Two Sport Business Majors Score Internships Abroad
May 18, 2010
Two Saint Leo University
student-athletes who have completed all their academic coursework
are capping off their degree programs with summer internships
outside the United States.
Internships are required for Saint Leo University undergraduates
seeking the Bachelor of Arts in sport business, which prepares
graduates for a variety of leadership positions in the worlds of
professional or amateur sports, recreation, and related fields.
Often, an internship can lead to a paid professional position with
the same organization. Or the internship experience can give the
student a sense of what specific types of jobs in the field most
excite them.
Anna Riss, who came to Saint Leo from Germany and played very
successfully on the women’s golf team, is hoping her internship at
a football (soccer) club in Munich will help her pinpoint a
specific career interest. “I will be working at FC Bayern Munich in
the marketing/event management, sponsorships, merchandise, sales,
and ticketing Departments for about three weeks each,” she said.
“That way I can get a feel for every area.”
“I would love to stay with either Bayern or another soccer team in
Germany and work on my master's and doctorate degrees on the side,”
Riss said.
Another student-athlete is finding his sport business internship
opportunity Down Under.
David (DJ) Garry is traveling to Australia, to a suburb of
Melbourne, to work at the Chadstone Lacrosse Club. It’s the same
club where a Saint Leo student held an internship last summer, so
the university and the club have a track record together in spite
of oceans of separation.
Garry, who is from Indiana, played for the Lion’s lacrosse team.
“I was never able to study abroad because of lacrosse, so I wanted
to do something out of the country for my internship,” he
explained. “My responsibilities vary, but all have something
to do with lacrosse. I am going to play on the men's team for
Chadstone, help coach the younger teams, and do things inside the
office (including handling duties for the team website, marketing,
and make coaching videos).”
Such work experiences are of immense
value to Saint Leo undergraduates, said Eric C. Schwarz, associate
professor of sport business. “The importance of experiential
learning via internships as a capstone to the undergraduate sport
business program is crucial to success for our students entering
the field,” he said. “With the continued growth of sport business
globally, and Saint Leo University’s mission to become a leading
Catholic teaching university of international consequence
for the twenty-first century, the expansion of our experiential
learning program to countries such as Germany and Australia is a
natural evolution of our program.”
