29/12/2025
UAS Grisons students host international sports panels on volleyball and triathlon 🤩
The idea behind our new module “Applied English for Sport Managers” (AESPO) is actually a rather simple one: instead of running a standardized English program alongside our sport management curriculum, we use engaging issues from the world of sport management as the core of our English classes, thus enabling our students to hone their language skills while working on the very topics and engaging in the very activities they want to study anyway.
As part of our endeavors, we proudly hosted the first two special events in this new module last month. Our students organized and ran two panel discussions: in one class, international volleyball players from Raiffeisen Volley Toggenburg, i.e., Leoni Kunz, Cara Lewis, and Arita Ternava, let us know what a typical day in their lives looks like, described what adapting to Swiss culture means in real-life terms, and explained the role sponsorships and endorsements have for them.
In another session, a multicultural group of triathletes, i.e., Katie Kurz, Frederick Mellors, Andrea Rubio, and Raphael Schober, shared their motivation and objectives, their training routines for Ironman events, as well as their nutrition plans with us. They took us on a journey through several countries they had competed in, illustrated the various challenges and rewards their passion holds in store for them, and convinced us that a smile on your face might prove just as important as a rigorous training schedule.
Both times, the panels sparked lively discussions in response to audience questions. A heartfelt THANK YOU goes out to our phenomenal first round of panelists from the worlds of volleyball and triathlon! Not only did the speakers invest considerable time and effort to enhance our students’ education, but with their enthusiasm, their willingness to share their passions and background stories with us, their openness, and humor, they converted classrooms into international melting pots where Australian, American, Italian, Finnish, and Swiss cultures merged.
Thank you, too, to our AESPO students who were well prepared both content and language-wise, and who demonstrated that students can not only assume responsibility for running an entire class in English, but also make it look rather easy … which we’re sure it wasn’t! Well done!
Finally, thank you to Janice, Gianna, and Flurina for the interesting idea y’all had a while back, for your willingness to try out something new despite the odd organizational obstacle … and for making it all happen!