Big dreams must come true!
MacDonald Mashao is a sports professional from South Africa with a dream to work with football in Europe.
With a Bachelor’s degree in Sports communication at the University of Johannesburg, he pursued an honours degree in sports management.
Interesting to highlight one of the his biggest challenges to pursue a career abroad “ I have realized there is lack of exposure to the European Job market for South Africans, as sport professionals in South Africa we are not exposed to opportunities to come to Europe and apply ourselves which is because of a lot of different reasons which brings me to my second point which is I feel like there is a huge disconnect between our Sport education system and the European job market”
And we would like to appreciate MacDonald Mashao for his kind words about SportIn Global “ Platforms such as this are needed in order to expose and create a link between South Africans and the European market so well done to SportsIn Global this is an incredible effort towards achieving this.” We are just in the beginning and very happy to have you onboard!
Hello, before we start, can you share with us a bit about your professional and academic experience?
Hello, I would start by saying thank you for having me on your platform, I am grateful for the opportunity to tell a little bit of my story.
I started my undergraduate studies with a Bachelor’s degree in Sport Communication at the university of Johannesburg in South Africa, the degree took three years to complete, after the three years I then realized I am more interested in the business aspect of sports rather than communication side and that is when I decided to pursue this interest by enrolling for an honours degree in Sport management at the same university.
I then got introduced to the professional side of sport in my honours years, we were afforded the opportunity to intern at the university’s sport department, I played a shadow role in different portfolios including events manager where I got to work as a task leader at USSA football which is the biggest inter-varsity football competition in the country, amongst other events. This experience sparked my interest further, I got to learn what goes behind organizing a successful sporting event, which also confirmed this is what I want to do for the rest of my life.
Through relationships I had forged during my years at the University of Johannesburg I got an opportunity to complete a learnership program with CATHSSETA (culture, arts, tourism, hospitality and sport sector education and training) in partnership with The university of the Witwatersrand Sport which is also based in Johannesburg, the learnership was based on establishing sustainable organizational structures in sport. after completing the learnership the university was impressed with the work I had done and they decided to give me a contract to stay on for a further two years of which I played various roles within the department including sports officer for volleyball, E-sports, Snow-ski to mention a few.
What is sport for you? How did your passion for sports come to life?
I love how sports provides an equal platform for people of different races, class, nationality, religion to showcase their talents and make a name for themselves. growing up i used to watch a lot of sports on tv and I played football and cricket after school, I always knew I want to be play a role in sports in one way or the other so initially I had aspirations of being a football player, so when that could not materialize, I resorted to plan B which was studying for a degree in sports in order to attain a career in the industry.
Another one of my passions is travelling and interacting with different people from different walks of life so in my early days as a student I realized that being in the business of sports will blend this passions and from there it was a no brainer I have to be a player in the sport business.
You were studying Sport Management… Where did you study? Can you share with us more about the process of studying? How has it helped you in your career path?
As mentioned at the start I did my undergraduate studies in Sport communication for three years and then proceeded to honours level in the field of Sport management all this was completed at the university of Johannesburg in South Africa. The years spent at the university enabled me to create a good network as I got to meet different people from different walks of life, furthermore I learnt a lot about myself during those years in terms of what direction I want to take in my career, what are my strengths and weaknesses as well as what it takes to be success in the industry.
My honours years included practicals at the university’ sport department, this exposed me to the industry and gave me experience and an idea of what to expect in the industry, I got my position or role at the university of the Witwatersrand sport through a relationship with one of our lecturers so relationships that I forged during my studies paved a way to a further step in my career path, which is testament to the power of relationships in the industry.
Can you share with us more about your professional career? As you have worked as a sport officer, event co-ordinator, team manager and club administrator. Where did you work?
I was introduced to the professional realm during my honours year at the university of Johannesburg, this is when I played shadow roles at the Sport department as an events manager, facility manager and football club administrator for a period of a year.
I then joined the university of the Witwatersrand sport administration as a sport officer for several clubs including Volleyball, E-sports, Snow-ski, Tang soo do, underwater, gymnastics. During my time at the university I had the opportunity to organize, plan and execute several events including Orientation-week sports day which comprised of 5 sporting codes namely football, netball, chess, futsal and basketball and the inter-varsity sports tournament between 2 universities based in Johannesburg which are wits and the university of Johannesburg.
Through good relations with the football sport officer at the department and with football being my “first love” I also got and an opportunity to play a major role in organizing, planning and execution of football projects including 2019 national university sport football tournament namely USSA football with male and female categories, the internal football league as well as the Engen football tournament which is a prestigious youth development tournament in the country.
All in all, it was a lovely experience I got to learn about other sporting codes which I was not privy to, I improved the administrative structures in a lot of the clubs and got them to participate in events they weren’t able to prior to my appointment, I Improved on my leadership skills, people’s management skills, conflict resolution skills, team building skills and above all I learnt a lot about my strengths and weaknesses and what to improve on which will definitely come handy in the next step of my journey.
You have a dream to move to Europe to work in football. Why especially football is on the first place for you?
Football has always been a huge part of my life, I grew up watching and playing it, for me it is more than a sport it is a way of life, it is a vehicle that drives a lot of developments and growth in communities around the world. I resonate with the competitive nature of football as i want to be the best at what I do , one other thing that stands out for me when it comes to the game of football is how it has the ability to change the lives of people from disadvantaged backgrounds and turn them into role models for their communities ,look at Sadio Mane for example he came from a poverty stricken family background and a community where basic infrastructures like hospitals and schools are not easily accessible however through football he is now able to build a hospital in his home land and he is a role mole model for a lot of kids around Africa which is inspiring and re-affirms that your dreams are valid no matter where you come from .That is where the power of football lies for me and it is one of the reasons I love the game so much .
I have followed European football for most of my life and I admire how competitive and business orientated it is over there from the sponsorship deals, the administration of the leagues and clubs ,the youth development and the player transfer side of things .so I would like to learn and absorb knowledge and the skills that go into running football in such a lucrative way with an aim that one day I will contribute positively in the business of football on the African continent as there is a lot of improvement to be done in this space .
In your opinion, what are the 3 biggest challenges for professionals from South Africa to pursue a career abroad?
Firstly, from my experience I have realized there is lack of exposure to the European Job market for South Africans, as sport professionals in South Africa we are not exposed to opportunities to come to Europe and apply ourselves which is because of a lot of different reasons which brings me to my second point which is I feel like there is a huge disconnect between our Sport education system and the European job market for example I do not know of any partnerships between any of the institutions that offer sports in our country with major players in the sports profession for example FIFA, UEFA, IOC or any other sport organization in Europe, if there are such partnerships they are very few and inconsistent.
Thirdly, the south African sports profession is under-developed, currently there are a lot of people with qualifications in sport and yet they are unemployed because of lack of opportunities in the local sport industry, so as a consequence we don’t have enough people with skills because of inexperience so it is difficult for us to break into the European market if we struggling locally and our skills are under-developed.
Platforms such as this are needed in order to expose and create a link between South Africans and the European market so well done to SportsIn Global this is an incredible effort towards achieving this.
What professional goals you have for the next 5 years? What you want to achieve?
In the next 5 years I would love to develop my skills further and add to my knowledge about the business of Sport, I see myself in a managerial position in a top sport organization and I would somehow love to access and penetrate the European sport realm specifically football. I have dreams of starting my own sports consultancy company focused on sport science, events, education, psychology which aims to improve the quality of athletes produced around the world starting from Africa.
