Internship at AFC Ajax youth scouting department
As a student in communication science at the University of Amsterdam, it is required to do an internship to graduate with a communication science bachelor. I was lucky enough to reach my childhood dream and to do an internship in the football and sports industry, especially in a club with great history and philosophy AFC Ajax. I was able to combine communication science and sports while working in this club and organization.
Watching matches and training
During my time in the internship, I was asked to do youth scouting with live, video as well as in club training and trial days besides my internship report and research. Usually, the matches and training were after work so it was extra work for me beyond the aksed hours however it was an unforgettable experience for me to look to the matches and training of youth players in AFC Ajax as well international players who were having a trial.
Making reports
After watching the games and training, I had to make reports about players based on the performance and potential that I saw during the matches and training for players and see if they are eligible to play or with high future potential to play in AFC Ajax. Doing this aside from my internship report and research, helped me write reports based on what I saw and write attractively if the player performed well in the matches or training that I saw. The club has its player database in the program that is run by a third party and I had to upload reports on the player on the club’s database.
Prioritizing players
Next is to upload the reports of the players, the department had to prioritize the players from the database based on the potential rating and create lists based on their quality and quantity of reports as well as encountering their ratings. Based on my knowledge of communication science it was easier for me to deal with the data of the players and create an analysis based on the data as I have done serval qualitative and quantitative researches that require data filtering and analyzing. After analyzing and prioritizing players the lists were looked over by a professional scout and technical director of the club and then will be decided on the players if they are suitable for the club, in terms of their potential, performance, and finance the club.
Conclusion
Besides learning and applying my knowledge of communication science to my internship report and research. My other tasks and duties in working in the AFC Ajax give me experience and the opportunity to work with professionals, talent indemnification, prioritizing, and analyzing data. Working in this club and organization for around 5 months gave me experience and the opportunity to work in the sports world, especially in football which I dreamt about since when I was young. Without the internship course in communication science, I would not be able to work in a sports organization and have my dream come true.
