To call Australia a sports giant is an understatement.
Just look at the women’s World Cup team or the Olympic swimming pool, where the athletes from Down Under have turned heads and collected plenty of medals and trophies in the process.
Or consider that Australia hosted the Olympics in 2000 (Sydney) and will do so again in 2032 (Brisbane).
So when Marcella Otto-Dorenkott pondered where to take Sport Management students for an international and educational journey from May 14 through May 27, the choice was obvious.
“Australia is known as being one of the most dominant sport countries because sport is essentially part of everyone’s daily life activity,” Otto-Dorenkott says. “They are a powerhouse.”
Otto-Dorenkott, who is teaching an online course for the Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education this fall in addition to her new work as an assistant professor at Hampton University in Virginia, accompanied Kyle Long, Owen Lynch, Nicolas McDaniel, Jack Mizgalski and Tom Wilson on the Engage Global trip.
NIU’s travelers visited professional sport organizations, local sport clubs, universities, a UNESCO facility, an active living program and fitness classes.
Meanwhile, they attended presentations on “So This Is Australia!” and “Australian History 101” to learn more about their host country; other talks covered race and ethnicity in Australian sport and sport governance.
“What I wanted them to get out of this trip was just a better understanding of sport because, a lot of times, people – especially in the U.S. – are focused on, ‘OK, we have the all the five major sports in the U.S.’ and we think only about what is in America,” Otto-Dorenkott says.
“But there are so many opportunities in sport to go and work abroad. For example, with the NFL having more and more expansions, and having four games played in Germany, there will be job opportunities, and being aware of that is really a key component,” she adds.
“Having also explored other continents and just seeing other cultures will broaden everyone’s horizons. That’s really want I wanted them to see: ‘There’s something else out there that people can engage in’ – and maybe come to realize, ‘Hey, that’s what I want to do.’ You never know if, at the right time and in the right spot if something will fall into your lap.”
Reflections from an NIU student: My initial impression of Australia was that it was going to have small cities. I didn’t think that Sydney would be as big as it was. On our first day in Sydney, walking around the city downtown felt like a big city feel. It felt like a Chicago or a St. Louis. I understand that the U.K. is Australia’s “bigger brother,” and I thought that it would have more of an England feel to the city. But after being in Sydney, Australia has its own culture, differences and swag. Sydney and Australia so far have been amazing and very unique.
Day One began with a visit to the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, an Australian professional rugby league club. Day Two included a roundtable discussion featuring three Aussies speaking on a variety of topics.
Day Four put the travelers in the bleachers to watch the South Sydney Rabbitohs face off against the Parramatta Eels on the rugby field.
On Day Seven, NIU’s group visited Cairns Central University for talks about field hockey and health in the local community’s indigenous population of teenage girls; the Carins Taipans Basketball Club; and the sport science of Australia’s National Basketball League.
Two days later, students could attend presentations on health screenings in Outback indigenous communities and/or case studies in heat and hydration.
Day Eleven brought travel to Southern Cross University for a talk on “Centenarian Models of Physical Activity in Blue Zones.” The United States is one of five zones around the world where people consistently live past age 100; students heard how physical activity modes in those zones are influenced by environment, geography and culture.
Meanwhile, the Huskies learned how to throw boomerangs, watched a demonstration of how to play the didgeridoo and took a surfing lesson – and, the next day, learned about beach safety, rip currents and protecting and saving the lives of surfers.
In between, the students took in as much Australian culture as possible, including Sydney tours such as the Opera House, the Harbour, the Hyde Park Barracks, the Botanical Gardens as well as the Great Barrier Reef, Kuranda National Park Rainforest, Hartley’s Crocodile Adventures Zoo and more.
This trip has definitely impacted my future from just learning the different things and cultural/global differences and the way I see things. It also is going to make me want to travel more to experience even more new things and differences. For my future, I would say some of the sports management tips will correlate to my future career. But just getting the insight of the rugby teams and basketball team, I feel, will be helpful for when I enter the industry. Then, just getting to experience a new culture is something that can help me connect with others. And this is something that will make my résumé look better will I apply to new jobs. Overall, this trip will positively affect my future.
Some of what the NIU students learned came from what they didn’t find.
“They really enjoyed the rugby game, and they saw what they thought was a really interesting thing,” Otto-Dorenkott says. “They noticed a difference in the behavior of the fans there versus fans in American stadiums. They basically realized that fans over there are a lot more in the game with their heart whereas it’s different with the whole marketing aspect of sport entertainment in the U.S.”
Yet, as people who do call the U.S. home, they’ve gained a powerful way to market themselves when they apply for jobs.
“Traveling to Australia is not something that every student does,” she says. “They went outside of the country. They’ve seen something else. They can always refer back to what they’ve experienced and to the conversations they’ve had that broadened their horizons.”
For example, Otto-Dorenkott says, Australians – just like fellow Germans in her native land – are not shy to confront others to instigate difficult conversations on topics of politics or race.
People in the United States are the opposite, she says. “Usually, you don’t talk about these things.”
“It’s just learning that they’re not trying to offend you or trying to get you to say something you don’t want to say. It’s just a different culture, and we have to deal with that, working on communication skills and being presentable,” she says.
“I always told my students, ‘I expect you, regardless of what you do, to be presentable because you’re not representing me but you’re representing our program and the university. Once we leave, I want everyone to say, “Those kids were awesome. We want to want to have them back,” ’ she adds.
“And all of them did that, holding doors open, saying thank you and asking questions, which some of the other students from the other group did not, and so I was very proud. They were able to hold themselves very accountable and to such a high standard.”
The professor counts herself among those who came back changed.
“It was my third trip to Australia, but the first time I went I was 12, and then when I was 15, and I didn’t do any of the things we did on this trip, so it was very different,” Otto-Dorenkott says. “I grew my knowledge of sport in Australia and, in thinking about anyone who teaches Introduction to Sport Management or any course with a global aspect, I was reminded that there is so much out there, and that we must continuously evolve and grow. Applying those experiences in the classroom is important.”
This study abroad program has made me acutely aware of our relative insignificance in the grand scheme of things. This realization is not meant to evoke a sense of negativity or futility but rather a positive outlook. It implies that if something won’t matter in five years, there is no need to fret over it excessively. The world will carry on, and we will be okay. This newfound perspective encourages me to embrace discomfort and prioritize the process over the end result. It frees me from unnecessary worry and allows me to focus on pursuing endeavors that challenge me and contribute to personal growth. Overall, this study abroad experience has left an indelible mark on my life. It has instilled in me a thirst for adventure and a curiosity-driven mindset, propelling me towards new opportunities in Chicago. Simultaneously, it has taught me the importance of embracing our smallness in the world, enabling me to let go of insignificant worries and focus on what truly matters.
