Deakin’s sport management team is the first international competitor in the history of the NSF Case Cup Competition.

Deakin sport management students are representing the first international team to compete in prestigious postgraduate competition in the USA.

The invitation-only National Sport Forum (NSF) Case Cup, held in Texas, is an annual event that sees world-recognised sport programs compete against each other in a case study designed to replicate the real-world, fast-paced, sport-industry environment.

Deakin lecturer sport management lecturer Dr Henry Wear says the NSF Case Cap was created for those beginning their professional sports careers and pushes students to excel in similar to the working conditions in the sports industry.

‘Only a handful of the world’s top ranked sport management and MBA programs are invited to participate in this event and past participants include The University of Oregon, Ohio University, Temple University, the University of South Carolina, the University of Minnesota, and the University of South Florida,’ he says.

‘Students who compete also have the unique opportunity as the only students to attend the following conference which provides fantastic networking opportunities with hundreds of sport industry professionals. This will be Deakin’s first time competing in the competition, and Deakin will be the first international program in the competition’s history.’

The NSF is one of the largest sport industry conferences in the USA and connects a broad cross-section of sports industry professionals representing teams, leagues, agencies and corporate partners across the US.

Dr Wear says the invitation for Deakin students to participate in the competition and attend the conference is the result of the Deakin’s strong international partnerships.

‘It came through Deakin’s sport management program’s working partnership with Ohio University via our North American Study Tour – the NSF reached out to us directly and offered Deakin a place in this year’s competition,’ he says.

Four sport management students – James Duggan, Arbaaz Akbar, Lisa Crampton and Tom Humphries – make up the Deakin Case Cup team.

Dr Wear says they were chosen via a “try-out” in which several sport management students engaged in creating a rapid-fire written and oral response to an assigned sport management case study.

‘After receiving the case, each student had about an hour to create their written and oral presentations and submit them. These responses were then reviewed by the sport management faculty team, and a decision was made regarding which students would make the best team composition at the Case Cup. It was an incredibly difficult decision, as we had many high-quality students submit very impressive responses.’

The case task is given to students on Saturday 10 Feb and they then 24 hours to prepare their response and presentation which is delivered on Sunday 11 Feb.

‘From there the finalists are selected from the 12 participating teams and are tasked to present a second time on Sunday afternoon from which the winner is chosen. Following this, all students then transition to conference attendees with full access to all sessions, networking events, and conference experiences,’ says Dr Wear.

While the NSF Case Cup provides an outstanding opportunity for Deakin sport management students to test their skills and strategies in a real-world context it also provides other significant benefits he adds.

‘The NSF is a leader in the sport industry and our program is thrilled to be participating in the competition and conference this year. It offers a fantastic opportunity for our students to network with North American sport industry professionals – something that could have lifelong career benefits. For the university it’s also a great way to gain visibility and raise the prestige of our program, coordinate with possible internship partners, make contacts for guest lecturers, and develop new research opportunities with the sport industry.’

Update

Fantastic news! Our Master of Business (Sport Management) students finished the competition in 2nd place. An amazing effort by the team! A follow-up article will be published soon.

Congratulations to our Master of Business Sport Management students for coming in 2nd place in the @NatlSportsForum Case Cup Competition! #Deakin was the first and only non-US team to be invited to the competition! #NSF18 #DeakinSport pic.twitter.com/VhRWJPXlIX

— Deakin Business School (@DeakinBusiness) February 12, 2018