My name is Sílvia Puig Saltor and I am a student of the MSc Sport Management program at University of Stirling. I am from Spain and I moved to Stirling to continue with my education. One of the reasons to chose the University of Stirling was because this program required students to do an internship of at least 60 hours in a sport organisation, which means for me the opportunity to gain experience and allow me to enter the real working world.

I chose to start working with Team Scotland after finding out at a job fair that it was an option for my internship. Team Scotland is a big organisation that offered me both management and sport experience and is a great chance to get to know the day-to-day of an organisation that works on planning for big events, such as the Commonwealth Games. The organisation works to give the best and take care of the athletes that represent Team Scotland on the international stage.

During the time I have been with Team Scotland I have worked with the Marketing and Events team, helping out mainly with the planning of a policy review workshop for the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games. I assisted with all tasks involved in organising the event, such as sending invitations, creating the event agenda and preparing the presentations for the day of the event. Attending the event was a great opportunity to learn more about the policies and meet the Team Managers from different sports. I also met some retired athletes who gave their point of view based on their own experience at last Games to make suggestions for improvement in Birmingham 2022. I have been involved in other tasks, including contacting our guests for the Scottish Women in Sport Awards and sending reminders to people attending different events. From the first day, everyone working in the offices treated me as one of the team, giving me autonomy to develop myself as a professional.

Now I am back after the Christmas break I am continuing my internship, working on other core projects to ensure that Team Scotland remains active during non-Games years. This has included working with the Digital Services Manager to produce a social media plan for 2019 and sending Countdown Magazine out to supporters and sports. I will also have the opportunity to work along with Scottish Gymnastics in organising the 2019 Scottish National Artistic Gymnastics Championships.

Finally, I hope to keep learning from my colleagues for my future job opportunities. I think that doing an internship is the best way to expand your knowledge, as well as to build a network with people already working in the area you are interested in.