Competence 5: Functioning effectively in an international and intercultural environment
Sports Professionals demonstrate sensitivity and engagement based on knowledge of political, sociocultural and economic developments and interdependence of countries and regions. In professional practice, they adopt an attitude of understanding, respect and empathy for diversity and are able to translate this into added value.
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Part of year three of Sport Sciences is the West Ham United (WHU) management GAME. This GAME is an intense simulation of the work field for a week in an international setting. Students from the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, England and Denmark were divided over 40 mixed teams of 7-8 students. I was a member of team 31 that existed of three Dutch members, one German member, one Danish member, one Belgian member, and one English member. Together we had to complete random appearing assignments that each had their limited timeframe of half an hour to a maximum of 24 hours in which they needed to be completed and their own amount of points connected to it. Not every assignment was as urgent and had to be completed as a team we had to decide what and how we would work on the assignments in order to collect point during the week. The assignments were fictional in name of West Ham United or another English soccer club.
The Hanzehogeschool of Sport Studies being the host organisation made me together with the other Dutch students the host of team 31 if the foreign students needed help we assisted them. Within the team I had the task of being one of seven consultants and did second checks on the work of other team members. What was noticeable from the start was the different approach there was between people from the different northern Europe countries. German was really strict and came quick to the point. The Danish would like to put more thought and discussion in make a decision and the Dutch, Belgian and English are sort of in the middle of both of them.
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The week started intensely with seven presentations that needed to be attended. With one absent team member we needed to divide who went to each and every presentation. After the end of the presentation the given information was forwarded to the other team members and used in the assignments that appeared during the rest of the week. The assignments appeared randomly what made us wait and come to action really quick when there was a new assignment. We discussed which team member would do the job, assisted them when help was needed and checked and adjusted their work if needed. During the week we completed 19 assignments through smooth collaboration and division of tasks.
At the end of the week or team ended up in the second best quartile of the week. This was assessed during the week by an international team of lecturers on creativity and its fit to one of the assignments by given points within a certain range per assignment.
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Due to the random appearances of assignments during the week with different deadlines to them and our final placement that I’m very eager with diverse range of assignments we completed as a team. I would call this a key example of proof of me reached level B for this competence. From the start quick decision making was key in a completely unknown team that existed of multiple nationalities and thus cultures.
I don’t believe I would have done anything different when a similar event would occur in the future. What I will find out when i start my minor nutrition in Portugal. Being South Europe I expect their culture and approach to be much different than them of the more northern countries.
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During the graduation year this part hasn't been shown that clearly. There were some minor interactions with guiding and training clients with a foreign background. This involved showing them the facility of MIBOSO, explaining the different memberships, performing trial training sessions with the clients as well as personal training sessions and additionally I helped them to clarify any issues or questions they may have had.
I also reached out to foreign companies, such as Upstart University, to gain more knowledge on the topic of indoor and urban farming. Als to see if we could get in contact with other parties that had already started a similar project to learn from.
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Reflecting on these interactions it's safe to say that it had lead to an increase in clients and gaining of knowledge on new topcis concerning indoor and urban farming. I took all my previous experiences into being of added value for the organisation and in reaching level C.
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