UCFB students learn about career opportunities in cricket industry on trip to Lord’s

UCFB students were recently invited to one of the most iconic stadia in cricket, as they enjoyed talks and a tour of Lord’s Cricket Ground.

Known as ‘The Home of Cricket,’ the students were granted access to behind-the-scenes areas of the world-famous venue, with exclusive access to the changing rooms.

They were also able to attend speaker sessions at the ground and network with department heads at Lord’s.

One of the heads of department at Lord’s who spoke to the UCFB students was John Donegan, the stadium’s community programmes manager.

He said: “Today is a chance for the students from UCFB to get an insight into what goes on at a major sports venue.

“It’s a cricket ground, but we don’t just do cricket. There are teams dedicated to every area of the sports industry you can think of.

“We’ve got a huge media team, operations, commercial teams, community teams.

“I suppose it’s just an opportunity to see that there are a huge variety of jobs, a huge amount of opportunities to get into sport.”

Speaking about UCFB, he added: “UCFB is a good talent stream because it’s people who already want to be a part of the sports industry.

“They’re trying to use that passion for sport they obviously have to create a career from it.

“For us to then offer them roles and get them into jobs here, to really ensure they’re going to thrive here and they’re going to get something out of it going forward as well.

“Not only us getting a great employee, but that they get something as well going forward.”

He finished: “Don’t pigeonhole yourself into what you think you want to do. You may not know what you want to do until you do it.

“Don’t say to yourself ‘This is what I want to do, and that’s all I’m going to do.’

“If a job opportunity comes up, whether it be at Lord’s or in a sport you don’t even know well like basketball or netball, it’s still a great way to get into the industry.”