A UCFB student has recently ventured away from football and started gaining quality sports industry experience as media assistant at ice hockey team Manchester Storm.

Matthew Finnigan, who studies BA (Hons) Sports Business and Sports Broadcasting at our Manchester Campus kickstarted his new year by taking up the new position at the Elite Ice Hockey League side.

Matthew has previously gained work experience alongside his UCFB studies at National League side Altrincham Football Club and the Manchester Football Association.

Now he is trying a new sport and industry in elite ice hockey, and is very excited about the experience and opportunity this role will bring to him.

Speaking about his role, Matthew said: “My role as media assistant allows me to conduct player and head coach interviews, both at training and on game day, whilst also providing fresh ideas to the rest of the media team, on ways we can use social media to market the team to the fans, in order to retain audiences.”

As a fan of ice hockey, many of his fellow UCFB students urged Matthew to apply for the position at Manchester Storm when it was placed on Jobteaser.

“I would encourage everyone to be active on Jobteaser,” Matthew said, “as I never thought the opportunity I have now would be something available to me, yet by checking events and opportunities on that website, I found my dream internship!”

He added: “I would absolutely encourage others to get out of their comfort zone by trying internships within other sports. You’ll make valuable connections whether you’re a fan of the sport or not, and you might just pick up a love for it.

“Even if football is a student’s main sport, I believe you should test yourself with other scenarios as you never know where that could take you.”

Talking about his time at UCFB, he said: : “My second year has allowed me to work in the industry and has given me loads of opportunities to keep me busy aside from my degree course, for that I am so grateful.

“There hasn’t been a dull day so far and I doubt there will be one.

“It is the opportunities and the diversity of connections that UCFB has that distinguishes itself from other universities, because if you’re a driven person who wants to work in the sports industry, UCFB has a great network to put you on that path.”

To find out more about UCFB and our wide array of undergraduate degree courses, click here to view a prospectus.

You can also learn a lot more about our industry partners, who offer our students plenty of work experience, click here.