My name's Sarah Campbell
I studied a Bachelor of Applied Science in Recreation Planning and Management
and I currently work for Adelaide United Football Club.
The most relevant subject to me at the moment in my career
was the Sport and Event course that we did in our third year.
Basically, it was just how to run an event from
start to finish, everything you need to do in the lead up,
everything for the day and everything afterwards
so every week when I have a W-League game, I need to write
an event plan and it's a full on event plan with
team officials and match officials that are involved,
timings that your signs are going to put up, your flags are going to be put up,
everything like that, when all of your contractors can bump in and out
so I've got like a ten page document of a seating plan
everything like that for the entire stadium and the entire day
so anything you need is in that document
so I do that every single week for every single game.
With the UniSA practicums, I actually
did one for the South Australian Jockey Club
I figured the Adelaide Cup was a huge event and because
I knew I wanted to be Sport and Event focussed, I went for that and
they actually rang me up when I was doing my exams in my last year
of study and said "Hey we've got a Marketing Assistant job for you"
"It's not big, it's nothing much but you'll get your foot in the door."
So I definitely took that and that was where I spent
my first four years when I was out of uni.
Another practicum I also did was back when the
South Australian Soccer Federation was around
so I did a practicum there, I actually ran a little tournament here at
Hindmarsh and it was a little five a side tournament that they took
the winners from each state and then they played as a curtain-raiser
to the World Cup quite a few years back
so that was a big project that I did here
so I've made some great networks because I knew
you know, I knew I wanted to work in football, I knew that
from the start, even when I was at the Jockey Club
I always had that five year plan that
"Nope, I'm going to be working for football in five years' time"
so I did you know, I was at the Jockey Club learning as I went
even there I did running sheets, I did event plans
I helped with marketing, everything like that
So, it was definitely a great experience to get there
but I knew that in five years' time I'd be back here at
Hindmarsh Stadium so it was a really good thing with the
UniSA course and the way it runs and the way
you actually get out there in the workforce.
I met some great people, I knew the competitions manager
at the Soccer Federation and everyone like that
there was even a guy that worked for the competitions manager
that when I came for this job, he actually put in a good word for me
so the people that you meet are just so invaluable
to your future career.
My job really has two parts, I have the administration side
which is getting the girls contracted, training
schedules, everything like that, so all of the office work
that's half of my job, I also plan all of our travel as well
so bus, plane, everything like that, meals, accommodation.
So that's all the in-office stuff. I then get to travel with the girls
so that's a lot of fun seeing the work that you've done.
When we come here to play at Hindmarsh, I run the event
you know, make sure everyone's there on time
teams arrive on time, referees are there, everything happens on time
the players know when they're in the change room, out the change room,
when they can warm up, everything like that
make sure they've got their drinks, they've got their food
the volunteers are here, the signs are up, so yeah
there's that whole... just from whoa to go, the entire event experience
and then you get to watch your team play as well
so yeah, it's a good experience.
I've really stayed in touch with UniSA
I'm in the alumni, which means I get to meet all the up and coming students
and it's great to meet such excited people about what they do
and passionate people, as I believe you need to follow your passion
you have to love what you're doing every single day
get out of bed and realise you are doing the job of your dreams
so I'm very lucky in that way and all these up and coming students
they're really, really excited about what they do
and because I've needed volunteers for games, I've actually been able to go back
to alumni functions and meet with all the young students and I've actually
got a girl named Dara that actually comes here and she
runs our ball crew for us on match day, so she's been
really great and hopefully we can help her with her resume
which is important for the future
because I'm in football but this isn't you know, this is
just the beginning for me, I'd love to just keep
going up the ranks in football, there's the Football Federation of Australia
who I work closely with and have good relationships with, so you know
that's kind of the next step up to go national, then there's all
the national teams, then there's of course FIFA, so it's endless
you know, I'm just at the beginning of my career and
yeah, I pretty much owe it all to my studies and who I met along the way
because it is good what you know
but it's also really good who you know.
I think if you love sport, you may not be
an A-League athlete like the guys behind me, but
if you love sport, there is a career for you
and the Recreation Planning and Management course was just the best thing
I've ever done and I highly recommend it because
you can have a career in sport without being an athlete and
the opportunities are endless and if you're passionate about it
which you really need to be to get through the uni course
just follow your passion and you'll end up in your dream job.