Bestuur 19-20

From curiosity to passion

A story of a Greenhorn representing Sports Sector 3

What does it mean to me to be a Sportkoepel board member? Never in my life before have I, my personal expenses excluded, really been involved in financial affairs. Numbers did not mean a lot to me and neither did rules, regulations, contracts and … I would not say that these things were irrelevant for me, but I always looked at them from an individual perspective while avoiding illegal activities, sticking to agreements and keeping my own finances in order to not end up completely lost and broke. I considered consequences to be something personal. I eat your cookie without asking, which might result in you never voluntarily sharing your precious snacks with me anymore. Or I help you with deliberating your backyard from evil Unkraut? Whereas you show me how to fix my bike after I tragically crashed into a traffic light. In both cases I have been the one taking action but only in the second case the outcome is sustainable and you as well as me were able to enhance our performance potential.

Consequences and outcomes of certain actions were always something that I considered a very personal thing. During this year I realized on an organizational level you can find similar phenomena. Sure, I was aware that every organization is affected by certain factors in terms of performance and financial health. However, to which extend policy is influenced by single voices as well as huge groups, how one single component among many can affect the outcome of an entire financial model, the change one contract alone can bring and what happens when one party does not adhere it, was rather obscure to me. I did not put a lot of thought into cooperation and interference of organizations leading to positive results or tremendous problems. Until the moment of becoming a board member I studied Communication Science for one year but only amidst all this I got to see what damage miscommunication can actually cause even though I heard about these issues in theory dozens of times already.

On top of this I had barely any knowledge about associations, the Sportscentrum, the Student Union or how these entities collaborate on or impact each other’s decisions. To be completely honest, I did not even know that the Sportkoepel exists until I got to hear that the board of 2017-2018 was searching for a candidate who is willing to represent Sector 3. I cannot really name the reason why all these topics and correlations never touched me before I joined the Sportkoepel board, maybe due to laziness, ignorance or simply because of the circumstances around me that never triggered the urge to be concerned with the beforementioned subjects.

Now you might be wondering why a person like me would ever dedicate an entire year to all these things without the pre-experience of a board year at a sports association or inheriting other considerable useful skills. Good question. Take a drop of ‘overestimating’ the own abilities, a spoon full of feeling responsible to fill an open spot, a hand-full of interest and passion for physical activity and a 1l bottle full of curiosity for everything new…and there you have a cocktail for a somehow sufficient candidate.

On hindsight I would not have evaluated myself suitable for this job but also did not regret a single minute spent with the matters of the sports umbrella. With the understanding and support of my board members I did not only grow into my task but most importantly grew with it. Bringing a lot of different a lot of different perspectives, skills and most certainly knowledge they carried me along, inspiring me on different levels.

Nobody can take away the diverse spectrum of small aspects that I picked up during this one-year journey in the world of sports and the kind of tunnel-vision I owned got broadened tremendously. I hope that the contacts I gathered will help me during my following years at the UT and that the friends I gained will remain for live. In case anybody would have asked me a year ago I would not have seen myself feeling so attached to six associations and the sector itself. If I could do the same year all over again the only thing I would have done differently, is investing more time and diving deeper into the topic.

I believe that all you have to do to find out whether you are a good fit for this task is adding some pre-experience in a Sportsboard, at least some understanding about the IMA model, insights into the correlations of organs within the Sector Sport and feel welcome to tell us about you!