ICMS Sports Academics to Present at Two Major Conferences in 2022

The International College of Management, Sydney (ICMS) Sports Academic Team will present research publications at two upcoming conferences, sharing the results of their research into two separate areas – understanding disability sports, and harnessing technology to its full potential in the sports management education arena.

“Our scholarly activity contributes to the systematic, sustainable advancement and dissemination of knowledge for the benefit of others in the ICMS community and beyond, nationally and internationally,” Dr Jae Won Kang, ICMS Program Manager (Sports & Property), said.

“Extended, our research project ideas of interdisciplinary team approach can be used for the wider, professional community organisations, businesses, and other related areas.”

Understanding Disability Sports

At the end of October 2022, Dr Jae Won Kang, Dr Trevor Clark, Jeremy Sleiman and Alli Abdurahman will present their research, A person-centred approach for understanding disability sports and marketing campaigns, at the 2022 Asian Association for Sport Management (AASM) Conference in Taipei, Taiwan.

AASM is a professional organisation seeking to bring academics together with the aim of sharing practical research and promotion in the field of sport management. The theme of the upcoming conference is “Moving into the Future: Sport Event x Technology x SDGs”.

The ICMS Sports Academic Team’s research centred around exploring the individual differences from the point of view of person-centred responses to individual interests, needs, preferences and desires, and to identify the factors or processes that might understand people with disability through a person-centred approach to increase awareness and visibility for disability sport.

The research and reflection done on this aspect of disability sport by ICMS Sports Academics is on an area that has had minimal focus, but whose findings could have maximum impact when presented at the AASM Conference.

“Looking at a human centric approach to disability in sports allows us to re-imagine how we view sports, society and marketing. Looking at this through the lens of Marketing we are able to explore and expand the notion of personal connection of disabled athletes, providing them with a voice,” ICMS lecturer Alli Abdurahman said.

Research informed by personal interest

ICMS lecturer Sam Cuccurullo expressed a personal interest in the topic of disability sport, and a vested interest in seeing research – such as that undertaken by ICMS Sport Academics – filter into how disabilities are accommodated across the board, to the benefit of disabled people.

“A few of my friends have disabled daughters and sons and it is remarkable to see how they found themselves disadvantaged when it came to sports. This is changing dramatically with a spotlight shining on Para Olympics Games and most other events,” Cuccurullo said.

“Also, I was working for a large global organisation that sponsored Vivid and, in particular, the ramps and safety for disabled children/people. Being a volunteer showed me how their faces became happy when they were involved and used some of the specialised areas that were constructed. I loved the wheelchair race at Vivid where able body people competed against the disabled and how the able body people said how hard it was for them to move the wheelchair. They greatly appreciated the efforts and the difficulty of people in wheelchairs.”

ICMS lecturer Jeremy Sleiman considered the research around the topic of disability sports marketing as an “important topic area to investigate and conduct scholarly activity on as it ties strongly into the units I teach here at ICMS”.

“Ultimately, this research will have an impact and provide ICMS students with further knowledge and information in areas of sport that are currently trending and fundamental.”

Lessons from Covid Online Learning

At the Sport Management Association of Australia & New Zealand (SMAANZ) 2022 Conference, held in Melbourne at the end of November 2022, Dr Jae Won Kang, Kristen Beck, Jeremy Sleiman and Chris Mamo will present their research paper, Creating meaningful learning experiences via connecting sports students with technology.

Founded in 1995, the principal aim of SMAANZ is to encourage scholarly inquiry into sport management-related research and to provide the opportunity to present results from this research.

In their research, the ICMS Sports Academic Team explored the ideas that were practical, and track changes that were useful, over time during the Covid pandemic.

In this period of border closures, ICMS, located in Northern Beaches, Sydney, NSW, and in the city of Sydney, provides online learning as a means for students to continue their studies despite being unable to attend lectures on campus.

The team found that as both lecturers and students became increasingly experienced in online and blended learning formats, it became a cornerstone of effective teaching to consistently engage sports students via brief, intermittent open-ended discussion and debate questions from both in-class and online students.

In practice, because students need to actively listen and engage throughout the entire session presented in this manner, this serves to keep both the online and in-class students engaged and better connected as opposed to longer, more formalised activity sessions.

“Online, blended environments have now become part of normal life, business and sport.  Examining how sports students are best served in these environments, considering significant elements of physical activity and demonstration required, is the challenge and motivation from an academic delivery perspective,” ICMS lecturer Chris Mamo said.

“The idea of discovery and validation of an idea, concept or thought, together with being able to share this with students for their own development in critical thinking, inspires my research and scholarly activity. The value of academic research, I believe, is in this discovery and the ability to apply outcomes in functional, real-world environments.”

Ongoing Academic Faculty Research is a Win for Students

“The ICMS sport academic team has been undertaking various scholarly activities including both conferences and journal articles. More recently, team sport at ICMS have conducted research and shared their ideas relating to innovative ways to make face to face and online classes more engaging,” ICMS lecturer Jeremy Sleiman explained further.

“The research is inspired by the fact that as ICMS Sport Academics, we are looking for ways to bring the best out of our students, ensuring they have access to the best possible resources and technology. The value this adds to the students and lecturers is significant, allowing everyone to learn and share ideas from each other.”

This sentiment was shared by ICMS lecturer Kristen Beck.

“I am thrilled to be a part of the academic research team for the ICMS Sports Management Faculty.  The research process allows us to observe, reflect and be challenged upon our academic practices and beliefs,” Kristen Beck, ICMS Lecturer, said.

“In particular, the research that we are undertaking into the importance of technology and flexible learning options in response to Covid, and identifying the unique needs and motivators of our ICMS Sports Management students, refines, develops and improves our own teaching practices as well as being able to share ideas with sports management academics from higher education institutions across Australia.”

* ICMS presents sports management students with a variety of sports-related degrees and diplomas. For more information on the ICMS Bachelor of Business (Sports Management) degree, click here.
For more information on the Aspire Diploma of Business (Sports Management), which is a standalone qualification or a pathway to an ICMS degree, click here.
For more information on the ISCA Diploma of Sports Management (High Performance), click here.