the conferences, symposia and workshops is that the student has been able to greatly expand her knowledge, is aware of current trends and developments within sports and physical activity, and has expanded her network. Additionally, she has been able to speak with many different people and visit new places. All of these points have contributed to the student's personal development, but have also contributed to her professional performance.

Reflection

At the beginning of the academic year, the student was new and not very experienced in this field. However, by observing and learning from the manager and other participants and their networking methods, the student has grown tremendously in this area over the past year. The student often receives feedback that she is easy to approach, making it easy for her to have conversations with others. She noticed that she began recognizing more people and approaching them easily. To challenge herself, the student set a goal to try to network with new people during those situations, in order to expand her network even further.

Returning to the congresses and symposia, the student was certainly able to meet the networking objective. Additionally, these events were valuable for the development of knowledge in the field of sports and exercise, and the student was able to share this information with others because she learned from the manager that it is always helpful to take notes on important presentations or points of interest. It feels good to be up-to-date on developments, and these events have contributed to the student's knowledge and network. In the future, the student hopes to attend these kinds of congresses and potentially even make a contribution, such as presenting at the WCSF.