Ayana's Journey: Elite Access, Real Experience: Ayana's success through CCoS

During her time at CCoS, Ayana gained invaluable experience through practical placements across a range of elite sporting organisations. Working with the Carlton Football Club ’s Partnerships team on AFL and AFLW game days, she assisted in delivering partner activations and match-day experiences. She also worked at Hawks Netball Club (VNL), where she managed game-day social media content, producing live score updates, highlight reels, and post-game interviews. These placements gave her the opportunity to develop technical skills, build confidence, and gain insight into the inner workings of professional sport.

The year also saw her selected for Netball Victoria ’s inaugural Sport Administration Cadet Program. Through this initiative, she helped manage operations at a local netball association, contributing to marketing campaigns, competition administration, and all-abilities programming. Combined with her studies, these experiences demonstrated the value of industry exposure and allowed her to apply her learning in real world contexts.

What set her experience at CCoS apart was not just the practical opportunities, but the relationships she built throughout the year. Regular interaction with Carlton Football Club staff, CCoS faculty, and industry professionals gave her a strong network early in her career. By the end of the course, her strong performance and proactive approach led to one of only four graduate roles offered to the 2023 cohort. In 2024, she began working full-time at the Carlton Football Club as the CCoS Operations and Events Assistant.

In this role, she supported the coordination and delivery of key Club events, including President’s Club functions, Carlton IN Business events, and the annual Carlton Best and Fairest awards. She also managed the CCoS TikTok channel, creating student-focused content, and represented CCoS at career expos, open days, and school presentations. The role allowed her to combine creativity, communication, and event delivery in a high-performance environment.

Today, she continues to build on her qualifications, studying a Bachelor of Business (Sport Management) at Deakin University while continuing to work at the Club. Her career aspirations lie in the commercial and events side of professional sport, with a particular interest in expanding her experience into netball.

Her advice to aspiring sporting professionals is to embrace every opportunity, build meaningful connections, and approach each experience with enthusiasm and a willingness to learn, as she notes that these qualities have played a key role in her own success.

Her journey reflects the unique strength of Carlton College of Sport, which provides a direct pathway into the sports industry through real-world learning, elite access, and career-defining experience. From uncertainty after high school to a role within one of Australia’s leading sporting organisations, her story shows what’s possible when ambition meets opportunity.