Rice Sport Management believes in experiential learning, and has begun a new class to further that mission in educating Sport Management Majors at Rice University. The Sport Management Seminar class was started this semester to give students an opportunity to work with teams in the city of Houston to get experience and execute an event under the guidance of the Houston Dynamo.
Professor Jason Sosa says, “We want to get our students out in the field, and have them create contacts and have real work experience. You can’t learn everything in a classroom.”
Eight students are working with the Dynamo to create, plan, and execute an event for the Young Presidents’ Organization on March 6, 2010. The event is an all-day event meant to get local businessmen and women involved with the Dynamo and give them a chance to meet the players and become familiar with the Houston Dynamo organization. Aditya Saini, the Client Services Coordinator for the Dynamo, says “This is our target group, these are the people we want supporting our organization, and we want Rice Sport Management students to help us, because well… they’re Rice students.”
The YPO has more than 17,000 members in more than 100 countries, all of whom are managers or higher in their company. The purpose of the organization is to create a network for businessmen and women where they can learn from and share information and experiences with others. “This class is great because it is basically student-run; I’m just there to oversee. These students are getting out there, using their hands and working with the Dynamo Organization. It’s their event.”