Английский язык для профиля «Менеджмент в спорте». Учебное пособие для студентов 1 курса факультета Международного туризма, спорта и гостиничного бизн

Unit 5. Sport event and facility management

4)We offer our customers a comprehensive range of financial products. (to comprehend)

5)We need to carry out a proper evaluation of the new system. (to evaluate)

6)Her ambition and dogged determination ensured that she rose to the top of her profession. (determined)

7)I don’t object to what she says, but I strongly disapprove of her manner of saying it. (objective)

8)All the citizens must comply with the law. (compliance)

9)Both leaders seemed to expect measurable progress. (to measure)

2.Make up phrases by matching an item from each column.

3.Read Text A and complete the gaps with the right phrases given below.

a)as the various levels of government have given a higher priority to the provision of such facilities

b)allows the event organiser to ascertain the feasibility or otherwise of the event

c)requires an assessment of the current position of the organization

d)has become increasingly significant to the sporting organisations

e)objectives should conform

TEXTA

In recent years, and in particular since the 1984 Olympic Games were held in Los Angeles, the staging of special events

_______________________ 1 concerned and to the cities and

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countries in which the events take place. Many sporting organisations, and indeed other stakeholders associated with the sporting industry, are utilising special events as a means of establishing and strengthening relationships with their respective target markets and customers. As a result, management principles embodied in planning, human resource management, financial management, marketing, risk management and evaluation have all been applied to the event industry that has evolved. Significant growth in sport and recreation facilities has also been experienced since the 1970s, ______________________ 2. Indeed in some cases such facilities have been constructed as a means of procuring events. This increase in facility planning, design and management has seen an increased complexity of skills required by staff involved in the planning and management of those facilities.

Event planning

Events do not simply just happen and are usually the result of complex planning and research. As Smith and Stewart stated quite categorically, ‘a sporting event is only as good as the planning that goes into it’. On the proactive side an understanding of the intricacies of the special event product and the customers who intend utilising it _______________________ 3. On the reactive side, however, many sporting organisations find themselves with the opportunity to bid for the hosting rights to a special event. At the highest level the process can be complicated and involve long timespans. For example, the 2007 Rugby World Cup was awarded to France in 2003 and a bid to stage a summer Olympiad is better measured in decades and years rather than months and days. Even at a lower level the need to comprehensively plan and understand lead times is paramount.

The planning function

The planning of any special event

_______________________ 4 as well as a determination of the desired position of the organisation post event. As such, effective and efficient planning is essential for the conduct of any event. Allen et al. feel that the planning process can be broken down into two processes — strategic and operational planning. The strategic plan should set the scene for the operational plan to follow. That is, the strategic plan focuses on long-term, di-

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rectional strategies whilst the operational plan is usually more specific and related to the detailed ‘abc’ of how to conduct the event.

The strategic plan

The strategic plan for an event is really little different from that of any sporting organisation. It should encompass the following four key elements which are generally undertaken consecutively:

1. Vision and mission

The vision and mission of the event — these can be expressed as a single statement. A good mission statement is usually derived from the input of many people and is a great tool for giving direction to the event organisers.

2. Objectives

Good objectives are essential. In particular

______________________ 5 to the SMART acronym (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound) developed by Hersey and Blanchard (1993). If objectives are not SMART then they tend to be immeasurable, ‘pie in the sky’ ideals that will do little for the event in the long term.

3. SWOT analysis

Following the compilation of vision/mission statements and the stating of SMART

objectives the event organiser can then perform an analysis of the event’s internal and external environments. This is referred to as a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses,

Opportunities and Threats) analysis where S and W are internal (physical, financial

and human resources).

(from The Business of Sport Management by John Beech, Simon Chadwick)

4.Find a word in the text above that matches each definition below. The words appear in order.

1)relating or belonging to each of the separate people or things you have just mentioned

2)to make use of something or use it for a practical purpose

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3)to make use of something or use it for a practical purpose

4)the group of people who work for an organization

5)a period of time within which something happens, or between two events

6)relating to one thing and not others; particular

7)to get something from something else

8)the act of collecting information from a variety of places to arrange it in a book, report, or list

9)detailed examination of the elements or structure of something

5.Work in pairs. Read Text B and summarize the first half of it. Ask your partner to continue in order to cover the whole text.

The Facility Manager

A facility manager is the person responsible for coordinating all the employees and entities involved in the facility to ensure that they work on behalf of the facility and help meet its shortand long-term goals and objectives. Many people are in fact facility managers in their daily lives and do not realize it. The person who is the head of a household is really a facility manager. That person needs to purchase the house, pay the mortgage, paint the rooms, install new equipment such as air conditioners, maintain existing systems such as the roof, manage facility “subletting” (as in determining who is going to get which room), interact with government entities to pay taxes, and employ tradespeople such as plumbers and electricians. The term facility manager is often used in the context of general facilities such as office buildings, but most of the same duties and responsibilities also apply to sport facility managers. Facility managers for big and small buildings face the same daily concerns. A facility manager’s role is affected by the facility size and the workforce available to the manager. In a small facility, the facility owner may be the manager and can be responsible for opening and closing the facility as well as painting the walls and cleaning the restrooms. A facility manager

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for a large facility may have several dozen full-time and possibly hundreds to thousands of part-time employees handling everything, from cleanup crews to ushers and ticket takers. Because of the diverse duties each facility manager faces, facility management can be considered both an art and a science. Specific duties need to be undertaken to ensure that a building can be opened for a planned event. From making sure there are enough hot dogs to monitoring indoor air quality, facility management has many facets. Managing all these tasks can appear to be onerous. Smaller facilities often rely on one individual to undertake all facility management activities. In many instances, a smaller facility has only one person who serves as the owner, manager, custodian, and secretary. The manager of a small health club has to find an appropriate location to build or must lease an existing structure. Part of the location identification process focuses on choosing the proper area, sales and marketing opportunities in the area, and financing options. Managers must work with outside vendors and government entities to secure necessary permits and complete any needed construction or renovations. The facility manager may have to design the facility, choose appropriate color and material schemes, and purchase and install all necessary fitness and office equipment. Once the facility is completed the manager will need to maintain it consider strategies for addressing sustainability and environmental concerns make sure the facility is operating within the law and in accordance with contracts and then focus on planning for future needs and marketing to increase income streams. Smaller facilities that start to grow will often need to add employees, and then the facility manager must apply basic human resource skills to appropriately manage the employees. The job is even more difficult when the facility needs constant attention, forcing the manager to spend time on keeping the facility clean and running rather than on generating revenue. Larger facilities may have several different crews responsible for different functions such as ticketing, marketing, game operations, mechanicals, and janitorial responsibilities. Thus, facility management for larger facilities involves orchestrating the work of employees and volunteers to help accomplish the facility’s goals. A manager for a larger facility has some duties

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similar to those of a small-facility manager, such as marketing and financial management. The general manager of a minor league baseball team may have to sell tickets, groom the field, move furniture, and undertake tasks involving both team and facility management because the budget typically does not allow the hiring of others. In contrast, a manager for a large facility typically has a staff that can undertake marketing, maintenance, renovations, and numerous other functions. This gives the manager the opportunity to work on broader issues such as long-term planning, developing strong constituent relations, and making sure the right employees are doing the various jobs.

(http://www.humankinetics.com/excerpts/ex- cerpts/a-successful-facility-managerrsquos-daily-du- ties-and-necessary-skillset)

6.Work in several groups. Make up 10 questions based on the text for the other group to answer. Answering questions mind time limits (10 sec to be ready with an answer).

7.Complete the sentences in the text and translate them into Russian. Paraphrase the sentences in English.

1)A facility manager is the person responsible for …

2)The term facility manager is often used in the context …

3)A facility manager’s role is affected by …

4)Specific duties need to be undertaken to ensure that …

5)Larger facilities may have several different crews responsible for …

6)The general manager of a minor league baseball team may have to …

8.Read the text and match up the headings with the paragraphs. Choose one of the types of sporting evens given and summarize it. Prepare 5 statements based on your summary. Ask you’re your classmates to guess if they are T/F/NM.

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a)The Olympic Games

b)The Grand National, England

c)World Cup Soccer

d)Wimbledon, England

e)The National Basketball Association Finals, United States

f)The Super Bowl, United States

g)The 24 Hours of Le Mans, France

1_______________________________

Skill, speed, and stamina are the three s’s that mark the world’s best automobile race, the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The race, organized by Automobile Club de L’Ouest, bridges past and present on the automotive circuit.The competition is set on a non-permanent track at Circuit de la Sarthe near the city of Le Mans on the Sarthe River. Roughly 46 cars start the race, in a series of classes that include prototype high-performance vehicles, dedicated race cars, and street cars. The diversity of autos gives the race a mix of old-fashioned and modern competitors. The winner is the car, driven by a team of three drivers, that covers the greatest distance in 24 hours.The first Le Mans contest took place in May 1923; today it is held every June. The race begins at 4 p.m., and for 24 hours the sound of roaring engines fills 8 miles (13 kilometers) of French countryside.

2_______________________________

It’s hard to imagine that Zeus and the other gods lording over ancient Greece ever envisioned the global event the modern Olympiad has become. For a two-week span, athletes from dozens of countries compete against each other in scores of different sports. And that’s just the Summer Games, which began their modern run in the late 1800s. The Winter Games, featuring sports that largely require snow and ice, draw a smaller field of competitors. But the competition for the gold, silver, and bronze is just as intense. Remember Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan?National rivalries are varied. Consider the United States hockey team winning the gold over the favored Soviets in 1980; Jamaica’s jubilant 1988 bobsled team overcoming long odds to win hearts, not medals; or Argentina beating America’s

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2004 “Dream Team” and going on to capture the gold in basketball. Even the competition among national Olympic committees to host the games is fierce, with bribery accusations and investigations becoming, sadly, the norm in sports news over the last several years. Still the games must go on; to be sure that they do, the International Olympic Committee decided to stagger the Winter and Summer Games. So during every even-num- bered year, runners will bear the torch that eventually lights the Olympic flame somewhere in the world.

3_______________________________

Thirty-two nations play, but billions of people in countries all around the world drop everything they’re doing for a month every four years to see who claims the title of World Cup soccer champion.The teams that compete in the World Cup finals are those that emerge from a series of qualifying rounds played out over the prior three years. The tournament of tournaments is therefore a showcase of the finest squads from across the continents and hemispheres.It’s during the finals that the intense challenge begins. First, in a series of first-round games, each team plays the three rivals in its opening bracket. Teams get three points for each win, one point for a tie, and zero for a loss. The top two teams in the bracket then move on to the sin- gle-game elimination rounds, with victorious teams proceeding though quarterfinal and semifinal rounds before the final championship match.All the while the world’s gaze is squarely fixed on the matches and the festival atmosphere in the stands. Chanting, singing, flag-waving, and superstitions are all part of the carnival that ensues. Since the first World Cup tournament took place in 1930, the most dominant team has been Brazil. Winner of five championships since 1958, the greatest Brazilian teams were led by perhaps the most famous soccer player ever, Pele. Rivalries are often fierce and deeply rooted: Two of the many in the sport are between England and Argentina, and one that has recently emerged between neighbors—Mexico and the United States.

4_______________________________

The Super Bowl is so big that even the commercials are worth watching. The first Super Bowl (held in January 1967) was played to plenty of empty seats and a waning TV audience.

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But now Super Bowl Sundays, progressively marked with Roman numerals, are the most celebrated one-game professional championship on the 12-month Gregorian calendar.The Super Bowl concludes a 16-game regular season, and three postseason play-off rounds. It pits the top team from the American Football Conference against the top team from the National Football Conference for the coveted Vince Lombardi Trophy (not to mention diamond-studded rings for players, coaches, and front office “suits”). The Sunday evening spectacle is preceded by two weeks of parties and pre-game hype.

5______________________________

The NBA Finals. Showtime and the “Ghosts of the Garden.” Rockets and Knicks, Spurs and Pistons. The National Basketball Association’s finals are a showdown of stars and teams for the ages. It takes four games to win, but at least 93 games to get there. And the teams that do bring a lot of glitter with them. Movie stars in front-row seats. Cheerleaders that resemble Las Vegas show girls in high-energy dance routines. The see- and-be-seen spectacle ringing the court is as intriguing as the game itself.Pro basketball has changed radically over the last four decades. The three-point shot, the slam-dunk, a pendulum swing against defense makes NBA ball a high-scoring, acrobatic affair. What hasn’t changed is the prize, the right to be crowned world champion.

6_______________________________

Center court. Grass surfaces. Strawberries and cream. What better way to spend a fortnight in old London Town? Wimbledon at the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club. Located in southwest London, this grand spectacle is one of the four tennis tournaments that make up the grand slam.Wimbledon is considered to be the most prestigious, largely because of its setting and surrounding pomp. It’s the only major tournament played on a natural turf surface.Wimbledon has figured prominently in the history of tennis and in its development into the egalitarian and highly skilled sport that so many millions enjoy. Originally created in France during the 12th century, the sport took its modern form in Britain during the 1800s. In 1874, Walter Clopton Wingfield patented his game of lawn tennis in London, and three years later, Wimbledon, the first of the major

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tournaments, was created.The setting at Wimbledon and its history only magnifies the match-ups on the grass courts. Connors versus Borg. Evert and Navratilova. Agassi and Sampras. Venus versus Serena. The winner on center court holds a trophy to show who has reached the mountaintop, and perhaps a number one ranking in the world tennis order.

7_____________________________

Stamina and speed make the Grand National’s steeplechase the world’s most renowned horse race. First held in 1839, the three-day meet is held in Britain’s Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool. The Grand National pits as many as 40 horses against each other on a 4.5-mile (7-kilometer) course replete with obstacles.The challenges presented by the steeplechase require the competing horses and jockeys to demonstrate a variety of riding skills. The horses and riders have to successfully jump a total of 30 fences, made more difficult by a six-foot-wide ditch on the take-off side. After the final fence is cleared, the first horse to reach the finish line in a 494-yard (451-meter) sprint wins the race.The Grand National takes place every April, and captures the attention of Britain like no other event in the country’s sporting calendar. The first event, Opening Day, brings a crowd of 26,000 spectators to Aintree for the start of the racing cycle. The second day, known as Ladies Day, combines sport with fashion and is considered the highlight of northern England’s social season. The Grand National is held on the final day, completing the three-day extravaganza of sport and culture.

(From the National Geographic book The 10 Best of Everything)

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