In the UTS Master of Sport Management, the teacher becomes the student

One of the major drawcards for the UTS sports management degree was a final-semester internship subject in which students spend 12 weeks working for a professional sporting organisation. The degree is well known throughout the sporting world, with students routinely securing placements with some of Australia’s leading sport companies. 

Leif was set on working with an organisation delivering an upcoming major sporting event. World Rugby, which was gearing up to host the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Sydney, was one of his targets. 

In his penultimate semester, Leif reached out to their Sydney office, determined to lock down a spot well before the internship deadline. After a few weeks of back and forth, “they got back and said, ‘Yeah, we’ll take you on; we’ve got some meaningful opportunities for you,’” he says. 

From spectator to sports management professional 

At World Rugby, Leif joined the Tournament Planning team, one of seven departments within the operation. Over 12 weeks, with support from the Head of Tournament Planning, he worked to establish what was called a functional area operating plan (FOAP) for more than 50 of the tournament’s functional areas. 

These plans, which required him to engage and build connections across the organisation, ensured that all the functional areas were all working efficiently towards shared operational deliverables. 

Leif was gratified to see that his prior work, coupled with his learning from the UTS sport management course, had given him a strong foundational understanding of how to put a sporting event together. His colleagues also taught him how to translate his existing expertise into a professional sporting context, which in turn helped him understand where he might fit in the sector in future. 

“In the school sport space, I was once the NSW Combined High Schools Athletics Convener, leading the end-to-end delivery of one of NSW biggest annual public school sports events for over 2500 athletes,” Leif says.

"My colleagues helped me to appreciate that many of the skills I’d executed in a role like that were transferable and scalable."

"That was a lightbulb moment for me, as I think too many years in the same career lane had led me to undervalue the extent of my skills.”

Exploring the foundations of sport business 

Leif’s time at World Rugby was only heightened by the Master of Sport Management curriculum, which helped him build the theoretical expertise that came to life during his internship. 

Course content spanned everything from specialist sport management and governance subjects through to fundamental business literacy, including in event management and career planning. 

Among the most inspiring subjects was Sport Business, which introduced students to the contemporary sporting environment and the external influences that shape it, such as technology, audiences, social media and ownership models.  

Another subject called Career and Portfolio Planning got students thinking about how to position themselves in the competitive business landscape.

“For me, as a career change candidate coming from the government sector, it was extremely valuable in helping to prepare me for success in the corporate world.”

Social impact, a hallmark of UTS Business School degrees, was a core feature of the degree, as well as of the research being produced by world-leading academics in the Sport Management discipline. For Leif, much of this learning put into words what he’d already been doing throughout his time as a high school teacher. 

“A lot of the things I've been teaching children about the past two decades leans a lot into this idea of social justice, of sustainability, of fairness and equity. That was an easy thing for me to transfer into a corporate or sport business setting,” he says. 

From the stands to the sidelines, a full-circle moment 

Having recently completed his UTS degree, Leif is now on the hunt for his first-ever full-time sports management job.

“My north star is to play a part in the delivering the ‘Green and Gold Decade’. Leading up to Brisbane 2032, Australia is hosting an entire suite of world-class sporting events and I want to get involved in helping make these a reality,” he says.

Armed with a growing list of sports industry contacts, courtesy of his UTS degree, his internship and recent volunteer experiences, he thinks it’s a matter of when, not if, the right role comes around. Recently, he volunteered at the AFC Women’s Asian Cup, building out his professional networks and gaining further hands-on experience that he can add to his CV. 

Nearly three years after that memorable night at a Sydney pub, Leif found himself again watching the Matildas, this time in their nail-biting final match against Japan.  

“The official motto of the Asian Cup is ‘Dream fearless’, and here I am,” he says.