In 2020, Commonwealth Games Australia developed an internship program that focuses on providing both professional and personal development to current tertiary students to aid in their aspirations to be involved in the sporting industry.
Internships provide an opportunity for students to see how an industry works and Commonwealth Games Australia (CGA) is proud to provide a handful of keen and motivated students the opportunity to experience the Australian sports industry in real-time.
Since the program’s inception in July 2020, CGA has successfully hosted five interns from various higher education institutions to its Victorian headquarters.
Recent student intakes have included student-athletes receiving scholarships from the Victorian Institute of Sport, along with students from the University of Melbourne, Monash University and Holmesglen Institute.
The areas of specialities have varied with each intern, with CGA taking on students who are completing media, communications, business, arts and sport management degrees.
This wide criterion allows students from a variety of courses, backgrounds, and interests to apply and potentially experience the benefits of an internship with CGA.
The internship program creates work opportunities tailored to develop the students’ industry-specific knowledge, experiences and interests whilst exposing them to the workplace dynamics of staff-wide meetings, collaborations, networking opportunities and much more.
Amongst the latest intakes of interns included Gold Coast 2018 Team Member Georgia Griffith.
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After returning from representing Australia at the Tokyo Olympics, the Victorian Institute of Sport scholarship holder and final year Monash University student jumped at the opportunity.
An opportunity that has furthered the Athletics Australia star’s skills and put what she has learned in the classroom into practice and helped build confidence for her future career work prospects.
“I am studying a double degree of Business and Design at Monash, and was made aware of the CGA internship program through the VIS when the Performance Lifestyle Adviser recommended that I should apply for the program,” Georgia said.
“The internship has been great to get specific work experience in such a supportive environment.
“It has definitely helped me build confidence for when I start applying for jobs next year.”
Georgia has had the opportunity to tailor her tasks around her degree and her interests while completing the internship without impacting her other studies and training commitments.
While the internship program has allowed Georgia to undertake tasks ranging from “article writing, interviewing athletes and managing business social media accounts, on top of working on my graphic design skills.”
She adds that she has “been able to acquire some great additions to her portfolio.”
Previous interns have worked on a range of CGA projects including our history and heritage projects, team member biographies, archival image and vision databasing and more recently the celebrating and cheering on the Australian Team at the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic campaigns which resulted in significant increases in CGA’s social media engagement and following.
Commonwealth Games Australia has welcomed Holmesglen students who are completing the Bachelor of Sport Media degree, the most recent intern Alex Johnstone completed his internship during the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics period to help celebrate and champion the Australian Team Members at the Games and those Commonwealth Games Australia alumni.
“I would highly recommend it due to the fantastic working environment and the variety of tasks you’re able to complete due to the small team at CGA,” Alex said.
“I had a relaxing work environment to learn new skills and improve existing ones… I never felt stressed or intimidated by anything which is positive for an intern stepping into an unknown environment.
“Working at an Australian peak sport organisation helps you meet important people and build great connections for the future as well.
“I enjoyed pretty much everything that was thrown at me to be honest… I was lucky enough to complete my internship in an Olympic and Paralympic year which was a fun way to improve my skills while covering a massive event.
“The most enjoyable factor was feeling like I was a part of the CGA team, everyone was welcoming and happy to include me in tasks.”
The Commonwealth Games Australia internship program aims to bridge the gap between academic and professional life by providing valuable workplace experiences and exposure to real-time scenarios and offers support, guidance and reference upon future career goals for students with a drive for success and keen motivations to learn.
