Journalising our journey at the AISTS Master of Advanced Studies in Sport Management and Technology: November to December 2024
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.
After recharging during the fall break, the month is starting off very strong with the Olympic House and OMEGA visits and the release of the first exam results. This period is full stream with academic classes and marks the beginning of a long list of group projects.
Sport Industry Visits through the AISTS Network
Throughout the year, the AISTS network provides opportunities for visits in prestigious sport organisations, allowing us to expand our professional horizons in the sport industry.
Starting November with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) visit is particularly exciting. It is a reminder of the dream that brought us to Lausanne to study sport in the Olympic Capital, resonating deeply with the spirit of the IOC. Seeing all classmates dressed formally for the first time and visiting the IOC are an eye-opener for many people. For some, it solidified the IOC as ultimate career goal, while for others, it does not aspire as such. Regardless, this visit made the class enthusiastic, offering a behind-the-scenes look at Olympics-related concepts we have explored in many courses. A highlight was the opportunity for our Olympian classmate, Camila Carvalho, to sign the Olympic Wall, which create a memorable moment for everyone.
A similar kind of reflection occurred during our visit to OMEGA, the official timekeeper of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. We had the chance to go through the manufacturing process and learn about everything from watchmaking to sponsorship strategies. Moreover, it snowed on that day, the first snowfall for some of us. Beautiful Switzerland, snow and watches, it doesn’t get more stereotypical than that.
These privileged visits also triggered important questions. On one hand, we observed extremely resourceful organisations, prestigious, and highly structured internally, but challenging to enter. On the other hand, we visited and hosted guest speaker from smaller or medium-sized organisations facing very different challenges: fewer resources, external political constraints, but offering a broader scope of tasks within a single positions and potential for growth. Once again, as we remain in the exploration phase of this programme, questions naturally arise: Where do I want to go? What are the organisations that I haven’t heard of yet?
Group Work
Group work – the beauty and the challenge of the Master of Advanced Studies, all at once. Digital Marketing, Sociology Project, Digital Technology and Innovation Project, Client Team Project kick off – I’ve probably missed mentioning one or two, there are so many! Who will be in my team? Deadline, work ethics, communication, everything takes more time and requires coordination, or rather, international coordination. We discover each other, challenge each other, and sometimes even get tired of each other. Yet, this is precisely why we choose such a programme: to learn from others’ expertise. And in doing so, the real beauty is that we also learn about ourselves.
Mentoring Programme
The AISTS Alumni-Mentoring Programme has been well established since 2010 and further developed as a joint initiative between the AISTS and the AISTS Alumni Association. An insightful discussion with Thomas Roos, President of the Alumni Committee between 2022 and 2024, highlights how the programme has evolved over the years. More than 50 alumni volunteer annually to participate in the AISTS Mentoring Programme. Previously, mentor-mentee pairs were matched manually by Céline Beaurain-Casemi, our Professional Career Coach. Since 2022, pairings have been formed through statistical matching, which is free from human bias. It is fascinating to see how matches are made based on professional background, personal interests, areas of expertise, location (past/current/future), and/or future career motivations/convictions. Céline is still here to guide the mentee in their choice of mentor. Our batch now has the opportunity to find a mentor-mentee match and begin developing meaningful relationships within the AISTS network.
The programme’s goal is to foster a knowledge-based community centred around AISTS. Despite time management being the greatest challenge in building these relationships, pairs typically meet two or three (2-3x) times and maintain contact throughout the programme. The key aim is for the mentee to take the lead, guiding the mentor towards their specific needs. Notably, 85% of alumni evaluate the programme positively, both as mentees and mentors. Overall, it’s all about building and contributing to the AISTS network and legacy.
2024 Pair Mentee-Mentor
Dominique Gobat, MAS 2007 & Nicola Deparis, MAS 2024
An extremely valuable relationship and insights, were what stood out from our interview with Nicola and Dominique. The pair naturally connected: from recording a podcast episode together, to meeting during extracurricular sporting events, they built a strong relationship. It is important to emphasise that every pair is unique and that the mentee and mentor must adapt to each other and put in effort to make the meetings valuable: by documenting their progress and having authentic conversations for example.
Nicola: “I could see a before and after from meeting Dominique. Being early in my career and gaining insights from Dominique, who is in a more advanced and successful phase of his career, taught me how to develop a concrete personal career path. Before, I knew I came to AISTS to enter the sport industry, and now I know where I want to make an impact: by helping athletes and sport professional to boost their potential and share their values.”
The keynote: “We all have busy schedules, so ask valuable and precise questions to foster introspection from both the mentor and the mentee!”
Wrap up of 2024
To sum up these last two months of 2024: sparkling eyes from all the visits, multiple communication and interpersonal challenges during group projects, expanding networks through the alumni and mentor programmes, but most importantly, the creation of countless memories through daily class and celebrations! From Halloween to Christmas, and even Diwali in between, we shared special moments together, strengthening the bonds within our community. In the end, what we will remember are not the challenges of group work but the people with whom we shared our time.
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
