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College and high school students got the chance to learn about different careers in the business of sport at Lincoln Trail College’s first Sport Management Symposium on January 24. The event featured speakers from the St. Louis Cardinals, Clemson University, and Next College Student-Athlete.
Lincoln Trail College President Dr. Ryan Gower opened the symposium, speaking with the students about using sport as an avenue for developing business, as well as developing communities. Dr. Gower, who spent over 20 years in the Recreation, Sport, and Tourism program at the University of Illinois before coming to Lincoln Trail, shared his passion and experience in the area of sport to the students, while also giving valuable advice on leadership, networking, skill development, and experiential growth.
Tim Woodrome, a Program Coordinator for Community Relations with the St. Louis Cardinals, was the next speaker to set the stage for the event. Woodrome spoke extensively with the students about capitalizing on internship opportunities and how they can create an avenue for future success in the sport industry. He also spoke to the vastness of opportunities available within professional sports, such as marketing and promotions, facility management, game day operations, community relations and development, ticket sales, front office management, and more.
Luke Fieser, Associate Director of Football Academic Services at Clemson University, was next on deck and provided an interesting perspective on the Sport Management field. Fieser spoke to his responsibilities with the Clemson football program, such as monitoring academic performance, tracking graduation requirements, monitoring the tutoring program for football, and traveling with the team to proctor exams and conduct study hours for the student-athletes during the trip.
Jeremy Ploch, a recruiter for Next College Student-Athlete, rounded out the speakers for the Inaugural Sport Management Symposium at LTC. Ploch, a former Associate Athletic Director at Central Michigan University, is in his third year with NCSA, primarily working with high school student-athletes and their families to create athletic profiles to assist in their recruitment. Ploch works with families from 38 different NCAA sponsored sports and spoke to the dynamic knowledge required to speak intelligently to families from different sport backgrounds.
"What a huge advantage to our students to hear directly from successful professionals in the industry they are looking to get into,” says LTC Sport Management Instructor Tyler Browning. “We were lucky to secure someone from professional sports, collegiate athletics, as well someone who works with high school athletes and their families, so it was a dynamic event in the sense that it touched on many different areas of sport."
Browning says he’s taken his students to symposiums in places like Chicago and St. Louis over the last few years and that’s fueled his interest in putting together a symposium at LTC. He plans to build on this symposium to create even more interest in it in the future.
Lincoln Trail College’s Sport Management program is a two-year degree program that covers topics like sports marketing, recreation program planning, facility management, and game day operations. Students enhance their education by participating in internships, where they can apply what they’ve learned while gaining valuable on-the-job experience. LTC students have also participated in field trips to places like the University of Illinois, the United Center, and Busch Stadium to hear from industry experts.
