Source Park trip

Sport Business Management student Afolake Ayannuga writes on a recent course field trip that was shared with students from the Sport Studies course.

The trip to Source BMX was educational as well as fun. The main purpose of the visit  was to help us with our stakeholder essay and to see a stakeholder theory learnt from class being put into action in order to expand or knowledge on how sport businesses are run.

Source BMX is a huge underground skatepark facility situated under the seafront in the heart of Hastings. Source BMX is really big in Hastings between local schools and companies and local residents getting their children involved. Source BMX works well within the schools in terms of reward schemes in primary and secondary schools.

Firstly, we were given a tour of the facilities as well as a talk about how BMX developed as well as how it has improved over the last couple years. Listening to the tour guide it was really fascinating to know find out the history behind BMX. For sport business management students we were intrigued as to the different sectors as well as money making strategies which included retail, trading and many more.

Source BMX has two large skate parks and a café; half way between the two skate parks is a retail store which sells a varietys of products from skateboards (personalised), BMX bikes, BMX bike parts and branded trainers to t-shirts.

According to the people who run Source BMX, award winning international BMX riders live in Hastings and often drop by to use facilities alongside local children who are learning how to become riders. We also learnt that within BMX environment everyone tends to respect each other which makes the park more popular within the local area.

After the tour, we had a chance to use the facility either to skateboard or BMX. I had never been on a bike before but I did try it but obviously I failed and there were a few people who fell which was expected and made everyone laugh. Most students were thinking about returning for their placement year as it offers placement for second year sport business management students.

Source BMX is a great example of a successfully run business who are highly involved in the community and charity as well as getting more teenagers off the streets and into sports to develop their skills through mentoring which is where the KTP (Knowledge Transfer Partnership) comes in. In partnership with the University of Brighton the KTP helps mentor students to be ready for the business world. Students apply their knowledge to a business project and are able to coach teenagers within BMX.

On behalf of the sport business and sport studies students that attended I would like to thank Source BMX for having us and giving us information on how their business operates and allowing us to have a go at skateboarding and BMX riding. It was absolutely fun and exciting as well as very educational for the students as well as the teachers.