A class of Sport Management students paired experiential learning with community outreach when they developed ways for two not-for-profit organizations to get grants and recruit volunteers.

Since the start of the term, Sport Management 2P05 (Management Concepts in Sport Organizations) students have been actively working with CanoeKayak Canada – Western Ontario Division (CKC WOD) and the Ontario Canoe Kayak Sprint Racing Affiliation (OCSRA) to develop customized solutions and address management challenges.

This class really opened student Mitch Johnson’s mind about a sector of the sport industry he didn’t see himself in before, he said.

“Through hands-on and interactive situations, I believe the not-for-profit sector of the sport industry is an area I may pursue in the future,” he said.

The goal for the semester was to develop seed grant applications for these organizations to submit to the Ontario Trillium Foundation and put together a volunteer recruitment plan for the upcoming 2017 Canoe Kayak Canada National Sprint Championship at the Welland International Flat-water Centre.

The purpose of this partnership is for students to apply the concepts they are learning in class to an organization in the sport industry, said Sport Management Assistant Professor, Shannon Kerwin.

“Providing students with the opportunity to work with a not for profit organization enables them to gain a better understanding of the concepts being taught in the course,” she said.

Often not-for-profit organizations struggle with limited resources and large mandates to serve the community.

The writing of grant proposals and volunteer recruitment plans are vital skills students will need in the future and this class was a great eye-opener for what the future holds, said Johnson.

This reciprocal relationship allows CKC WOD and OCSRA to provide students with hands-on experiences and the students in return get to help to improve organizational capacity.

The student groups worked closely with CKC WOD’s Board of Directors and OCSRA all semester. Ted Roworth, Paul Vincent and Ryan Blair, who were actively involved with the second-year students, helped shape the final projects submitted for course credit.

Both Roworth and Vincent were at Brock recently to announce which student groups were most successful in each category.

It’s important for sport organizations to engage and foster this type of relationship with sport management students, said CKC WOD Flag Officer Ted Roworth.

“We will be able to take good ideas away with us and apply them to the 2017 CanoeKayak Canada Sprint National Championship and our ongoing operations,” he said.

Emily Stratford, Mitch Johnson and Robert Koen won the grant writing component and Nick Barre, Jake Sparks and Daria Fedorowycz won for the most effective volunteer recruitment plan.

When asked about the experience, Emily Stratford said: “Collaborating with these organizations enabled us to take the knowledge we learned in class and apply it to a grant proposal for a national sport organization. This was a great opportunity that I’m glad to have participated in.”