Bringing in “some new views and ideas”: Sebastian Riediger is the ‘new kid on the block’. The 25-year-old, now with a Masters degree in International Sports Management, became a member of a “fantastic team”, as he put it, in November. Sebastian Riediger has taken the role of Head of IF and Games Services for the IWGA.
After your first weeks in office, how do you reflect on your first experiences working for the IWGA?
Sebastian Riediger: To be honest it all started at a very busy level, with the IF Forum taking place in Lausanne. The first week was quite exceptional! But in the weeks afterwards I have become more and more accustomed to the daily work at IWGA.
What does that mean?
Sebastian Riediger: IWGA works very professionally, even with limited resources. Fortunately we now have a new office at the headquarters of the International Gymnastic Federation, which makes it easier to work than it was last year during my internship. Then we were based in a smaller office at the Maison du Sports. We have already had quite a lot of meetings on site with member federations. I’m quite motivated to be part of this fantastic team and to help IWGA develop in the future.
How come that you applied for a job in an international sports organisation?
Sebastian Riediger: I love dealing with people from different cultural backgrounds and I enjoy speaking multiple languages. Therefore it was very clear to me that I wanted to leave Germany to work in a foreign country after my studies. It has been one of my dreams to come to Lausanne and work for an international sports federation for a couple of years. This city provides the multi-national environment I was looking for, and also has lots of job opportunities.
Fortunately, I was already in contact with IWGA because of my internship last year and The World Games 2017 in Wroclaw, Poland this year. So this was a unique opportunity for me to enter the business world in sport.
We would like to learn a little bit more about you …
Sebastian Riediger: I finished my Masters in ‘International Sports Management' at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany earlier this year. Our institute is very much linked to the Olympic movement, and there have been several studies on major sporting events within the faculty. I’m 25 years old. Okay, this is quite young! And for sure I don’t know many people with a university background working in sport that are younger than me. I have no problems in learning from more experienced people or working with higher ranked officials. Looking the other way, being younger than most of the colleagues or business partners allows me to bring in some fresh air and new ideas, opinions and even acquired knowledge related to my studies.
Your favourite sport?
Sebastian Riediger: Always a tricky question when you work for an umbrella federation with 37 member federations. As a German guy coming from a village, football (soccer) was the only sport available. I actually also played table tennis and tennis for quite some time, but nothing on elite level as I was more skillful in music. Finally I decided to become more involved in sport. During my studies I tried a lot of sports which are also member federations of IWGA, such as Squash, Flying Disc, Gymnastics and Roller Sports. Because studies, voluntary and professional work have been more time consuming, it is more likely that you will see me running or biking in Lausanne rather than on a pitch.
What are your duties within the organisation?
Sebastian Riediger: As Head of IF and Games Services, there are three main areas I’m working in. First of all, I try to support my colleagues in the Headquarters in their daily work. Secondly, I’m responsible for services related to our member IFs that ask for special support on site. And third, I’ve been working on a project related to my thesis that I wrote last year at IWGA.
What kind of services does the IWGA provide for its federations?
Sebastian Riediger: Some of our member federations are not based in Lausanne. This might make it harder to build a connection with some major entities which are based here. Therefore I’m able to execute representative tasks or assist in the organisation of meetings they might themselves have in Lausanne. As the possibility to provide our member federations with special services has only been possible since very recently, we are flexible in building up the services for federations’ needs, restricted by any legal limitations of course. When a federation approaches us with its needs, we try to find solutions that suit their expectations.
The IWGA announced some weeks ago that it will work on a section for athletes with physical disabilities in the future. Can you tell us more about the project?
Sebastian Riediger: Indeed, there are some discussions ongoing. From data collected for my thesis last year, we have an overview about the status of our member federations in regard to disability sport. We will have approached all the most important entities by early next year, and will discuss with the Organising Committee in Birmingham, Alabama, the host of The World Games 2021, how we will proceed. No decisions have been taken as we want to be sure that everything is implemented properly and all necessary parties have become involved. More concrete information will be available in the first half of 2018.