Meet Ryan, one of our 2020 Carlton College of Sport students!
Written by Ryan Geer.
During 2019 I made the decision to make a change, move interstate from country NSW and study at the Carlton College of Sport in 2020. I’m a big sport fanatic and have always wanted to work in elite sport. I’ve been involved with AFL for 18 years as well as cricket and basketball. This course looked the right thing for me and an opportunity to learn and grow as a person to further my career and it was one I just couldn’t pass up.
Coming into a new environment I was nervous not knowing what to expect, especially being a 27-year-old mature age student, but I can’t speak highly enough of this course and how welcoming everyone has been. The best thing I can say about studying at Carlton College would be the people you meet, placement opportunities we get and how involved we get within the club. Along with this in classes being able to run around and kick the footy on Ikon Park and then to go downstairs and use the AFLW gym is amazing.
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Even when we moved onto online university, the Club always tried to keep in touch with us with group catch ups, meetings, and organising lots of opportunities for us to stay engaged and keep feeling a part of the football club. Having AFLW star Sarah Hosking as your course coordinator, having guest lectures with people such as Head Coach David Teague, High Performance Manager Andrew Russell and players like Ed Curnow and Sam Walsh are experiences you just don’t get in other university degrees.
I have been lucky and done so much placement and have so many stories which has been amazing. I’ve lucky enough to work at AFLW games, go to Carlton AFLW training sessions meeting the players and coaches and coaching at Carlton’s NGA Academy.
AFLW training was amazing to watch how they train and prepare for games. Getting involved on the tackle bags, kicking the footy to the girls, helping them in the gym. Not just watching but actually getting involved. My highlight of that was Head Coach Daniel Harford giving me the nickname ‘Rhino’ after my second training and then it just stuck all the players and coaches started calling me that and that felt good.
Placement at Carlton’s NGA Academy working with the under 15’s boys and girls was the placement I spent the most time at and it is where I learnt the most. Working and Coaching with the likes of Zac Dawson, Maddy Prespakis and Tayla Harris is a great opportunity. Being thrown in the deep end was good for me actually coaching and making my own drills and speaking to players was amazing for my development and confidence. The whole experience was a highlight but this where I definitely had fun and learnt the most.
After all this and being halfway through the course, my perspective on certain things has changed and how I want to continue to learn and develop. After I finish at the Carlton College I can hopefully move straight into the workforce.
With the current situation and the club not being able to do placements I want to continue to gain experience and learn so I’ve recently picked up a volunteer internship role with the Coburg Lions FC in the VFL. I will be the video content producer so going to games and training sessions, filming and editing to create content for their website and social media. This will be an amazing experience to create content and still work within a state league level environment.
My dream job at the moment is get a job at an AFL club working in the media team, hopefully very similar to the role I’m doing at Coburg, creating high quality content for the members and fans. If I have the opportunity as well I would love to be able to become involved in the football department whether that be in the AFLW or VFLW programs or at coach at the NGA Academy again.
I would recommend Carlton College of Sport for anyone who has a passion for sport. My advice would be take advantage of the opportunity being at Carlton Football Club whether that be placements or lectures, meet people and get involved as much as you can.