The SportsGrad Podcast

Meet Abhi Arunachalam, the Head of Media Rights at Cricket Australia. Abhi started his career as a corporate lawyer, then after 6 years in private practice he made the jump to sport, landing a secondment role at the AFL as an in-house Lawyer. This gave him a foot into sport and launched his career at Cricket Australia. In Abhi’s 9 years at CA, he’s made a few internal moves, proving you don’t have...

Meet Alex King, the Senior Marketing Executive at Premier League Club, Crystal Palace, and one of our SportsGrad Pro Members. Only 2 years ago, he was a uni graduate who had a dream of working in football full time, and after a Marketing Internship at West Ham United, he’s now smashing goals in a full-time role at Palace. Lots to look out for, including how to land your first full-time job in spor...

Meet Michael Barker, freelancer videographer, photographer and the Co-Founder and Director of Two Times Creative. Previously, he has worked at Hoop City, Carlton FC, and the NBL, working in all things digital - think production, editing, social media marketing, graphic design, and more. He also has a newsletter, runs classes and uses his socials to teach people how they can level up their digital...

Hello and welcome to the SportsGrad Podcast! Today we’ve got a solo pod, where we’re diving into what the SportsGrad Community is and how you can be a part of it. The Rookie Community is re-opening on the 14th of May, and we want to make sure that you’re fully across it and how it can benefit you! We created the SportsGrad Community because a major problem with careers in sport, is that it’s so he...

Meet Eray Saban, the Assistant General Manager of ASM Jacksonville and the Director of EverBank Stadium, home to the Jacksonville Jaguars. As you’ll learn in this episode, Eray is no stranger to a large stadium and event, and all of the challenges that come with it. From sports games, to sell-out concerts, to dealing with the FBI, his job is to make sure that every attendee has a safe and enjoyabl...

Meet Shayla Clarke, Audience Growth & Engagement Coordinator at the Richmond Football Club. Shayla started her career with the Tigers, and over 6 years tasted premiership success, as well as growth in multiple roles. Lots to look out for including how to get a job in the AFL, how to progress and be promoted at work, what it’s like working at the MCG on match days for close to 100,000 fans, and...

Meet the legend that is Chloe Dalton, Founder of The Female Athlete Project. Chloe's remarkable journey as an athlete and an advocate includes clinching a gold medal in Rugby 7s at the Rio 2016 Olympics, and growing The Female Athlete Project to 125k followers. Chloe is an outstanding leader championing gender equality and empowering female athletes worldwide, using her platform to elevate the vis...

Meet Elle Steele, the National Project Manager for Disability Sports Australia’s ‘Building Inclusive Sport Clubs’ Program.  Beyond her day-to-day gig, Elle is also a Paralympian, Founder, TEDx speaker, and inclusion advocate. If you're interested in a career in the diversity & inclusion space, you're going to love this episode. We dive deep into her main initiative, the ‘Building Inc...

Meet Pete Lock, the General Manager of Marketing and Corporate Affairs at Queensland Cricket. Pete has over 10 years of experience within cricket, overseeing the commercial, sponsorship, hospitality, marketing, digital, and communications for Queensland Cricket/Brisbane Heat. In this episode, he deep dives into what it’s like leading the most followed social media sports team in Oceania, his caree...

Meet Barbara Sikorski, the Global Head of Media Operations at SailGP. Barbara is far from a stranger to international events. Previous to SailGP, she has worked at the likes of the 2016 Rio Olympics, the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and the International Paralympic Committee. She is now on the epic team at SailGP, where she manages everything to do with the media operatio...

Meet Ankita Karungalekar, Sports Presenter for the Mumabi Indians, Cricket Australia, and KOJO. Reuben met Ankita on a whim at the end of 2022, where she told him that being a Cricket Presenter was her 2 year goal. Inspired by Rana Hussain presenting at the T20 World Cup in Adelaide, she thought to herself, “why couldn’t I do this too?”. Less than a year later, she found herself standing on the sa...

Hello and welcome to the last SportsGrad episode of 2023! We can’t believe how fast this year has flown by, and we have a lot to unpack - from the nitty-gritty of how SportsGrad levelled up, to juggling goals, and simply tackling life. In today’s episode, we recap on all of our favourite moments from the year, answer questions from the Community, and chat about learnings and goals for the year to...

Meet Olivia Hogan, Head of Marketing and Communications for the Asia Pacific at Sail GP. You might remember Liv from episode #256 on the ground at the Saint-Tropez Sail GP regatta, where we went behind the scenes of the most exciting and action-packed race on water. Liv’s role is crucial in growing the fan base and brand awareness all around the world in their breakout season. In today’s episode,...

Meet Chelsea Guy, Partnerships Manager and Digital Marketing Specialist - she has over 10+ years of experience working with Toyota Australia, and now with major events at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Chelsea is no stranger to a huge partnership, with her role at Toyota leading her to work with the likes of the AFL, and the Australian Olympic Committee. From the reception and admin...

Meet Sean Callanan, founder of Sports Geek - a Tech and Digital agency that works with sport teams to help commercialise their digital assets. With over 15 years of experience in IT development, and a passion and love for sports, he realised the need to combine the two interests. Now, through Sports Geek, he works with the likes of the NFL, amongst many other teams in Australia and the US. Sean al...

Meet Parth Suri, Community Engagement Manager at the Adelaide Crows FC. Parth made the swap into the sports industry after being a banker for 3 years, and holds the record for the fastest SportsGrad member to land a full-time job - just an impressive 29 days after joining the Community. In today’s episode, he joins us to chat about how he navigated his way into his dream role through utilizing his...

Meet Jason Russell-Jones, Head of Community Legacy Projects at Rugby Australia. Australia is hosting the 2027 and 2029 Men's and Women's Rugby World Cups, and RA has the responsibility of leveraging them to grow the game - Jason is one of the people tasked with making that happen. Jase has an epic background, having worked at the Australian Sports Commission, Cricket Australia, Cricket NSW, and li...

Meet Sarah Burt, freelance sports journalist, commentator, MC and presenter! Recently, Sarah has moved on from Channel 7 to pursue working for herself, has stepped up to host 3AW’s AFLW broadcast, and also has past experience in media roles at the AFL, The Age Newspaper, Fox Sports, ESPN, and the Hawthorn FC - she has a plethora of experience, and jumps on the pod today to share it with us. She co...

Meet Francesca Teh (or as we call her, Franny), the World Cup Legacy Program Manager at Football Australia. Dubbing her role at FA as ‘one of [her] greatest career decisions so far’, she joins us on the pod today to talk about her role as a Legacy Manager, and the positive impact that working on the FIFA Women’s World Cup has had. In this episode, she covers how she landed her first full-time job...

I failed to hit a 12-month goal and it really bloody stung. I learnt a tough lesson about how NOT to race a half-marathon. At first, I was upset and thought what a waste of all that training when I could have been out seeing the world. But then I realised it actually might be an important bump in the road needed to hit my goal - if I learn from it correctly. So how do you turn a failure into your...

Meet Maddie Reith, the ultimate go-getter, who took her Early Childhood profession and turned it into a life in the sports industry… If you’ve ever wanted to work for your favourite sporting team, or land positions at some of the biggest events in the world, then this episode is for you. Maddie takes us through the process of how she ended up as the top Membership Sales person at the Brisbane Bron...

Meet Champion Data, the storytellers behind the game… Something a bit different today - instead of joining you from the studio, we bring you inside the Champion Data HQ in Melbourne, where we went along to meet some of the staff behind the scenes who deliver sports data all over the world. If you’ve ever dreamed of working in sports and data specifically, then this episode might spark some interes...

Meet Chris MacPherson, and his double life as one of the voices of sport. Monday to Friday, Chris works in the insurance industry, but he’s also been a freelance Ground Announcer and MC for the better part of a decade. Chris’ speaking gigs have led him to work with sports like the Newcastle Jets, NSWRL, Cricket NSW, Football NSW, BarTV sport and many more. In this episode, we dive into how Chris c...

Meet Maddy Ryan , Membership Sales Officer at the Carlton FC. Maddy made a transition into sport earlier this year, following past experience in Marketing and HR. She started off her career in sport, in a Membership role at the Richmond FC before making her way over to Carlton FC. Maddy takes us through the hiring process, how to nail an interview, and what a day in her life consists of. Membershi...

Friends, we’re not in the studio today… Instead this podcast comes to you from our French correspondent (hello, Reuben!) on the ground at SailGP to find out exactly what sort of jobs pull it together. If you’ve ever dreamed of working in F1, allow us to expand your ambitions to racing on water. SailGP is one of the most exciting and fastest-growing sporting leagues in the world. Like the F1, the S...