UCFB Wembley students William Lindsey and Kerry Russell are using their final year to build up their CV by gaining invaluable work experience within the media department at Reading Ladies FC.
William, who studies BA (Hons) Football Business and Media, and Kerry, who is on the BA (Hons) Sports Business and Broadcasting programme, both travel to Reading each week to attend Reading Ladies’ training sessions, matches, photo shoots and gather footage to create video content for the fans.
Asked how the opportunity to work with the club came about, William said: “The opportunity to work at Reading arose through the work placement module on the Year Three Media course. I chose to contact women’s football clubs as I felt, compared to the top of the men’s game, I would be allowed much more access to the club and players and be able to have more of an influence.”
Once William got his own foot in the door, Reading asked him if he knew of another student who would be willing to carry out a similar role for the club alongside him, and so Kerry got on board.
William and Kerry are both content creation interns at the club with the majority of their work revolving around filming and editing video content for the club.
Kerry said: “The placement involves Will and I working to shoot, edit and produce several videos for the club’s social media. This has included shooting at training sessions to produce match previews for their Women’s Super League 1 matches, and also shooting a behind the scenes video for the annual team photo shoot with the aim of raising both the profile of the club and women’s football as a whole.”
Speaking of how he has found his time at the club so far, William said: “It’s been brilliant! Reading have been very welcoming to both myself and Kerry. We have been allowed unbelievable access to the team and we like to think we are creating quality videos to help the club’s media outreach.
“Editing, filming and being allowed freedom to form creative content is thoroughly enjoyable! All of the content myself and Kerry are creating looks great for our personal portfolios too.”
Leading on to speak about her hopes for the future and how she believes she has benefitted from her work experience with Reading, Kerry added: “I am learning vital skills that I will take into the professional industry with me after finishing my degree. Working with a Premier League or Women’s Super League club would be my childhood dream, and working with Reading is giving me the opportunity to push myself to be able to do this.”
