May 23, 2009

Who would have thought that a few little steps could signify so much?

Countless hours of tireless work, an infinite spectrum of irreplaceable memories and an overwhelming sense of accomplishment met in a synchronized crescendo on May 23, 2009 as Cohort 27 completed their graduation ceremony. It was a conscious goal that was set from the start – keep going, fight through it, find a way to get it done and make it to May 23, 2009. Completing such a challenging objective welcomes a flood of emotions that are best discovered through reflection, introspection and dialogue with the special group of people who forever will be `Cohort –mates’.

Looking back on my tenure at USF there are several dominant themes that come to mind. The first would be how quickly time passes by – although the program took 23 months to complete, it is eerie how fast the pages on the calendar seemed to be turning. It feels like we just started the program yesterday and somehow two years have passed. This serves for a broader life lesson of appreciating each moment and taking advantage of opportunities while you have them – because everything in life will at some point move forward.

Perhaps a less cognisant theme that was prevalent on May 23, 2009 was the general sentiment of growth. As students, individuals and professionals, we are all VERY different people from the group who walked into that orientation meeting on a foggy evening in July 2007. We had all entered from different walks of life – Tokyo, Taipei, Budapest, Montreal, Trinidad and Texas were just some of our starting points, but we all ended up together in San Francisco. There, in one of the most special cities in the world, we learned about an industry in textbooks and with our own hands. We absorbed our professors, studied with each other and worked with industry leaders. Ask anyone from our cohort and they would proudly tell you about their variety of experiences and how much they grew during their time at USF.

Lastly and most importantly, the dominating theme on May 23, 2009 was fun. I started out my USF Sport Management Blogs by writing about the benefits of working in this industry – chiefly that one can really enjoy and be passionate about their work. It was comforting and reassuring to see on our last day together that each person was equally (if not more) passionate about working in sports than when we started our Masters degree. This could easily be measured by the smile index on all of our faces.

And so, I bid you adieu with a proud heart and my head raised high. I have enjoyed writing these blogs as it has served as a great platform to share my experiences and hopefully encourage anyone interested that it is possible to start from nothing in the sports and make an impact right away. With that being said, it gives me great pleasure to introduce Brittany Merchant to continue the Sport Management blog. I know she is doing some incredible work and I really look forward to following her adventures in this roller coaster ride we call the professional sports industry.
One door closes and another opens. The end has no end.

- Cory Sterling, M.A Sport Management ‘09