Ryan Hyndman is a fourth-year Sport Management student at Brock University. He is interning with the Centre for Sport Capacity this Spring and Summer as our Marketing, Communications, and Business Development Coordinator (Intern).

Many students look to find an internship where the position is a perfect intersection of existing skillset and opportunity to develop new practical skills, and that is what I believe I have found in this position. Hello! My name is Ryan Hyndman and I am currently a 4th year Sport Management (SPMA) Student with a minor in Economics. I’m from the small town of Pakenham, ON in the heart of the Ottawa Valley. This summer I will be working with the Centre for Sport Capacity (CSC) to complete my internship for SPMA 4F01/4F02 in the Marketing, Communications, and Business Development Coordinator role until the end of August. I am thrilled to be able to join this team and hit the ground running!

Working with sport management Experiential Coordinator, Katie Desveaux, I came across the posting for this position and was immediately intrigued. From there, I put together my application comprised of an updated version of my resume and cover letter, and an example of my academic writing. As part of the process, I worked with Career Zone to fully revamp my resume and cover letter to make sure that it was up to industry standards. This was a huge benefit for me as applying for this position allowed me to improve professionally before I was even selected for an interview. For the academic writing component I chose my final qualitative research assignment from SPMA 3P07. When I was fortunate enough to be selected for an interview, I virtually sat down with Dr. Julie Stevens (Director, Centre for Sport Capacity) and Cole McClean (Coordinator, Centre for Sport Capacity) and had a very productive interview that felt more like a conversation.

Sport has always been a massive part of my life from being an amateur athlete, to being a fan, to shaping my education around it, and now to pursuing a career in this field. Additionally, the Niagara Region has felt like a second home since moving over five hours away to attend Brock three years ago. When I discovered this internship opening at the CSC, I knew that it would be the perfect opportunity to continue my professional development in pursuit of a career in sport, while also positively contributing to a community that I care about. Although many sport management students would not think to complete their internship with a research centre at Brock because it is not a professional sport organization, I saw a major opportunity. An opportunity to build further professional relationships with faculty and staff, continue developing skills gained in volunteer experiences in a professional environment, and contributing to the Brock community that I care so much for. Additionally, prospective interns may look at the centre from an outside perspective and feel like the experience may be more academic since it operates within Brock University. It is my expectation that there is plenty of opportunity to use was has been taught to me in the classroom and apply it to practical industry experiences such as promoting and marketing events, developing new business initiates, and managing communications.

During my time with the CSC, I want to make sure that I make significant strides in all three areas of my position: Marketing, Communications, and Business Development. Beginning with Marketing, I have some experience from volunteer opportunities with promoting events and certain initiatives, however I have yet to be an integral member of a team developing a marketing plan. This is an area I would like to develop. Secondly, Communications is a skill that I would like to master. I want to hone the correct language and tone to use with different stakeholders such as co-workers, supervisors, community partners, as well as new contacts, and potential clients. Finally, Business Development is the area where I have had the least amount of experience by far. It will be a successful opportunity for myself if I am able to learn what goes into the business development process and take it with me throughout my sport management career.

I also believe that I can make my presence felt in a positive way throughout the CSC. As my position covers many elements of operations, I hope to be a “Swiss Army Knife” when it comes to support. I look forward to helping in any area where I am needed and providing positive energy to the teams I work with. I believe that my previous experience in a variety of different roles has provided me with insight to effectively contribute to the objectives of the CSC. Overall, I am extremely excited to start my time with the Centre and look forward to the many skills I will develop and the professional relationships that I will build.