2024 Internships offer fantastic opportunity to work in sport

The Guernsey Sports Commission is once again offering a valuable opportunity for two young people to gain experience of working in sport.

‘We are looking to recruit to our popular placement and internship programme for the next academic year from September,’ explained the Commission’s Performance Director, Jeremy Frith.

‘We can offer up to two placements to students studying, or who have graduated from, a sport science or teaching related degree. The placements will support our work in schools, performance sport and the wider sporting community.’

‘The collective work of the previous students has been built on year on year by those that have succeeded them. This is particularly the case with GFC where it has become quite advanced,’ said Jeremy.

Teya Sheppard completed her placement in 2023.

‘I had a fantastic placement year with GSC. Over the year I was able to complete performance analysis work with both Guernsey Football Club, who play in an English League, and Guernsey Cricket, who compete as an international side. I believe having the chance to work across these performance levels alongside work in schools, is truly a unique placement opportunity which came with being in Guernsey,’ said Teya.

‘The GSC team are incredible and will upskill you with their knowledge, always willing to guide you in the right direction and find opportunities which are personally suited to you. There was also a chance for me to gain additional qualification certificates throughout the year whilst I was there. As a non-Guernsey local, the location was a real selling point for me- I found myself immediately immersed into a close-knit community which has SO much sport on offer to get involved with. A lot more than I would’ve ever thought!’

Teya went on to win a highly commended prize for her placement with GSC at the Bath University placement awards.

Tony Vance, GFC Team Manager, really values the students’ work.

‘The performance analysis work that we’ve developed with the students, supervised by the Guernsey Institute of Sport, is as good as anything that you will find at any club playing at our level or many levels above,’ said Tony.

The placement focuses on the use of specialist video analysis software called Dartfish which current students Ella Widdowson from Bath University and Bella Hopcraft, a graduate from University of Winchester have been working with. They’ve developed a video package of two of Guernsey Cricket’s young fast bowlers for analysis by coaches in Guernsey and Hampshire to guide the players’ technical work.

‘Already in the first few months I have met so many great people and learnt new skills in regard to school sport,’ said Ella.

‘I have also gained lots of experience and had an important role in terms of performance analysis for both football and cricket.’

An example of the Dartfish software

‘Having a dedicated individual to work with us on a regular basis to analyse and deliver key performance data was integral to our collective improvement as a team,’ said Tony.

‘We were also able to utilise the industry leading video analysis software that we had at our disposal to full effect as we now had the resource to use the software and its analysis features to the maximum.

‘The internship works both ways of course and whilst the benefits for Guernsey FC were significant, the students are able to gain an excellent working knowledge of analysis tools and software systems whilst also seeing first-hand the impact that can be made capturing data and providing key analysis to individuals and the team.’

The Sports Commission is offering two placements or internships for the academic year 2024/25.

‘We are really looking for people who have either completed their studies or who are looking to do a placement year and who are passionate about sport,’ said Jeremy.

Details of the internships are available here

Anyone interested in applying should contact jeremy.frith@gov.gg in the first instance.