Ben O'Brien

Reflecting on my studies, it has been a fantastic experience and one I’m truly grateful I made. When I came across the course, I thought it suited me perfectly and I’m glad I recognised that. I’ve learnt valuable information and skills from the lecturers throughout my units, gaining new skills and putting them into practice. There is a lot of hands-on learning, and the teachers always made themselves available for any assistance when required.

We were able to draw lessons from a lot of guest speakers within industry and former students. Learning about their journeys and how to go about our own careers was always helpful, and I don’t know if any other course in this area can offer that.

I was able to hone in on my skills that I’d already had experience with, namely video and audio editing. I really enjoyed the units with Davin that surrounded those areas, and he was always helpful in teaching me new skills. I put them into practice in my assignments, which for me were very enjoyable to create and edit. Working in groups for some of those assignments was great, I made friends that I can say I’ll have for life.

Across to my internships, I’m forever grateful for the opportunities that Holmesglen has provided. Being able to gain valuable experience in the sports media industry is something that not all courses can offer. Joining the Sports Entertainment Network (SEN) and Tennis Victoria (TV) over the period of a few months was a very worthwhile experience.

"Reflection can also help to reset a student’s own goals and is necessary to lead learning in the right direction." (Kurasawa and Nagatomi, 2007).

These opportunities and with the relationships in Holmesglen, I was offered the chance to work at Collingwood FC throughout the 2023 finals series. All thanks to Davin and a former student in Zane, I jumped straight into a months’ worth of experience in a fast-paced environment during their busiest time of the year. Being able to edit videos for such a big organisation such as Collingwood was an opportunity I would have never been able to get if it wasn’t for the connections through the course and Holmesglen.

Getting feedback is a vital part of any job but particularly during an internship experience. It allows you to learn from your mistakes and grow in those areas moving forward. Professionally, this type of constructive criticism can help you develop into a more valuable team member and colleague, by enhancing the gaps in which you are not currently performing in – or that require some improvement.

At SEN, constant feedback was always given, and in a very encouraging way. Jack was always able to give me pointers to increase the speed and quality of my work, and I was always willing to take them on board. In addition to the benefits that feedback can give you in your skill improvement, it can also help build the relationships you have with you supervisor/colleagues. If you receive feedback in a good way, it shows them that you are willing to learn and improve yourself in that environment. “Students’ need accurate information in the form of constructive feedback about their progress from their teachers to reach a mastery level and to increase motivation.” (Aslam, Khan, Oad 2021).

Looking at the feedback I was given in my written evaluation from Nic at SEN, it was very positive. It was nice to see that the effort I put towards my internship was noticed and appreciated by my supervisor. Most of the responses to individual criteria was noted as exceptional, which I was happy with. The three areas for improvement were with attitude, motivation, and presentation (all very good). This is good to know as I can put effort into improving these going forward.

When I made the decision to start a second degree, I knew it had to be something I wanted to do for the rest of my life and that I enjoy. I found the Sports Media course at Holmesglen, and I realised that was right for me. Ever since then, I have valued my time learning and preparing for what I hope is a career in sport, doing something that I love. There is a growing trend that young adults look for work that feels purposeful (Madrazo & Mariano 2021).

In the short term, my goal is to complete my course mid-year. I am heading into my final semester, and all the hard work done to this point is about to be finished. However, it will not end there. Over this period, it is important that I continue to build relationships and connections, get a feel for what possibilities there are out there as roles within sports media, and keep building and improving on my skills.

I aim to keep building a strong social media presence, as I have over the years through my work on YouTube and Twitter with my content in the AFL SuperCoach community. This base has allowed me to get a taste for what its like to manage those responsibilities. I’ve continued to produce content on YouTube, with weekly videos and podcasts on that platform. I also manage the communities Twitter account to engage with followers.

Over my time at both internships, I achieved a lot more than I initially thought I would. Editing full videos at both SEN and Tennis Victoria for publishing to YouTube was a very cool experience to see. Seeing that I had already done that in the past for my personal channel, it was amazing to see the work I’d done get posted under the name of the two organisations.

First were some viral posts on SEN’s Twitter account, clipped up from on-air conversations that received tens of thousands of impressions. This quickly transferred to the longer form of edits I did for the SEN YouTube, which got thousands of views on YouTube, with often very topical conversations on pre-match shows. Lastly, once I learnt how to turn some shorter clips to be posted for TikTok, that was by far the platform with the most reach and some of my edits got over 100k views.

It's very surreal seeing the work you’ve done gain traction in the public, even though it isn’t known who created it. It’s just a rewarding experience and achievement for yourself to know that what you’re doing is appreciated. Seeing a post that I had a part in on the TV in the office, showing all the traction and impressions updating live is very satisfying.

At Tennis Victoria, in a similar vein, the work I did with the State Grade Show every week was posted to the YouTube account and social media platforms, another milestone for me along the journey. I was also able to takeover the Instagram account for a day during an event, posting content for all the followers on the main Tennis Victoria profile.

There are always many challenges that you come across in a work environment, especially one new to you. Stepping into the internship roles at both SEN and Tennis Vic I had to up my organisation to a level that is required. Making sure I was on time to every shift was a key aspect on that, and something I was able to achieve, albeit the bare minimum. Accounting for travel time and finding out where I was going to park was something I did ahead of time.

As far as challenges I faced throughout my time at both organisations in regard to my tasks, the main one was that sometimes the nature of the work was quite repetitive. I found this the case in the early part of my time at SEN, as repeatedly clipping up what was said on air could be quite monotonous, and I had to learn to accept that fact until I was offered the opportunity to have diversity in my tasks. This was a learning experience for sure, but one I think is important as it could be the case at any place you start working at, especially at the beginning.

At Tennis Vic it was quite the opposite, as I was thrown straight into the deep end and that was a different challenge in itself. Since I got those two experiences it made me more prepared for the other, so I am very thankful that I took the opportunity to undergo to internships as different practises I gained at each were valuable lessons to use in the other.

In my experiences in both internships at SEN and Tennis Victoria, I learnt and gained many skills that help you become a valuable team member and colleague. First and foremost, the most valuable skill you can have is communication. Never being afraid of asking questions is such a big thing in the working environment, as its much more important to ensure you are going down the right path, than continue along the wrong one.

In addition to that, you gain more and more confidence by asking your manager or boss questions when required. The skill of communication will forever be paramount in any working environment you are in. "People with a broad range of abilities are well suited to operating in teams." (Belbin, 2010).

One example of asking questions is while I was editing, watching Jack do his work I was able to pick up on many shortcuts in Premiere Pro that I now use to this day, and this helped me become a far more valuable contributor as it improved my speed of work without taking away from the quality. I would never have learnt those skills if not for communication and simply asking the question.

Another way of becoming a more effective team member was flexibility and reliability. Whenever Nic asked me to work a different shift, I always tried to say yes. It may have meant I had to reschedule things, but if you can help – especially early – whenever required the trust in you becomes much higher and it allows more personal flexibility if you were to ever need it in the future. I said yes to helping them on Saturdays with SEN Track, and whilst initially I was probably hesitant to do so, it became my favourite day of the week at SEN as the work was very enjoyable along with the company.

At Sports Entertainment Network, my initial role was as a digital content and video assistant. These roles stemmed from anything editing in video, but I also had the opportunity to complete other tasks such as writing articles. In my first few shifts, I was taught the task of clipping up radio segments and discussions into shorter videos for sharing on all social media platforms. For example, I would get in at 9am and go through the SEN Breakfast producer notes and clip up any important conversations that I believed were of note and cut them into short 2min clips.

At first, I had to learn the editing procedure that was required, and with the help of Jack I was able to get a hold of it fairly quickly. Most of the tools and ways in which they wanted it to be done was already set up in Premiere Pro, so all I had to do was drag in the vision and audio and find the in and out points of the conversation. The next step was to do it as quickly as possible, so the number of clips that could be posted was increased and able to be scheduled throughout the day. My biggest learning curve with that task was actually determining what was a comment or conversation worth clipping up. Over the period of a 3 hour show for instance, there is a lot of things that say Kane Cornes or Nathan Buckley would talk about, and figuring out the best things to clip that would likely get a lot of traction on social media was what I needed to figure out.

I was also asked to broaden my skillset and have a go at writing a small piece for publishing on their website. This is something that I know I can always improve, as I haven’t practiced it as much as my editing skills over the years. I gave it a go and wrote a small article about a contentious decision in a match from the previous night between Collingwood and Geelong. Knowing it was about Collingwood and Brayden Maynard, it gained quite a lot of traction on socials, and it was cool to see something I wrote about be so topical with the fans. This was a good experience for me to further my writing skills for the future.

At Tennis Victoria, my initial task was to take over the videoing and editing of their weekly State Grade Show. As Steph – who was previously responsible – was going on leave, it was a great opportunity for me to step right in to the deep end and put my current skills into practice. Every Tuesday we would go find a location for filming, then I would come back and edit the final product for it to be posted later that day. It was fun learning and experiencing what was close to a full producer type role.

Prior to the commencement of my internships with both Sports Entertainment Network and Tennis Victoria, I had little to no experience within the sports media industry. My studies at Holmesglen with specific subjects and units that aimed to help the transition to a professional environment helped me with what to expect and how to adjust.

Stepping into an environment like that I was definitely anxious but also excited about the times ahead, and at both SEN and Tennis Victoria it was very easy to feel comfortable in the culture. At SEN, all the guys who worked there were very friendly and shared common interests in all sports like me, and the work environment was easy to transition into. At Tennis Victoria, the same can be said as the entire workplace was welcoming.

The teams at both organisations were very helpful and understanding in teaching me how to complete tasks, and what was required and expected within my role. They were always there to offer help whenever needed, and I was able to adjust fairly quickly and finish my responsibilities in a reasonable amount of time.

As forementioned, the cultures were a breeze to adapt to, as we would often go to lunch together, spoke about common interests and connections within industry, and these periods helped me with the transition to a role at Collingwood that I took on later in the year. I’m a very easy-going guy, and as soon as I’m able to find common ground with my colleagues, it makes it really easy to build good relationships.

For example, at SEN, I went in on many Saturdays and formed a good relationship with Hugh and Seb as we were often the only ones in on that day. We had good fun working with each other, talking about our jobs and tasks and I thoroughly enjoyed my time on those weekends for a couple of months.

Starting this subject at the beginning of February, whilst somewhat disappointing that it shortens your summer break, I believe is a great idea by Holmesglen as it properly assists you in fast tracking your knowledge and expectations ahead of the internship applications for the upcoming year. Furthermore, it also assists the students for life after the course with applying for jobs. Breaking down the importance of resumes, how to talk about yourself in an interview and all the relative skills you need to display in the process were some of the main focuses. 

Over the course of the subject I learnt many new things surrounding the application process, designing a resume and cover letter, and how to conduct yourself in the interview process. I have taken a lot of those on board, making numerous changes to resume in the last month. I had never written a cover letter before, so seeing some examples from past students and also gaining some feedback from Sharyn and my peers I was able to gain a basic understanding of the way they should be structured. I put this into practice with the A2 assignment, piecing together three separate cover letters and applications in relation to the position descriptions. I learnt that tailoring not only your selection criteria but your whole resume to have the aspects most relevant and important to the position is the optimal way of going about it. Lastly, with the help of some peer feedback from my classmate Ethan, I was able to get a different perspective on some things I did well but conversely what needs improvement. All in all it was a successful period.

I believe the subject - and the timing of it - was greatly beneficial and will continue to be for me and all the students moving forward. Assisting us in brushing up on our skills for the internship process this year is a perfect tool and catalyst for all our careers and ambitions. I want to thank Sharyn for all the great help she has been over this period, and wish her well in all her future endeavours!

Before the interview assessment, I hadn’t actually prepared or had a job interview for quite some time. As previously mentioned, since I’ve held a long tenure at my current job, an interview is not something I was fully prepared for. With the subject and Sharyn’s assistance, I was able to gain back some confidence and preparedness. Learning how to talk positively about yourself and your experiences is something very critical to the interview process. Social skills and relationships are key to giving yourself success in job interviews (Flower et. al, 2019).

After some practice in class and at home, going into the interview I was quite confident. If you know the right things you should be saying, then there is no reason you can’t replicate it in the interview environment. You may be nervous, but as long as you can be coherent and articulate throughout it will hold you in good stead. I wore a shirt and slacks with some boots, a smart casual outfit as that is something that will leave an impression on the interviewer. 

My technique was to sit straight, make eye contact and have good posture throughout. I believe I mostly achieved those things. If there was one thing I would critique myself on it would be that my eye contact may have slipped occasionally. I believe my interview all went well and I’m now confident that I have what it takes to give myself the chance to succeed in the future. I even got a compliment from Sharyn about my haircut afterwards!

Over the years I’ve always been quite confident in public speaking and pressure, so I feel that I’m never too flustered when asked a question. One key tip I have learnt is to always have real life examples ready to explain a situation or skill. Knowing what questions may be asked and having answers ready to go is a very important aspect. Lastly, we learnt at the end of interviews to always ask a question or two back, as this shows your interest and involvement in the process.

Culture within an organisation is very important to the success, as all members of staff and the like will perform better in a positive and encouraging environment. With open communication and core values that everyone within an organisation follows, it is healthy and breeds a culture that all members and interns will want to work in.  These characteristics will not only attract but retain employees to the organisation.

I have experienced this myself in the team I have worked with at Battery World for over 7 years. It’s a small but tight-knit team, with no ego’s and very good communication. This makes it easier for everyone to work and function in. Another key reason for this is the flexibility over shifts and work times for the individual, which keeps a positive mood and helps team members work at an optimal level. It has been found that flexibility practices reduce stress and increase job satisfaction and a person's commitment to an organisation (Smith et. al, 2019).

Going into an internship with a new environment can be daunting, but I believe I have the communication and social skills to interact with new team members and coworkers to get along. Relationships are crucial in a working environment, and with my previous experience in employment, industry and even university I believe I have the right tools to ensure it all goes smoothly. I’m thoroughly looking forward to entering the intern and eventually working lifestyle, it is something I have had goals and ambitions for ever since I made the switch to pursuing a Sports Media career. 

I completed my internship applications for Fox Sports, SEN and Tennis Lab Australia. I chose Fox Sports and SEN as my first two applications as they sparked my interest the most. Having the opportunity to gain an internship in such prestigious and well known organisations within the industry would be a privilege. Using the knowledge we gained through Sharyn’s class and teachings about cover letters, I began to conduct my own. With the help of some past student examples I put together an introduction about my passion, motives and enthusiasm about the opportunity presented. In the following paragraphs, I listed my industry and work experience. 

Firstly I mentioned my freelance work with Fantasy Take TV, a brand created around everything SuperCoach. How I created it, built it up and everything involved regarding the skills I use while doing so. Next, my industry experience with sporting clubs like Bentleigh Football Netball Club and the South-East Predators was discussed, with skills such as press releases, match reports and articles noted as well as work with social media marketing. Looking at other examples and learning from Sharyn, it's best to show your enthusiasm and excitement in the cover letter to come across as someone who is keen to be involved. 

In regard to my resume, I had not updated in quite some time. As I have had the same job for years now, I never really took the time to update it even once I made the switch to studying Sports Media. This subject was the perfect kick-starter for me to get on board with some updates, piece it together with recent experience in industry just in time for the internship applications. Firstly I listed my career objectives in a short paragraph, showing my intent and attributes on offer. After that, all my personal attributes as well as technical skills were shown clearly in dot points. 

For the peer feedback task I paired up with Ethan Daffey. His feedback for my cover letter was a great introduction, the fact that I stated all my relevant experience well and my strengths. However he said that I could elaborate on how the particular organisation - in this instance Tennis Lab - could further develop my skills. This is something I’ll take into the future for my cover letters from now on.

His feedback for my resume included positives on listing my technical skills, interests and education in depth, as well as having relevant referees. He did say however that I should go more in depth about the Sports Media course and side of things. I took that on board and elaborated in some areas.

Personal marketing and your own brand are very important criteria to make yourself stand out when applying for jobs in any industry. In Sports Media, this is tenfold as all of your competition will have a social media presence and portfolio that is unique, so there needs to be something that separates you from the pack to ensure you are at the top of those chosen to be selected or hired. Your brand will help you control the narrative about and introduce yourself in the best light possible. Digital presence in the modern day can be a great tool to showcase your skills, abilities and lifestyle without being face-to-face. A big advantage in promoting your personal brand on social media is that you ensure you are reaching the type of people that you want to be in contact with (Petruca 2016).

My branding is that of an avid sports & fantasy sports fan, who creates content and is always happy to be involved with the community. I’m approachable, friendly and get along with anyone. My skills include video-editing, photoshop, content creation and social media. Areas of improvement include but not limited to article writing. 

Over the years I believe I have marketed myself quite well, currently holding over 1300 followers on Twitter, 1100 on YouTube whilst also building a separate brand community to over 2000 people. I’ve worked extremely hard over a number of years to build this up, by engaging with the community and using my social media marketing skills. My unique value is that I have experience in a plethora of areas in Sports Media and industry, that will help me be recognised as a possible asset to any organisation. 

Influencing your perception to the outside world through personal branding is very important in any industry, and will hold you in good stead in furthering your career. It’s something I’ve focused on and improved over the years as I have seen the effects it can have on both personal and organisation accounts. Personal branding on platforms such as Twitter, Instagram and YouTube is becoming increasingly important in the modern day, as the preferred mediums for the latest news and information switches to the digital world.

I believe wholeheartedly that I am prepared for an internship and all the challenges it may bring. At 26 years old, after the work I’ve put in over the last few years and the switch to pursuing a career that is a passion of mine, I know that this is now the time for me to achieve. My skills range quite wide, from content creation, video editing, producing, graphic design and writing. I have an above average knowledge in all of those areas without being a master of one.

The importance of a cover letter and resume is quite significant. Especially in the modern age of technology, all hiring companies will run the applicants resumes through a bot to weed out any missing keywords related to the job. This is where you need to be extra diligent - something we are focusing on in this subject - about how you tailor your resume and cover letter specifically to the job you are applying for. It is important to clearly state your intentions at the beginning of your cover letter (Schuman & Nadler 2010). This is something Sharyn preached throughout the whole subject, and something that was evident with the past student examples. 

Coming into this subject, I had not updated my current resume for quite some time. As I’ve been stable in a job for over 7 years, I haven’t felt the need to refine it. Obviously with my career goals being in the sports media industry, I was eventually going to make some changes so this subject kickstarted that aspect. I started updating and finding all relevant information to put on my resume pertaining to Sports Media, as I had previously made the switch from studying Criminology/Psychology in years prior.

My LinkedIn was also something that needed to be done, I had made one previously but without putting all the relevant details. I got to work adding all my experience with Fantasy Take TV, my Twitter and YouTube - also linking to content I have produced. Added my work experience history with Battery World and other industry experience. I looked around on LinkedIn at other Holmesglen students - current and past - for ideas on how to structure and detail things. It helped me greatly in what I should be showing and putting on my profile for future employers. 

My name is Ben O’Brien, and I am a keen sports fan who has the goal and ambition to work within the sports media industry. I watch most sports, and have a particular interest in AFL (Richmond), NFL (Giants), NBA (Nuggets), and the Premier League (Arsenal) as the main sports and teams I support. Some of my work experiences come from my job in Retail as a Sales Manager at Battery World. Dealing with all types of customers, colleagues and suppliers to generate a successful and functional workplace is something I’ve done for 7-8 years. During that time I’ve played team-sport including football, soccer, basketball and cricket with great enjoyment in team environments. My greatest achievement being a best on ground medal in a grand final winning side in 2018. 

Outside of playing sport, I am a very keen fantasy sports player in most sports but mainly AFL SuperCoach. My interest in that field stems to the point at which I’m now 4-5 years into a podcast, grown a large community and even recently built a website. My career ambitions firstly were the simple goal of working somewhere within the sports industry at a club or organisation.Throughout my journey in the course the specific areas I’ve become more interested in is content creation, video editing and producing. I’ve had some experience honing in on those skills myself, through the podcast but also my own personal YouTube channel that I’ve grown to over 1,000 subscribers. I enjoy the fact that everything is new and fresh each time you sit down to plan or record a video, and the process of editing and promoting it to your audience. Any job or career that involves me furthering my skills in that area is something I would have a great passion in pursuing. 

My study performance to date has been sufficient, particularly with the media subjects that involve some of the aforementioned skills I enjoy working on. The areas to improve on would be my writing skills. Whilst I have no issue with grammar and spelling, I still need some work on the writing style of match reports, articles and the like. I believe I’m definitely capable of excelling in that area with some practice, hopefully throughout my internship. That seems the best path for me, somewhere to hone my skills on editing, content creation and producing, whilst also furthering my skills in article writing.

For Rounds 10 and 11 the AFL launched its celebration once again of the Sir Doug Nicholls round. 

Pictured above we see the Victorian based clubs with a representative each showing off the designs of their jerseys that aim to celebrate the contributions of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in Australian Football history. This year marked the 30th year anniversary of the historic Mabo decision, where the High Court of Australia recognised the traditional ownership of land and country. The launch occurred across many states, in WA Bill Dempsey was present and named the 2022 Sir Doug Nicholls Honouree. AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan said Dempsey exemplifies leadership both on and off the field. Gil was quoted as saying “Sir Doug Nicholls Round is an important occasion for the whole football industry to celebrate and thank Aboriginal and or Torres Strait Islander players, volunteers, administrators and umpires past and present for their contributions and commitment to the game.” In week 12, our last class of the semester we covered the final stage with in depth analysis of the campaign. Evaluation of the campaign presented includes measuring the success, if the objectives were met and if there were any factors that prevented them from being achieved. 

At the conclusion of round 11 of the AFL season, Gillon McLachlan released an article I saw on the AFL website, thanking fans for attending games so far in 2022. After two seasons of COVID-19 affected football with games postponed and shifted, players moved into hubs and on occasion no crowds, Gil thanked the public for their continued support, passion, and loyalty. website article from the AFL. 

The key points noted at the top, “Gillon McLachlan: Thanks to our fans, 2.7 million times over,” the title read. The title references the 2.7 million fans that have attended the footy thus far this season, sending a key message to the public that their support in the return to footy does not go unnoticed. Throughout the release Gil is able to set the tone he is trying to convey, in essence encouraging the fans to continue to buy tickets and that they are an important part to the success of our game. It’s kept interesting throughout highlighting the crowd numbers during the season, mentioning that “of our top six crowds this year, Carlton, Richmond or Essendon have featured in every one of those matches.”