Leicester Tigers have invited a number of higher education students from Brooksby Melton College to take part in a five-week programme of work experience to learn what happens behind the scenes at the club.
Work experience intern and squad member of Tigers’ Brooksby Melton College development team Jonjo French shares his experiences of working at Welford Road working alongside the Tigers communications team.
During my time in the media team at Welford Road, I learnt about the various roles, such as the club’s social media channels and how the department work on matchdays, as well as other things the club does outside of the rugby."
The team tasked me to find out more about the other departments by interviewing my classmates who were also taking part in the programme, to find out more their experiences.
Firstly, I interviewed my teammate Matthew Steward who has been working alongside the Community team. The team help build and develop rugby in the community, get more people involved, as well as provide coaching around the world for clubs, such as Tigers’ global partner clubs KL Tigers, Dendermonde Rugby Club and Delhi Hurricanes as well as in the UK.
Matt said: “I’ve been learning about the roles of the community staff, the types of camps Tigers run, how the club can better the community and also working with other clubs to provide more opportunities to play rugby and sport.
It’s been really interesting to find out how you can gain further coaching qualifications that will hopefully help me throughout my career.”
Next, I chatted to Kieran Rawlins, who was working with Tigers’ Events team. Not being a local lad, Kieran, who was born in Bedworth, Nuneaton has followed Tigers over the years and praises the club’s culture and set-up. Reflecting on his time at Welford Road, he said: “I’ve been helping out organising events at the club, organising Christmas parties and learning about international ticket sales."
As a squad member of the BMC Development team as well, he added: “I would definitely recommend going to Brooksby Melton College, as it’s a fantastic way of gaining practical experience – like the opportunity to work here at Welford Road – as well as qualifications. It never gets boring as I always have something different to do every week.”
Lastly, I spoke to another BMC team mate Ben Sanderson, who joined Corporate Sales team over the five weeks. He explained: “I’ve been learning about the different supporter match day experiences, such as hospitality boxes and also organising corporate events. I even joined in one meeting, which was all about how Tigers works with businesses to support one another's needs, as well as how the club makes new business contacts.
On the pitch at Brooksby Melton College, Ben added:
“I’m enjoying the rugby playing at a high level, like the AASE league and the county will hopefully help my development."
During my time here, I have really enjoyed working alongside the media team and have gained a lot of knowledge about what goes on behind the scenes at Tigers.
To find out more about Brooksby Melton College, click the link below.
