Base of the Tree: Wanting to Work in the Sports Industry

By: Cass Ferguson

Well, where do you even begin when it comes to telling your own story? Do you start when you were born, when you knew what you wanted to do in life, a favorite time in your life? How about starting at the point in your story that makes your story yours.

Hi, my name is Cassandra Ferguson, but you can just call me Cass, and well, welcome to my story. I am a born and raised small town Canadian girl who has loved the idea of sports since day one, or at least since I could remember, but on that day did I know I would take my love and passion for sports and turn it into a full-time career? The answer to that is no, but here I am almost 24 years later and I’m pursuing just that.

All of this being said, let me take you on a little journey back to when this journey working in sports all started. When I talk to people and say I knew I wanted to work in sports since grade 8 some people think I’m crazy because what 13-14 year old knows “what they want to be” one day?  This is where I started my journey. 

Starting this journey wasn’t easy. It meant going to a different high school than all my public school best friends, and it was an honor to have been accepted into this all sports high school, Bill Crothers Secondary School. It meant starting school in August, but it allowed me to continue playing the sports I loved, and it allowed to me be in an environment that supported my dreams and aspirations. The biggest thing was it allowed me to take on a co-op internship with Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment for the Toronto FC in their business operations side of their academy.

Although I said my journey started back in grade 8, taking on this co-op placement with Toronto FC was the true kick starter. It led me to getting a part-time job with the game operations/ presentations side of TFC. This job has opened my eyes to more about the sports industry than I thought. It opened me up to so many networking opportunities, and in the end, it’s the one job that I love. 

Once high school was done it was time to decide where I wanted to continue my education. The decision of what program I wanted to do wasn’t the hard part, but it was picking the school that would give me the best opportunity to land that “dream career” I have always wanted. 

In 2014 I started at Durham College in their 3-year Advanced Sport Management program. Here I really learned the ins and outs of the sports industry, what it takes to break into the industry and what I want to do/ what I don’t want to do. 

My journey to this point was, in my eyes, pretty easy, other than the homework (LOL), but with graduation came the “adulting” path. This was to be paved, but looking back on this part of my journey it was for sure a rocky road that has yet to be paved. 

Now to the present day. I am a graduate from two different programs: Durham College (Sport Management) and George Brown College (Digital Media Marketing). Through my journey I have tossed and turned between where I want to work (pro sports, college/ university, sporting goods, etc.), what I want to do (game operations/ presentations, business operations, marketing, etc.) So, I sat down one day and thought to myself, “How can I best describe my journey, how can I describe where I want to go and what will I need to do or sacrifice along the way? The best way I can describe it is that it looks like a tree:

• The roots: This describes my journey
• The base of the tree: The goal of wanting to work in the sports industry 
• Move up the tree more as it gets narrow: This being the area of the sports industry that I’m interested in working in (social media marketing, communications, game ops/ presentation).
• Each branch on the tree are the opportunities out there for me to work.

Yesterday, today, and tomorrow are days that are only going to help me get to where I want to be one day. In 2020 I have set goals for myself to always be ready to learn, always want to learn, and to network as much as I can because the more connections you can have under your belt, the better chance you have in the end. 

Connect with Cassie: 
Instagram: @behindthecurls_ 
Twitter: @cass_ilene 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cassandra-ferguson/