Interview

Finding your passion and to work as an account manager at PUMA

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Account Manager, PUMA, Passion, Interships

In this article, we will share the story from Jur who is an account manager at PUMA. You will learn what PUMA is about and how to get a job in sports. What does an account manager do at PUMA and what are the tasks included? The full story is based on a podcast episode from Sports Views Podcast.

This is a shorter article based on an interview with Jur van Schijndel from the Sport Views Podcast! The sport we are talking about is mostly football but Jur has a great passion for Formula1 too. In this episode, you will learn a lot! Jur will share what it is like to work at one of the biggest sports brands, PUMA and what it is all about, why he thinks sport studies is a great career step. We also talk about sales skills and communication skills and how he made it to PUMA.

Finding your passion and importance of network and sport studies

Jur’s first sports memory was basically that he lived on the football pitch. With this, he means that he spent all his spare time and weekends on the pitch playing and watching football. Then later on in life, he started to ask himself what he should do later in life. He started to think about what he enjoys and realized that sports are always fun and that brought him to study sport marketing studies. He did a 4-year study in 3 years, including two summer schools and 1 semester abroad.

Just be yourself, be confident what you did in the past and just go for it.

Jur van Schijndel

When he looks back at his experiences from the summer schools and the exchange semester he shares his expectations and results being at a summer school. He also talks about gaining multicultural experiences, practical views of how things are. But also the great importance of networking. ”You never know who you met before that you can use later on…” is a phrase that suits the network effect. In the interview, Jur also shares why he did an exchange semester and that the biggest lesson learned being abroad was dealing with people from other cultures.

What is PUMA about?

PUMA is a lifestyle explains Jur. He said that basically, the mission at PUMA is making sure people enjoy the lifestyle of PUMA and the importance of following your passion.

Looking at what PUMA says themselves, they say:

THIS IS PUMA – Sport has the power to transform and empower us. As one of the world’s leading sports brands, it’s only natural that we want to stand on the same playing field as the fastest athletes on the planet. To achieve that, the PUMA brand is based on the very values that make an excellent athlete.

Sport is our world. This makes us passionate about designing, developing, selling and marketing footwear, apparel and accessories. In the course of more than 70 years, PUMA has made history as a creator of fast product designs for the fastest athletes on the planet: We enhance sports such as football, running and training, golf, basketball and motorsports with performance and sport-inspired lifestyle products. Headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Germany, PUMA’s more than 13,000 employees push sports and culture forward in more than 120 countries.

PUMA

PUMA IN FIGURES

5.23 BILLION EURO SALES IN 2020

209 MILLION EUROS EBIT IN 2020

≈14,300 EMPLOYEES

1948 – YEAR OF BIRTH

Internship at PUMA

Before Jur got his job at PUMA he did two internships at PUMA within marketing and performance and the second one didn’t he want to do, but at the end of the internship period, he finally enjoyed it.

If you listen to the episode that you can find below you will get the opportunity to get recommendations of how to apply for an internship role at PUMA.

One advice when applying for jobs is to just be yourself, be confident what you did in the past and just go for it.

”You never know who you met before that you can use later on…”

Jur van Schijndel

What does an account manager do at PUMA?

First of all Jur and his colleagues at PUMA are making sure people enjoy the lifestyle of PUMA and following their passion.

As an account manager your work with sales. You have some stores that sell PUMA products and you are helping them to sell and make the most out of providing PUMA at their stores. But no matter what, even if it is mostly about sales he puts focus on the important skill of communication that is more important than sales skills. Because in the end, the sales will become better when the relationship is better.

Lessons from sports

Jur thinks you are born with a passion for something and in his story, sports is his passion. He talks about the emotions that sports bring is great. But he also talks about the people involved. Every sport is a team sport, there are always more people involved behind the athlete.

If you are unsure how to know what do do next, then Jur shares a good idea in the end of the podcast.

Jur also shared some book recommendations and Jur recommends:

Open by Andre Agassi

Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of NIKE by Phil Knight

Also, Jur had a question to the audience, feel free to answer in the comments below:

Jur wants to know what you do in sports! Please share to us at our email or on Social Media.

Listen to the full episode in the player below or at your podcast player.

Join the Sports podcast, Sport Views Podcast

Want to learn more, join Sports Views Podcast and the guests behind the scenes on Instagram, find them @sportviewspodcast. If you got any feedback or want to recommend any future guests feel free to let them know on Instagram or send them an email at sportviewspodcast@gmail.com

How to use LinkedIn to find a job in sports

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How to use LinkedIn to find a job in sports

Have you ever asked yourself, how to use LinkedIn to find a job in sports? LinkedIn is the professional platform for every industry to connect and find like-minded people, finding clients and customers, but it is also a great platform to find a job in sports. This article is a short one where we bring up some good tips of how to find a job in sports, how to apply for a job in LinkedIn and some benefits for sports employers and job seekers to use LinkedIn.

Is LinkedIn a good tool to find a job in sports?

When our founder was interviewed at the Halftime Snacks podcast he got a question about the impact of LinkedIn to find a job in the sports industry. Here is what Jakob answered.

I think it’s actually the platform for showing your professionalism or where you aim to be. The people at LinkedIn have done a great job so far with building this professional approach to finding jobs. I think there’s a lot of great jobs out there on LinkedIn. And some of them are posted from the hiring organization looking for candidates and some are the recruiting firms that post. And some of the job posts on LinkedIn are from sports organizations. But yes, there many different jobs on LinkedIn and some are for us in the sports industry.

Easy to apply for sports jobs on LinkedIn

So from a job seeker side of it, I think there are actually great opportunities out there. And it’s easy to apply for a job because you can also share your resume very easily, so to say, from your LinkedIn page immediately. Basically, applying for LinkedIn jobs is so easy that it is enough to share your LinkedIn profile as a resume.

Another great thing about LinkedIn and having an updated LinkedIn profile is that many hiring organizations also provide the opportunity to apply with your LinkedIn account on their recruiting platforms.

No matter if you apply for jobs via LinkedIn or on other platforms with the help of using your LinkedIn profile, the importance of an updated LinkedIn profile is hugh!

However, some sports jobs ads on LinkedIn will be more basic and will ask you to send in your normal resume via the hiring organization’s email. So sometimes you just have to accept that some organizations aren’t that modern yet.

So is LinkedIn a good tool to find a sports job?

I would say so! I think it’s worth it.

If you have an updated profile that you’re making sure looks professional, you will have come far and have already improved your chances of getting a sports job via LinkedIn. Just make sure to have a good (serious/professional) picture, a realistic title, the latest working experiences added, and so on.

The importance of LinkedIn in the sports industry

If you’re thinking about a sports job and want to act professionally, you should start with your LinkedIn profile. Is it up to date? The sports industry is smaller than you think and when people find you on LinkedIn you want to make sure to capture their attention and when they are checking out your name or your profile page, you want to make sure they are seeing the latest version of you.

Another point of the important of LinkedIn in the sports industry is that if you are applying for a sports job, the chances that the hiring manager is looking at you on LinkedIn are quite high.

That’s one way to look at it. And for me, you shouldn’t look at LinkedIn as the one thing. You should look at LinkedIn as a tool that can help you boost your career, either finding a sports job or finding great candidates, and so on. But don’t look at it as the only way. We have to use it as a tool to help us increase our chances to find the next sports job or the next candidate.

This was an excerpt from an interview with our founder Jakob Wikenstaal in the Halftime Snacks podcast.

Listen to how to use LinkedIn to find a job in sports via Spotify below

Transferable skills from competitive athletes, Part 2: Skills you gain as an athlete – Balance and focus

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Transferable skills balance focus

As an athlete there are many great skills being developed like discipline, focus, goal setting and balance and those are not only for an athlete, their skills can be useful in other contexts too, for example in an entrepreneur’s environment. This is what we call transferable skills. During the spring of 2020, right at the beginning of the Covid-19 outbreak in Sweden, our founder Jakob had the opportunity to sit down at an entrepreneurial event with four elite athletes with extensive knowledge of personal durability, the knowledge that has given them a total of thirty Olympic and World Cup medals combined. In this article, one of Sweden’s most successful Martial Artist, William Seth-Wenzel, will share, among other things, how to put yourself first and to ask for help when it is needed in order to find the optimal balance and focus!

Transferable skills from athletes: Skills you gain as an athlete

This is a four-part series where we share the conversation from a panel discussion from an entrepreneurial competition during spring 2020. We have divided each athlete’s story and experience into a separate blog post. Usually, when we are talking about skills, we are talking about skills needed in different jobs. Job ads contain some required skills for a role or some preferable skills needed. Even if you don’t have that skill from previous job experiences you might already have the skill from other experiences. This is called a “transferable skill”.

If you have played sports you probably have learned about teamwork, goal setting, or showing respect. This is something you could bring into your future job, which means, you transfer the skills into something else, like from youth sports to a job. Therefore, transferable skills. You could basically acquire skills from other experiences in life than your current job, but also from one industry into another. For example, what can we learn from athletes?

In the first part of the Transferable skills from competitive athletes four-part series we share a great story from Susanna Gunnarsson, one of Sweden’s most successful canoeists and she explained how to develop the secret to her successes and why it is her strongest skill. But you can also head over to the next part, part 3 with the unique world champion.

Transferable skills from competitive athletes, Part 1: Skills you gain as an athlete – Mental strength
Transferable skills from competitive athletes part 3: teamwork, values curiosity
Transferable skills from competitive athletes, Part 4: Skills you gain as an athlete – Handle pressure and being solely responsible

How to find balance and focus

In this second part we will learn how to find balance and focus and why those skills are valuable to transfer into your daily life. William Seth-Wenzel is a martial artist with both World and European Championship gold in jujutsu. In 2019 he was named the Champion of the Year and Martial Artist of the Year at Kampsportgalan.

Athletes must balance short- and long-term plans and it is important for them to feel good and be resilient in order for them to achieve consistent results. Even if you do something that you really love, you may sometimes need to take a break or talk with someone that can offer new points of attack to the challenges you face. Below is the transcribed version from the panel discussion.

Focus, Balance, Transferable skills
Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

William Seth-Wenzel – what drives you to persevere with sports?

– Mainly, it is because I love the sport and get something out of it. As long as I feel that I am developing and have goals to fight for, I will continue. When it becomes more draining than fun and rewarding, then I quit – or should quit. You can continue to fight if you see there is a future beyond that is within reach, or else it will not work in the long run. I think many business owners can feel that type of stress and maybe let it get too much.

Mental health is a topic that has been widely discussed within sports in recent years. You have won European and World Championships but have also talked with a sports psychologist – explain why?

– To start with, I did not end up there voluntarily. It was the coach that gave me the opportunity to talk with someone because I was going through a period where I was less happy than usual. My first thought was “as an athlete I shouldn’t need this, I compete as a weapon”. In retrospect, I noticed how much it helped and that the psychologist made me think differently. He offered a solution that only he could give because he was outside of my usual world. The solution was focused on me and the more I visited the psychologist, the better my results became. My advice is to have the courage to seek help in time and take the opportunity to work more proactively.

Focus, Balance, Transferable skills
Photo by Dan Meyers on Unsplash

A high level of discipline is required by elite athletes and many are forced to choose between friends and training. What are your thoughts?

– Elite athletes sacrifice many things, but I don’t want to sacrifice things that I think are important. I need a life as an athlete and a life outside of it. If I need to give up something that is important, I will reprioritize. Perhaps I can shorten one of my sessions by half an hour. You need to make sure that the right things are sacrificed, or else you may not enjoy it. Prior to the last World Championship, I was feeling stressed out and had several things I wanted to take part in at the same time. I was studying full-time at KTH, I wanted to spend time with friends, I had a part-time job and I was unsure whether I would be able to push it all aside. I did it my way and added all the things in life I find important and that I want to keep. I trained less but in a more effective way and this gave me more time for other things, which made me happy, focused and balance in life.

How can you create a sustainable personal life as an entrepreneur?

– Dare to be selfish! Focus on yourself first, then help others and be an inclusive person.

Find your balance and focus with a challenge

There are many athletes that have been challenged in their lives around the competitions. Should they compete for their own sake or someone else’s will? Everyone, even athletes needs to find balance in their lives. One of the greatest heptathlon athletes, Carolina Klüft lost her motivation and focus even though she was the best athlete in her sport. So what happened? Instead of competing in that sport she moved to long jumping. She wasn’t the best one in this sport, but she found joy and balance in her life and her athletic career. Another one that has done a similar thing in 2020 is Stina Nilsson. One of the greatest cross-country skiers and she decided in April 2020 to change the sport to biathlon. Once again, to find joy, to find balance and focus in her life.

If you are not familiar with these two, then what about Michael Jordan? Perhaps did you like most of us sports interested people watch Michael Jordan’s documentary series on Netflix, The Last Dance? Did you think about that he stopped playing basketball for a while? He actually started a career in baseball in order to find balance and focus in his life. Even though if you are the greatest in your sport, you are the one who should decide your life. Maybe a new challenge like Klûft, Nilsson or Jordan is the way to go in order to find balance and focus in your life? Like Seth-Wenzel, dare to be selfish and learn how you work at your best. Focus and Balance are transferable skills you can use in other contexts too, just remember that it is okay to make your own decisions.

If you missed the first or third or fourth part about Mental strength, Teamwork and Values curiosity, Pressure and Solely responsible check them out here.

Transferable skills from competitive athletes, Part 1: Skills you gain as an athlete – Mental strength
Transferable skills from competitive athletes, Part 4: Skills you gain as an athlete – Handle pressure and being solely responsible

Next up, teamwork and values

In the next part about transferable skills from athletes, we speak with Rob Haans, who explains the importance of putting people in focus and the significance of the team for both athletes and entrepreneurs. Rob Haans has his own experience as a triple world champion in jujutsu and as the team captain for the Swedish jujutsu national team.

Transferable skills from competitive athletes part 3: teamwork, values curiosity

This story is made by Caroline Wendt at Future By Lund and the original story comes from here: Personal durability, part 2: Martial artist William Seth-Wenzel talks about why you should dare to ask for help.

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If you like this, you might want to go further and read these:

– How to get a job in tennis
– What a current sport management student needs to know
– For employers and job seekers in the sports industry
– 3 ways to express passion for sports jobs

We want to help more people finding their dream job and also feed you with the latest news and lessons form the sports world. Do you have any feedback or advice or news, please share that to us. You can contact us or reach out LinkedIn.

See you soon with more lessons learned from the sports field that will enhance your creativity and your career in sports.

How to build a sustainable career in sports?

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A sustainable career in sports

What makes people tick? How do you build a sustainable career in sports and why is sports such a strong passion for people? In this post, we will learn how to start your career in sports by identifying your own values. But also, we will learn about three personal values examples why sports matters, and why it doesn’t matter where you are or how little you play sports or what language you speak, the passion still remains.

A sustainable career starts with you and what you value

You might be struggling with knowing what you actually value in life and in particular in your working life. But don’t worry, it is not that hard. Let us share why you should put a strong focus on identifying your own values in order to build a sustainable career in sports. At Sportidealisten we believe that working with a passion makes you work in a sustainable way. If you don’t have a burning desire to wake up every morning in order to go to work, you probably don’t have a passion for that job.

  1. Start your sustainable career in sports by identifying what you feel happy about. Think about what tasks you do and identify those that give you confidence and happiness.
  2. How would you describe those working environments when you feel passionate? At Sportidealisten, we strongly believe in values like Transparency, Innovative Mindset, Open-Minded, Trust, Inspiration and Loyalty. Values will steer you towards a sustainable career because when you identify your work’s values with your own, you will feel more involved and part of something bigger. You and your colleagues will collaborate better than ever before.
  3. Now when you know how to describe them, think about what have been the key factors in any success you have achieved, either solo or in a team. Think about how communication has been working. Usually, you will notice that you desire certain ways to communicate with your friends, colleagues, teammates.
  4. Lastly, you can also learn your values by thinking about what you need and feel if you would delegate your favorite task to another person. Do you need quick answers? Do you need a certain trust? Would you enjoy the person to be creative in their problem-solving process or do you want the person to ask you the whole time?

These are some steps you could think about in order to identify your own values and start your journey towards a sustainable career in sports. We know how much it would mean to work with your passion, sports and we know the importance to support and work together. Our mission is to help you reach your own goal in the sports sector.

WHY DO PEOPLE WANT TO WORK WITH THEIR PASSION, SPORTS?

This is the third part of our mini-series of learning more about why people have a passion for working in sports and what makes them tick. From a project that was developed from the Covid-19 outbreak, we started to gather like-minded people that align with Sportidealisten’s values and drive. This part is all about understanding why a sustainable career in sports about identifying your own values. If you want to learn about the other two parts, check them out below.

If you missed the first part, check it out here.
If you missed the second part, check it out here.

In this third article about a sustainable career in sports you will learn why:

  • Sports always inspires me, no matter where
  • Less sports, the greater passion for sports
  • The universal language we all understand

Sports always inspires me, no matter where

As a child, and as an adult I always wanted to get involved in sports. It doesn’t matter if it’s an active or passive way, on the field, or as a spectator, behind the TV or game consoles, but I always follow the events. That’s why I chose this field, to make sport not only my hobby but also my profession. It really inspires me to work in the background of the events, to get a role in a team’s management or to work on making sports available for everyone.

– David

A sustainable career in sports with David Tolner

David Tolner – Sport Economist Manager

PS. He is looking for opportunities in Economics, Management, Marketing and Sales (exclusively in the sports industry). Let us know if you want to connect with David and support his sustainable career in sports.

Get in toucH with Sportidealisten

Less sports, the greater passion for sports

Growing up in India, a developing country in all sense, sports was always a luxury. And coming from a middle-class blue-collar background, sports always came second to academics. At the age of 10 when I had to drop out of my formal cricket training because of financial issues, the passion for sports only grew exponentially.

As I excelled through my academic routine, the love for sports went beyond the field to what goes on behind the stage. And years later when I had the opportunity to make the shift into the sports sector, I took the plunge and arrived in Madrid for my Master’s in Sports Management. My aim is to work towards making sports affordable to every kid growing up in any city anywhere in the world.

-Shreenath

A sustainable career in sports with Shreenath Pillai

Shreenath Pillai, MBA in Sport Management

PS. He is looking for opportunities in Administration, Communications, Digital, Management and Marketing (exclusively in the sports industry). Let us know if you want to connect with Shreenath and support his sustainable career in sports.

Get in toucH with Sportidealisten

The universal language we all understand

I like everything about Sports, the insides and the outsides of it, from the daily operations leading up to the gameday event, the entwined businesses all around it. As a kid growing up in the eastern part of the world, I observed that not even religion can unite people as a sports team can. And the same can be said for nations all over the globe! As a whole, sport is one of the universal languages that make this world a better place. I would love to work, contribute and be a part of this culture because I believe in it. I believe in it based on the way it keeps us evolving.

During my recent internships, I have tried to learn more and more about the functioning of the sports industry. And in the process, I loved creating content through words, images and videos for various businesses to deliver their unique brand. For the coming period, I am looking forward to engaging myself in the business of sports. And based upon my past experiences I am here to create a better tomorrow.

– Chintan

A sustainable career in sports with Chintan Lalwani

Chintan Lalwani, Digital Marketing Consultant

PS. He has interests and experiences in Marketing, Sales, Digitalization and Communications (exclusively in the sports industry). Let us know if you want to connect with Chintan and support his sustainable career in sports.

Get in toucH with Sportidealisten

3 examples of personal values from the sports industry

Thank you David, Shreenath and Chintan for sharing your reasons why you have a passion for sports and why you want to work in the sports industry. These are three unique stories and people and they are all three determined to share their passion and values in the sports industry and to work towards a sustainable career in sports.

My aim is to work towards making sports affordable to every kid growing up in any city anywhere in the world.

– Shreenath

This quote from Shreenath is sort of a summary of the impact and the passion these three people share around sports. They are all passionate about the engagement sports give them, no matter if it is on the stadium or behind the stage. They have understood that you need some ingredients in order to have a sustainable career in sports.

In summary, you have now gotten some examples of how to build a sustainable career in sports and how to identify your own values, but also three ways to express a passion. Sports could be experienced in all different scenarios, and it could be a good memory from an early age even though that you are playing sports and it could be a connecting language that we all can relate to. But to summarize, three personal values examples from the sports industry from David, Shreenath and David are:

  • Sports always inspires me, no matter where
  • Less sports, the greater passion for sports
  • The universal language we all understand

Our question now is to hear what you value? What is your passion? Do you also want to share your story? Comment below and contact us.

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Get the latest news, jobs and more for free!


If you like this, you might want to go further and read these:

– How to get a job in tennis
– What a current sport management student needs to know
– For employers and job seekers in the sports industry
– 3 ways to express passion for sports jobs

We want to help more people finding their dream job and also feed you with the latest news and lessons form the sports world. Do you have any feedback or advice or news, please share that to us. You can contact us or reach out LinkedIn.

See you soon with more lessons learned from the sports field that will enhance your creativity and your career in sports.

3 ways to express passion for sports jobs

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Passion sports jobs guide

Every day we are experiencing people with a strong motivation to work with their dream job, which is mostly in the sports sector. But, please don’t just say that you love sports and think that you can work in the sports industry. You have to think deeper and identify your values. In this article, we will share why thinking about values is also thinking about your passion. But we will also be sharing three ways to express passion for working with sports and why people want to work in the sports industry.

A sustainable career starts with strong values

At Sportidealisten we believe that working with a passion makes you work in a sustainable way. If you don’t have a burning desire to wake up every morning in order to go to work, you probably don’t have a passion to that job. Starting with identifying what you feel happy about, what task you do when you are confident is key to finding your passion. Now, let us think one step further. How would you describe those working environments when you feel passionate? At Sportidealisten, we strongly believe in values like Transparency, Innovative Mindset, Open-Minded, Trust, Inspiration and Loyalty. Values will steer you towards a sustainable career because when you identify your work’s values with your own, you will feel more involved and part of something bigger. You and your colleagues will collaborate better than ever before.

We know how much it would mean to work with your passion, sports and we know the importance to support and work together. Our mission is to help you reach your own goal in the sports sector.

Why do people want to work with their passion, sports?

This is the second part of our new mini-series of learning more about why people have a passion for working in sports and what makes them tick. From a project that was developed from the Covid-19 outbreak, we started to gather likeminded people that align with Sportidealisten’s values and drive.

Find the first article here

In this second article you will learn why:

  • passion in sports is all about raw emotions,
  • the greater impact sports can do is a passion and,
  • it is a culture that knows no boundaries, and that is passion

It is all about raw emotions

As it is a subject close to my heart, I could not resist explaining my emotions just in a paragraph. It is a bit long, I hope you will still go through it.

Working in the sports industry will give me an experience unparalleled to what I can get in any other sector. In sports, It’s all about raw emotions that are being marketed, be it through social media platforms or through traditional ways.

The hype around the build-up to a game or a sporting event is unmatched, so is the vibe during a game and post it. This provides brands to position themselves perfectly capturing all these emotions and reaching out to global audiences in a single shot. After all, any major sporting event grabs the eyeballs of the whole world in one frame, thus this space has no metric to evaluate its value in this data-driven age, and as Mastercard’s ads say, “it’s priceless”.

In the day and age when people consume content like water, it becomes the biggest KPI (Key Performance Indicators) amongst the rest. With the exponential growth of the use of social media platforms, the world has become a small place to live in. This proximity has helped brands, famous personalities, governments, and sporting entities to reach out to the world with their vision, strong political and social messages very quickly.

By making the use of the podium of any sporting event, which back in the days was although slow, but still was very effective because of the coverage it got and still gets. Also content around Stories of struggle or daily lifestyle of the athletes inspires people to be a better version of themselves, as Nike will put it “Just do it”.

Careful planning and implementing strategies around these emotions, struggles, and messages, help the brands associated with any sport to convert its target audience to its customers.

— Animesh

Animesh Kumar – Sport Management student

PS. He is looking for entry-level positions in Administration, Communications, Sales, Marketing, Manager, HR, Digital, Economy and Facility (exclusively in the sports industry). Let us know if you want to connect with Animesh.

Get in toucH with Sportidealisten

THE GREATER IMPACT SPORTS CAN DO IS A PASSION OF MINE

Sport has been a passion of mine since I was three years old. It was always a way for me to express myself and be who I am without any judgment. Growing up surrounded by sport, I witnessed the impact that sport can have on society and people’s lives. When I first realized that feeling, I knew I wanted to work in sports and to use my passion to make a positive change in other people’s lives.

The campaigns Nike runs to address social issues and the strides in equality in sports have further ignited my passion to work in sports and hopefully have a positive impact.

— Emma

Emma Baker, A hard-working sport enthusiast, currently working toward her bachelor’s degree in International Sport Management, The Hague University of Applied Sciences.

PS. She is looking for opportunities in Communications, and Media (exclusively in the sports industry). Let us know if you want to connect with Emma.

Get in toucH with Sportidealisten

A culture that knows no boundaries, and that is my passion

With the COVID-19 pandemic paralyzing most of the world, the importance of sports in any form has become obvious. Sports is not just sports, it is an important cornerstone of any functioning society. Sports are more than just physical activity and competition. It is a culture that knows no boundaries, it is emotions, achievements and great venues but it is also the fun and healthy spark in your everyday life. No matter the perspective, sports are for everyone and that is something that truly appeals to me.

— Andreas

Porträtt Härryda Kommun

Andreas Høgfeldt, Associations Developer, Härryda Municipality.

PS. He has interests and experiences in Administration, Coordinator roles, Developing roles, Manager roles, Marketing (exclusively in the sports industry). Let us know if you want to connect with Andreas.

Get in toucH with Sportidealisten

3 ways to express passion for sports jobs

Thank you, Animesh, Emma and Andreas for sharing your reasons why you have a passion for sports and why you want to work in the sports industry. These are three unique stories and people, and they are all three determined to share their passion and values in the sports industry.

It is really cool to hear how people from different places in the world are capturing and framing their passion for sports. As you can read, there are actually more than three ways to express and tell about a passion. Sports could be a good memory from an early age and it could be a complex thing that we all can relate to as an athlete, as fans or in business. But to summarize, three ways to express what a passion could be like working in sports from Animesh, Emma and Andreas:

  • passion in sports is all about raw emotions,
  • the greater impact sports can do is a passion and,
  • it is a culture that knows no boundaries, and that is passion
Sportidealisten Lediga Sport Management Jobb Idrottsvetare Lediga SportJobb Lediga IdrottsJobb Sportkarriär Jobba med sport Sportutbildning idrottsutbildning Sports Job Sport Jobs
Get the latest news, jobs and more for free!


If you like this, you might want to go further and read these:

– How to get a job in tennis
– What a current sport management student needs to know
– For employers and job seekers in the sports industry
– 3 ways to express passion for sports jobs

We want to help more people finding their dream job and also feed you with the latest news and lessons form the sports world. Do you have any feedback or advice or news, please share that to us. You can contact us or reach out LinkedIn.

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Revenue-generating ideas for sports teams

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Revenue sports teams

We had a great conversation with one of the innovators in the sports sector and we have already published one part of that discussion. Here is now the second part of that. In this second part, we will get great revenue-generating ideas for sports teams. We will learn how to involve and engage your stakeholders, how to become more creative as a grassroots sports club, and then advice for sports employers, and much more.

To go back to the first part of the interview, click on the button below.

Part 1 – How to be innovative in a sports club

Engage your stakeholders in order to make a project from good to great

There are so many things we could ask you about, but one of all the projects you have been involved with happened this spring 2020. You helped the floorball club, IBK Dalen, to make one of the greatest floorball players ever, Niklas Jihde to do a comeback. Can you please tell us more about how that all started and how and why you did it?

Everything started with the Diabetes gala 2019, where Niklas Jihde’s brother Peter, auctioned Niklas for one day. IBK Dalen won that bid. Their club director and coach actually paid with their own money. I, myself had already started to help this club with other events. As soon as this happened it became an obvious project to do something with. We set up a strategy on how to make most out of this opportunity, with one of the greatest floorball players ever being with this club for one day.

The set up became more or less a copy of the one I did with Scottie Pippen. Niklas Jihde held a talk, he met the youth teams and took part in some practices and played one game with the senior team.

So, what happened when Jihde actually came to IBK Dalen?

Well, there was this energy in the atmosphere. Since he is a big role model for the players, he seemed to be powering up the team. Sure, he hadn’t played a real game during his past 10 years, but the original plan was to have him at one game. But in the early plans, we didn’t even know what team Dalen was going to go against for this date. However, the aim was to at least have him starting the first minute of a game.

During that gameday, I myself was there and you should have seen the audience, the sponsors, they were very excited about this game. They played against IBK Höllviken and let Jihde start the game. After his minute he was on the bench until the end of the game when he played some more minutes. He managed to make an assist and IBK Dalen won the game with 12-6. However, he wasn’t only sitting on the bench throughout most of the game, he also took part in an activity during the brake, where he and old legends of the club had a penalty shout out.

Looking back at this project, what are your reflections and lessons learned?

Well, you could notice from the players that they were thrilled and leveled up one level as the club director told me. I was also told that the players created this “Yes Sir” mentality when Jihde was around. Furthermore, we got a lot of money from this project, where we could give away a large amount to an orphanage in Umea, called The house of the heroes (it is a temporary home for families with children that has a long-term disease). In the end, the club made some revenue, they got good publicity and we could also give away money to an orphanage.

Watch the assist by Niklas Jidhe from the game here. From Expressen TV.

How can a local grassroots sports club get creative and increase their revenue?

You have been part of the world of sports for a long time, and you know how challenging it is for sports clubs to survive. Not only the challenge to make the economy work, but also to find new revenue streams. Can you perhaps give us another advice like the one with Niklas Jihde, how a small local club can become creative in their work with different revenue streams?

Take for example the football club, IFK Sundsvall that I am helping. This year is their 125th anniversary and they are playing in the fourth division. And considering these difficult times we got today with Covid-19, you have to not only think about the club, but you also need to be passionate about the club. There are for sure a lot of local entrepreneurs that would like to support the local club. As a club it is important to be there for everyone, open to both the kids as well as to the senior people. You have to think about how to reach out but in a smart way and think about all ages. For example, what about the senior people, how can we reach them? And how can we find a role for them in the club? Try to find collaborations with the local grocery stores, the coffee place, etc. And don’t be afraid to reach out and bring in old legendary players and icons from the sports club or from the area around. You have to ask and build collaborations.

Solidarity is important, now more than ever. A lot of people would like to support especially during times like this. I believe we all gotten time to think through what is happening and what will happen from now on. Let us all use this situation in a smart way. Reach out to those local entrepreneurs and dare to ask the question of how you all can help each other!

Live by your values

Think about the sports movement in Sweden, the more your local club can show and live by values, the better for everyone. Communication and engagement will become much better. Show that your club can take care of both the old ones but also the youth and show that the club is open to everyone, a club where everyone is welcome. I mean, even the small local club could open up their cafeteria and allow the older people in the area hanging out there (obviously after the Covid-19 situation). But you could also ask and allow the youth players to hang around the first team’s practices or games. This will send a message that the club can work as a meeting place for everyone.

How to communicate in grassroots sports

Those are some good advice about generating more revenue for sports teams. The question now is, how can those who are reading this communicate and reach out like you are mentioning? A lot of sports clubs barely have any time at all and therefore one challenge is to know where to start.

Start with reaching out to your network, to your social media followers, and via your club’s website. Try to reach out to the kids, the youth, parents, and grandparents, etc. Invite them to come to your sports facility and have a coffee break at the club. Either whenever during the day or during practices.

Then start with creating a marketing plan! For a Division 5 club it is enough to write down activities like “coffee break during practices”, meanwhile bigger clubs can run activities like we have seen during this pandemic, selling tickets to a game that never happened. And if you belong to a club in the middle of these two scenarios, you might be thinking about running a social media campaign with your sponsors. At a sports club you are all working with improving and staying in a good health, therefore show some good workouts and allow your sponsors to show those at their social media channels. The sponsors will be happy and proud to be a sponsor to you and you can get that good word of mouth out to potential members and fans.

Sports communication grassroots
Photo by Richard Boyle on Unsplash

The employer in sports

All sports clubs have a board to support. How can the club’s offices involve and also suggests their board about these different and creative plans?

Yes, it is the board that usually is the employer at sports clubs. But nonetheless, it is important that a board can give some space and freedom to the office. Don’t let the office only do those administrative tasks, also give them some space to be creative. Let hem think and plan new initiatives and plans like sponsor activities that can provide new revenues to the club.

In cases like small local clubs, they might need to get together with other sports clubs in the neighborhood. Try to create a collaborative and common project that everyone could gain from and potentially you could also fundraise from bigger companies to invest in this collaborative project. I mean, who doesn’t want to support a healthier future and brand your company as a strong community member?

Three advice on how to be productive working in sports

Lastly some additional advice to sports clubs in order to generate more revenue. What are your three most important advice to create time and space for development projects that can bring in new revenue streams?

1. Give the club office oxygen and allow them to think and make new projects.

2. Take a look from another perspective. Don’t think as we have always done. For me, I tried new ways of thinking and doing. I got Scottie Pippen from the US to Sweden, we sold doping tests and we got a motorsport athlete to the stadium. Try to think differently, dare to be creative. Selling that sponsor sign is good, but there are other ways too.

3. Try to look for opportunities.

Several revenue-generating ideas for sports teams

Thank you so much Anders. We highly appreciate this. A lot of great experiences that you have shared with us. To wrap up here is a summarized list of several great revenue-generating ideas for sports teams that Anders have shared:

  • Bring over famous people to the stadium and bringing sponsors together to make it happen. And don’t be afraid to reach out and bring in old legendary players and icons from the sports club or from the area around. You have to ask and build collaborations.
  • Think about how to reach out but in a smart way and think about all ages. Try to find collaborations with the local grocery stores, the coffee place, etc. Reach out to those local entrepreneurs and dare to ask the question of how you all can help each other!
  • The small local club could open up their cafeteria and allow the older people in the area hanging out there (obviously after the Covid-19 situation).
  • Ask and allow the youth players to hang around the first team’s practices or games. This will send a message that the club can work as a meeting place for everyone.
  • Try to reach out to the kids, the youth, parents, and grandparents, etc. Invite them to come to your sports facility and have a coffee break at the club. Either whenever during the day or during practices. Start with reaching out to your network, to your social media followers, and via your club’s website.
  • Sell tickets to a game that never happened.
  • Run a social media campaign with your sponsors.
  • Create a collaborative and common project that everyone could gain from and fundraise from bigger companies to invest in this collaborative project.

This is the end of part 2 of the interview with Anders. Do you want to go back to part 1? Click in the button below to get to part 1 – How to be innovative in a sports club.

Part 1 – How to be innovative in a sports club

How to be innovative in a sports club

by
Sports Entrepreneur, Basketball, Interview

Imagine if we told you that if you become a youth coach at 12 years old that you one day could be a club director in a top division sports club? Now lets us tell you that this is not an imagination, this is a true story and we are happy to have a chance to tell you more about this in this interview. We have met Anders Jansson who found a passion for the leadership role and developed himself as a good coach but also a creative thinker and an entrepreneur. Through his passion for basketball, he made sure that you can grow a team and the club with new revenue streams. We will talk about all of these experiences and how he managed to bring one of the world’s best basketball players to Sweden. Lastly, Anders will give some tips on how to find your passion and working in sports.

Meet the sports industry from the inside

Anders Jansson interview intervju sportentreprenör entrepreneur

Anders Jansson

Consult – Savoy Consulting

Former Club director – Sundsvall Dragons

Basketball coach level 3

EXPERIENCES as a youth coach CAN GET YOU the dream job in SPORTS

Thank you Anders for taking your time, sharing your experiences and lessons learned from your work in the sports industry. Let us start by letting you introduce yourself to us.

My name is Anders Jansson and at the moment when we are talking, I am 57 years old. As of today, I am running my own consultancy firm, Savoj Consulting. Now you might be thinking, “what is he doing when he runs his own consultancy”? Well, I am working in several areas in the sports industry. A few of those areas I am involved with are sales, events, marketing, branding and coaching.

Before my consultancy career I was the Club Director at the basketball club Sundsvall Dragons (we reached 10 semifinals and won 2 Swedish Championships and Finnish/Swedish Champions). Additionally, to this I have been awarded “the best marketer of the year” in Sundsvall, as well as been awarded “The Dragon of the year” twice (an award that is given to a person that has made a great contribution for the city of Sundsvall. Last but not least, I was one of the initiators of the local sports gala in the district of Medelpad.

Oh wow! Sounds like we have a lot to talk about. Let us start with one thing I know the readers want to know. How is it to work in sports? Furthermore, the question we all want to get an answer from:

Why did you take the step to work in sports?

I started to play basketball and football at the age of 9 years old, and I remember that I thought basketball was the most fun sport. Only three years later I became a youth coach in basketball. This gave me added value to further look into the coaching and leader role. I got myself educated into the different levels of coaching in basketball, I made it to level 3. And in between all of this I slowly grew my passion and joy of coaching people and to have the opportunity to teach the game and then also winning games.

However, that was just the beginning, my bigger involvement and actual work in sports came later in my life. At the age of 31, a job request as the club director at one of the top division teams in basketball in Sweden came from nowhere. I remember that I was thinking something along the lines “that sounds interesting, but I might try this for a few years”. But, slowly during these “few” years, I developed new values within my leadership style, and those “few” years turned into many years as you might understand from the achievements I mentioned during my introduction. My new values were not only winning as much as possible. I started to look into the club with a broader perspective. I wanted to develop one thing after another, if the team could do good, then the whole organization could do better outside of the court too. This was also the moment when the entrepreneur inside of me came into the picture. I started to notice that I could do more in sports than only coaching.

It is easy to think that your plans will always play out as they were planned, but this is very rare in sports. New tasks and opportunities have taken my plans into new directions. I have had to adapt to new situations, which taught me to be as ready as possible and open for changes. You can probably recognize this from an entrepreneur’s lifestyle.

Dare to be an entrepreneur when working in sports

Interesting, please explain how you mean with an entrepreneur’s lifestyle?

For me, an entrepreneur needs to take risks and try to think differently than others. From my own experiences, I started to think differently and one situation like this happened when we brought Scottie Pippen to Sweden and Sundsvall Dragon. I traveled to the United States of America and met Pippen. We tried to figure out how he could be able to get over to Sweden and play with the Dragons.

If you are not aware of Scottie Pippen, he is one of the greatest basketball players ever. He played together with Michael Jordan at Chicago Bulls (one way to understand his greatness is to watch the Michael Jordan documentary, The Last Dance from Netflix). 2008 was the year we did it. During 2008 Scottie Pippen came over to Sundsvall and while he was here, he visited the youth teams, he met with sponsors and talked about how businesses and sponsorships are being done in the US. This wasn’t the only thing he did, Pippen also met the municipality and talked about his social engagements in the states. And of course, he played a game in the league with us. We won again Akropol with 102-74 And Scottie Pippen made 21 points, All of these activities provided great value to all of our stakeholders. And all of this gave us an extra boost to do new similar innovative activities again.

Scottie Pippen Highlights – Sundsvall Dragons

Added value for win win win

To give you another example, we also brought over one of the world’s best F1 drivers, Mika Häkkinen (also called The Flying Finn) and of course his car to the stadium in Sundsvall. Sure, there is no connection with basketball like the one with Pippen, but a lot of people showed up and listened to his talk he did. This activity was also built to give our sponsors some added values in a similar way as the one with Scottie Pippen.

So why was this idea with Häkkinen a good one?

Well, we had heard that he did this show in Finland where it was something special and then we started to look into the possibilities to host that show over in Sweden. Once again, the entrepreneurial spirit made me take that chance and ask him and his team.

The Flying Finn, Mika Häkkinen

Finding the dream job with your passion

As you have told us, you love basketball, how come you fell in love with the sport? What makes you want to keep working in the game?

The biggest carrot (as we say in Sweden, which means an inner drive) is the love for the game, but also to improving the club I work with, which means create new revenue streams and figuring out how to increase a club’s revenue. To get back to my experience, this is what I did with bringing over famous people to the stadium and bringing sponsors together to make it happen.

Please explain how you mean with love?

The love is the game basketball, the split vision and the knowledge and tactics in basketball, which are excellent. I mean, you can’t kick the ball and you only have 8 seconds to do something with the ball, so you really need to take action all the time. You can’t stand still too long. It is a game where things always happen.

Three important skills to become a good sport manager

What are three important skills according to you that are needed in order to get into the sports world as a good leader/manager?

Heart: Love to the sport, in my case basketball.

Passion: A drive to go forward, you have to have that passion from your inner drive to be able to do something.

Entrepreneurship: Find everything you can to sell. We made it successful to sell everything from doping tests to motorsport and of course the basketball event with Scottie Pippen. You have to dare to take your idea into businesses.

How to be more creative in the local grassroots sports club?

Since Anders is very generous with his time he has more experiences to share and therefore we actually have more in this interview. He has more knowledge to share about grassroots sports and how he made one of the greatest in floorball to do a comeback. But in order to make sure you can take it all in we will post the second part of this interview in one of the upcoming posts. Be patient and stay safe. Keep an eye out for the next one.

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