Ollie: 

“For my week’s work experience I went to Twickenham to work with Sportingclass. Sportingclass is a sports events, hospitality and consulting company. Sportingclass works on events such as Wimbledon, RBS 6 Nations or Formula One, for example. 

I was invited to help with the setting up and running of the England vs Ireland rugby legends game, where I got to go to ‘The Stoop’, the home ground of Harlequins and was given an access-all-areas pass which allowed me to go into the changing rooms and the boxes. During my week at Sportingclass I got to work with each of the employees where they gave me a brief overview of what they did and then they gave me a task to complete that was similar to or an actual task they would have to do.

This week was a great eye-opener for me as it gave me ideas of what I like and what I don’t like in the work environment which will also help me massively during my gap year.”

Georgia: 

“I spent my work experience at ITV working across three shows; This morning, Lorraine and Good morning Britain as well as a day with ITV sports. I got the chance to meet the presenters and guests as well as assist with interviews and go out with the reporters to watch a game and to write a match report. With ITV sport I got to watch some filming and then help edit the promo video for the Cheltenham races which was really cool to be a part of and seeing all that has to go into making a 1-minute video. I learnt a lot about what goes on behind the cameras and all the different roles that are needed to help get a show to run smoothly and to air on time.” 

Louis: 

“During my week of work experience for ‘Magpies In The Community’, I learned a variety of different skills, such as refereeing and coaching. My daily routine included setting up the drills and goals in the morning before players arrived. On Monday and Tuesday I was asked to referee games of under 9 football. At first, refereeing was uncomfortable and new to me. However, I grew into the role and started to enjoy it. On Wednesday to Friday I shadowed a few coaches whilst they ran a training session, I was later asked to run my own sessions. I thoroughly enjoyed working with all the coaches and gained a lot from the experience.”

Harry W: 

“For my work experience, I went to Harlequins and was working with the sports marketing team to understand how they work with their main partners DHL and Adidas as well as how they earn more money from other partners such as Green King, Refinitiv and Persil when posting on social media. Also, I met the first team and spent a day at the training ground observing how the team works on site.”

Harry J:

“My week was great, I was able to work with many different parts of the business at Saracens and I enjoyed all of the aspects of working with the sports foundation. I also worked with marketing and with the media department as well as the game preparation department where I prepared the changing rooms and also the pitch for a RAF vs french RAF match. Lastly, I worked in the store at the stadium which gave me an insight into the working of the stock in the business and how to mark it down.”  

Joshua: 

“For my work experience week, I worked at Wycombe Heights Golf club where I arrived at 9am every day and left at 3pm. During the week I shadowed the golf pro that was in charge of me, sitting in on the lessons and group sessions. I was given the opportunity to lead the warm-up which was enjoyable as I did it rather well. I have found that my confidence has grown massively when talking to people. I have also learned about the market side of golf and was able to sell several golf clubs. The club even offered me a part-time job that I can do in the summer which shows that I left a good impression on the club and will be able to return.”

Ben: 

“During my week of work experience at The Marlow Club, I came to learn various different things that happen behind the scenes there as well as what it's like to be a personal trainer on a day to day basis. I shadowed the personal trainers during their sessions as well as helping them to plan their sessions. I also got to shadow the duty managers on what they do every day which gave me an insight on how a gym is run. I got to help them with different jobs but I was restricted at times due to the fact that I'm not qualified.” 

Becky: 

“For the past week, I was able to do work experience at e Licensed Victuallers' School in Ascot in the sports department. When I was there I was able to experience the lifestyle of a sports teacher for Reception up to Year 6 through swimming and pe classes throughout the whole week. I was able to get in the water and help teach the year 0-2 swim as well as giving them an extra lesson after school. At the end of the week, I was able to gain a few skill that I needed to develop on as well as being able to meet new people that can help me in the future. I think that doing my work experience at a school gave me more of a reason why I want to do teaching as a career as well as not seeing it from a students point of view but being able to see what the teachers have to do on the sidelines so the students are able to perform different types of sport if it is in classroom or out on the field in a match.”