Having recently graduated from UCFB’s BA (Hons) Sports Business & Sports Law degree, Cassandra Aina has known which area of sport she wants to specialise in for a very long time. Here, she shares the personal and inspiring story behind her pursuit of the equality and diversity sector…
During my third year, I had the pleasure to attend the Future Leaders Conference at St George’s Park, which was hosted by Mark Clemmit. During one of the talks, Mark called me on stage and asked me to explain why I wanted to work in the world of football and sport and what my career aspirations were.
I explained that I wanted to work in the equality and diversity sector for the National Governing Body in sport. Mark continued to question why I wanted to work within the equality and diversity sector as it is traditionally known as not being that well paid. To that, I responded…
I want to work in this sector due to some very personal life experiences. When I was 14 my mum experienced a stroke. She was left disabled on the right side of her body. Of course, me being a 14-year-old I was distraught and confused. Why my mum? Why now? These questions haunted me throughout this ordeal. Before COVID, my mum slowly started to become herself again. She learned to drive, walk and even went back to college to study creative writing. She also attended stroke meetings and made new friends whom she would meet up with five times a week.
However, when COVID hit all of her activities were cancelled, and she was back to being stuck in bed and watching TV 24/7. It was so sad to see her reverting back to the reality she was faced with straight after her stroke. This is why I want to work in this industry. I want to be able to create initiatives and activities that minorities can attend in order to give them a new lease of life. I want to be able to provide people with an outlet that can make them feel free again.
This is my story and why I want to work in the equality and diversity sector in sport
