International Academy of Sport Science and Technology Review By Mehul Panchal

AISTS program of PGC in sports management & technology is a 12 months course. The ever-growing demand for sports has increased in India with the inception of various leagues. The best thing about the course was that I gained an in-depth knowledge of sports management to grow individually. These days, many organizations take care of the sports star's PR department, and in the course, we had to learn how to work for them. As an intern, we were allowed to work with Mumbai Indians talent scout team. Mumbai Indians is the only IPL team that has started this initiative. It may sound easy, but the course was quite difficult as professors from various countries used to teach us. For an Indian to understand that many accents was a task and beyond that interacting with organisations who runs this business was another uphill task. The sports management program from AISTS is recognised globally, and some students from our class got placed with organisations of European countries. Only AISTS gives you that opportunity, and mind you, 12 months with AISTS means training as hard as an Olympic aspirant in the gym.

The program taught us various dimensions of sports management. As sports managers, our role is to negotiate the players' contracts with the clubs interested in signing them. If you are not interested in that, you can learn how to manage financial and business matters on behalf of the sportsperson. I chose the first one because it is not easy to start off becoming a celebrity manager. The study revolved around the sports of various domains and how to scout them early. Working with a leading sports organisation as their intern is the main highlight of the program.

The program is not about learning from the book but rather showing what you think. One's point of view matters and how they can bring in the change. One thing that was the main part of our study was most of the athletes who earn millions during their career has gone bankrupt in the latter half of their life. Thus, we were taught how we could teach these athletes financial management. There were over 50 faculty who came in at the different point and gave us some tips. The faculty was so clear and teaching us all the dynamics of the sporting world and sportsmen was unbelievable.

A 100% placement track record has been maintained by the college for a while now. Sports management companies like IMG-Reliance, Baseline Ventures, Rhiti Sports, JSW Sports, and Percept Limited were the major companies that hired our college students. One may not have heard these companies' names, but most of them operate from abroad and are worth billions. If one wants to do something more extraordinary and interested in sports, the course will provide you financial stability. The packages offered were initially low, but once you gain experience and do some negotiations on your company's behalf, it comes down to the percentage of contracts worth millions.

The college doesn't provide a hostel. The college is located in Lower Parel, and there are many men's hostels from Worli to Lower Parel. You can enroll for the online course as offline and online classes are run simultaneously for those who can't afford a stay in Mumbai.

AISTS has campuses all across the world and started in India recently. The iconic building with state-of-the-art classrooms and IT technology that never seen before is what I saw at college. The college perhaps knew that Covid would come, and therefore, the classes were built that already maintained social distancing. Since we are taught sports management, the first thing that we were taught was to stay fit. The college building has a world-class gym, and spending an hour there daily was mandatory. There's also a world-class swimming pool, and getting refreshed there before leaving the college was an everyday thing. There was a steam room and shower room as well. The canteen with an iconic view of the sea face was one of the best. The food served was mostly healthy as oily food items, and junk food was not available at the canteen. The college management even told us to avoid having any such things because to be a part of such an industry, even if you are not a sportsperson, fitness was the key. I never felt like I am at any college because it was like a corporate building equipped with facilities to pamper the students.

Students mostly maintained social distancing as we all were competing against each other. This was indeed a part of the program as to survive as a sportsperson is a huge ask. First of all, the shelf life of a sportsperson is less and to make the most of it while they are at their best were some of the drills we were taught as students. Our engagement with our intern company was taken seriously, and the whole game of placement was dependent on that. The total batch was of 30 students, and I don't know the names of even 10 students. Hence, life at AISTS was more like isolation and a picture of leading our life ahead.