An integral approach to sport management internships

Abstract

Given the need for academia to develop students as knowledgeable professionals, experiential learning in the form of internships has become an important component of sport management curricula. Internships provide students opportunities to acquire an understanding of how theory is applied to practice as well as to experience personal growth and development. The purpose of this paper is to introduce how sport management programs can build upon current approaches to experiential learning by adopting the integral perspective of Ken Wilber (1995/2000a/2000b). It is suggested that an integral approach allows students to learn practical skills while correspondingly increasing the student's understanding and interpretation of the subjective elements (e.g. relationships, interactions, emotions) that lead to personal growth during the internship experience. A review of Wilber's Integral Approach is included followed by a review of concepts from relevant experiential learning theories and an example of an intern's experience to demonstrate the application of an integral approach to experiential learning and sport management internships The article concludes with a list of recommendations, representative of an integral approach, that can be used to enhance the internship experience for students.