Journalising our journey at the AISTS Master of Advanced Studies: March to May 2025
AISTS MAS 2025 Participant
Nowadays, it is becoming harder and harder to capture people’s attention. But what if we could read something about ourselves?
A letter to my classmates, past and future AISTS MAS participants.
What’s Next?
The last sprint of the class period truly feels like a blast of knowledge and emotions. This final push is divided into three parts: classes, delivery and the “What’s Next?”.
First, the classes: different modules coming one after another, from Communication (how to support public relation), Technologies of Infrastructure (how to adapt venue management), Sustainability Management with outstanding speakers, and Sport Business analysis (how to recommend a Football club investment). This period represents the peak, where everything we have learned since the beginning of the year, all the foundational modules and increasing workload, comes together.
Naturally, human nature (or should we say student nature?) still leads us to question “Why is the programme shaped this way”, “Is it mandatory?” or “Why are we doing it like that” But at the end of the day, we’re all part of the same game, and the structure of the Master of Advanced Studies just makes sense. We also have the opportunity to give feedback to the administration about the coherence of the modules are and the relevance of the speaker, and this feedback is genuinely considered to improve the programme for the next cohort.
Many modules also mean many exams, graded presentations, and pressure to deliver multiple projects at the same time. I would say that this is one of the strengths of the AISTS MAS Programme: we don’t just learn hard content within the modules, but more importantly, we learn how to deal with international and eclectic team dynamic and an immense workload. So, if you have followed this series of articles, this also answers the initial question I had: “Would a Master of Advanced Studies in Sport Management provide enough hard skills?”. Indeed, but more importantly, it develops soft skills I hadn’t expected to be so essential. And to the question: Is it really a legitimate way to build my career in the sport industry? The journey here affirms it.
As the class period ends, the MAS participants refine their job aspirations and opportunities. Even if the MAS is not over yet, we still have to complete our Client Team Project, Research Paper, Leadership and Career Development exam and the work experience, we are ready to enter the field of play. The training has paid off. It is game time.
To complement these months of training, introspection, and hard work, we have shared so many unforgettable experiences. The latest in date: the friendly match against FIFA. The AISTS football team played a match on the FIFA pitch against their staff team, I won’t lie, they smashed us. As we near the end of the MAS class period, everyone feels nostalgic and wants to enjoy every remaining minute. Even though we’re all tired and stressed from group work deadlines, exams, or job searches, let me quote the fourth article of this series: “What we will remember are the people.”
Class Representatives
Throughout the year, our class representatives, Miriam Cernigliaro and Canaan Pollock, served as our spokespeople. It’s only natural that they should be part of this series to mark the end of our time together and share what this journey has meant to them.
“When AISTS asked for two participants from the batch to step up as Class Representatives, I took the opportunity and decided to give it a shot, after 5 years as Student Representative in my former Italian university. I really wanted to be fully involved with the AISTS experience.
Right from the start, I realised this would have been an experience that would have made me grow a lot, having to interact daily with the staff and periodically with the members of the Scientific Committee. At the same time, I found myself becoming more attentive and caring to the needs and perspective of my classmates.
In the final part of the programme, keeping communication flowing between both sides without being overwhelmed was challenging. As the number of projects, we were involved in increased, so did the variety of specific situations that needed attention and resolution.
At the same time, working closely with the staff and participating in the Scientific Committee, providing feedback on the past year and helping shape the programme for future batches with our proposals, was a meaningful way to close the cycle.
I’m truly grateful for the opportunity to serve as a class rep, this role gave me the opportunity to understand and discover that the staff, while maintaining a professional distance, has always been and continues to be supportive and present for us.
After these months of representing this AISTS MAS 2025, grown in maturity and developed many valuable soft skills. But more importantly, I am grateful for the human relationships and connections I’ve built, both with my classmates and the staff members, that have really enriched me.“
Now we will all take different paths, in different places, but we will always be united by this shared AISTS experience. AISTS 2025 cohort is ready to dive into the real world!
This series is coordinated by Madeline Coquoz from the MAS Class of 2025.
Read the first two articles of the series:
0.0. Behind the Scenes of AISTS Master of Advanced Studies: First Step.
1.0 Behind the Scenes of AISTS Master of Advanced Studies: A Fresh Start
2.0. Behind the Scenes of AISTS Master of Advanced Studies: What we will remember are people
3.0. Behind the Scenes of AISTS Master of Advanced Studies: New Year, New Tech, New Skills
