Law In Sport Conference

Today I was blessed to attend the Law In Sport inaugural conference, "Understand the rules of the game." It was a conference regarding sport law, with people from major sporting events attending to people just like me! And a few students who were even younger. 

Here's the pretty little booklet they gave us, which is now covered in notes. Yes, I paid attention for all 8 hours! (It actually might've been more than 8 hours but... we'll just pretend).

I was official! Yay name tags. 

My view from my seat. There were about 250 people in attendance and there was 6 different panels, which covered a number of topics. 

Empty stage. 

That's all the pictures I have. Other than sitting in this room, we just did a bunch of networking. It was slightly hard to network at this particular event, as everyone seemed to know everyone else. However, my professor was nice enough to introduce me to a few people! 

I get amusement out of discussing America with United Kingdom citizens. First of all, when you say you're from New York, they forget the entire state... they automatically think the city. Typical. But my favorite was being asked about supersized meals! I think all foreigners are convinced all of our meal portions are massive and that small sizes don't exist anywhere! Another fun questions was what Texas was like and whether or not it was "hick." I don't think the man asking me this question really even know what a hick was... But we'll just go along with it! Another question I got frequently was what my perception of British people was like before arriving here. I tended to think of them as being proper, well kept individuals. However, I think I use please and thank you more often than many of the Londoners I have met. My professor's husband made a good point - you can't judge all of England based on what you witness in London. 

Now on to some sports knowledge, considering I attended a sport conference... My favorite part of today's conference was the panel regarding athlete welfare. I am particularly interested in the idea of athletes dealing with life after retirement. Most of the time, they do not know what to do with themselves and find their time to be meaningless. The more I think about it, the more I would like to do something in my career to help athletes after retirement find their purpose in life again. Another interesting panel was regarding broadcasting rights. This brought up a lively discussion as to whether or not social media impacts broadcasting rights. Some panelists came to the conclusion that digital forms of media and traditional broadcasts can easily coexist. Something to think about for sure!

I particularly enjoyed the panels that consisted of both Americans and United Kingdom lawyers. I found it interesting to hear the contracts between the two different nations and how we treat our athletes/ governing bodies. One of the most interesting parts discusses was the salary cap and college athletics. College athletics are virtually non-existant here - if you are any good, you go pro. Otherwise, the only people coming to watch your college match are your family and friends. 

Oh and United Kingdomers (is that even a word?) find American football confusing. They don't understand how people can watch it for HOURS on a Sunday. They sometimes find it to be more brutal than rugby. However, they all agree that it is growing popular in the UK. There is three games planned to be played here at Wembley in the next season. 

Overall, I found it worthwhile to attend this conference. I've always wanted to be a lawyer. My mindset going in was this: if I hate it, then I will consider not pursuing a law degree. If I love it, then I know I'm meant to be a lawyer. Conclusion? I loved parts. It definitely furthered my interest in the realm of sport law and after some more research, I think I'll make my decision but as predicted, I am still leaning toward a career in law.