Students will spend three and a half months in a sports organization to gain practical experience of Sport Management. The students will be assigned to sports organizations and take part in the organization’s administrative work or with issues related to event management. By spending time in such organizations the students will be stimulated to engage in reflective thinking by bridging academic insight with practical experience. Having completed the internship, the students use April and May to write a semester thesis which will be submitted in June. To be able to select this course, the students have to complete the following courses during the fall semester: SPM325 Event Management, SPM326 Volunteerism in sport, and SPM355 The Management of Sport Marketing.

The student shall:

• Under supervision, obtain practical experience related to general organizational and administrative work in a sports organization or to event management.
• Be able to draw upon relevant theory and literature related to sport management in practical work within a sports organization.
• Be able to evaluate and analyze personal experiences during the internship through the use of a reflective logbook.
• Be able to engage in critical reflection about the sports organization’s practice.

The course consists of a series of lectures, a practical placement in a sports organization, keeping a logbook with critical reflection during the placement, and a final thesis. Prior to the student’s internship, a course of introductory lectures must be completed. These lectures give the students vital information about the Norwegian sport model and the organizations to which they will be assigned. During the internship, the students are given 3 hours of supervision per week by a placement tutor. Following the internship, there will be lectures which deal with how to write a semester thesis.

Students will be assigned to a sports organization such as the Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sports (NIF), a national sports federation (e.g. Norwegian Ski Federation) or a sports club (e.g. The Association for the Promotion of Skiing). The sports organization will assign relevant tasks to be performed by the students during the internship. The internship shall be an 80 % job (i.e. 4 working-days per week) between January 10 and March 27. The two subsequent months the students are to work with their semester thesis.

During the internship the students are required to write a weekly log which summarizes what they have been doing, as well as an evaluation of their experiences. The students have to follow a given structure for these logs. The students will be evaluated by their placement tutor twice: a) halfway through the internship and b) when the internship is completed.

A five-fold scale (excellent, above the mean, mean, below the mean, and poor) will be used to describe the student’s work with regard to the following criteria:

• Initiative and creativity
• Accountability
• Their ability to work independently (their ability to organize themselves and to carry out their tasks as intended), 
• Leadership abilities
• Their ability to satisfy the organizations´ customers or members needs
• Their ability to accept and take advantage of advises to improve their own performance
• Enthusiasm and self-confidence
• Their ability to communicate in written and oral form
• Professional behavior

The students must comply with the rules, regulations and requirements of the organization where they will work on placement After the internship the students will write a semester thesis (6000-7000 word). In this thesis, the students shall analyze their experiences from the internship in light for academic theory in the fields of organization and/or leadership theory. Before they commence writing, the students has to compile a list of relevant literature (450 pages), which the course tutor must approve. The compulsory reading has to be accepted by the academic responsible for the course.

The students are graded A-F, and will be based on:

• The weekly logs which constitute a portfolio assessment (20 %)
• Halfway and final evaluation done by the tutor (20 %)
• Semester thesis (60 %)

COURSE LITERATURE:

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Edwards, A. (1999). Reflective practice in sport management. Sport Management Review, 2(1), 67-81.
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Millar, P., & Stevens, J. (2012). Management training and national sport organization managers: Examining the impact of training on individual and organizational performances. Sport Management Review, 15(3), 288-303.
This article is available online: Click here to download


450 individually selected pages that have to be approved by the course tutor