IISM Student Blog On Volunteering Opportunity At AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2022

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IISM Student Blog on Volunteering Opportunity at
AFC Womens Asian Cup 2022
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• International Institute of Sports Management
  IISM, pioneered Sports Management education In
  India 11 years ago. We at IISM believe that along
  with classroom learning, on-the-field learning
  is of equal importance for a sports aspirant.
  Practical exposure opportunities make these
  sports aspirants understand and learn how a
  sporting event is managed. Students accept such
  live exposure working opportunities to upgrade
  their profiles which provides them with an
  insight about the career path they will want to
  pursue in Sports Management.
• The 2022 AFC Womens Asian Cup, was the 20th
  edition of the AFC Womens
• Asian Cup, the quadrennial international football
  tournament in Asia competed by the womens
  national teams in the Asian Football Federation
  (AFC). India was
• the host for this tournament. This was the second
  time that India hosted this competition, the
  first time being in 1979. On 28 January 2021, the
  AFC confirmed that the tournament would take
  place between 20 January and 6 February 2022
  respectively. For the first time in competition,
  the tournament was expanded from 8 teams to 12
  teams. It served as the final stage of Asian
  qualification for 2023 FIFA Womens World Cup in
  Australia and New Zealand, in which Australia
  already qualified as a co-host. Japan are the two
  times defending champions, but this time got
  eliminated in the semi-finals by China on a
  penalty shoot-out. China went on to win the
  title, their ninth title in total, by defeating
  South Korea 3-2 in the finals.
• 31 students were selected to volunteer at this
  event and by working at this event they got to
  experience how such a big sporting event is
  executed in professional
• way. Some of those have shared their experience
  and learning below.
• Dhawal Kulkarni, SYBSM
• A media operations volunteer, I supported the
  venue administration and
• account manager in different areas such as
  managing the journalists photographers within
  the field, managing the media center at the
  stadium, and managed the press conference room
  for the entire conference during the game was
  been played. I always wanted to work within the
  operations

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of a sporting event, and it was thrilling. The
experience for me at this event was very
different and full of learning because I got to
observe that how such a big sporting event is
managed and executed in a professional manner
despite of all the challenges around. A big
thanks to the LOC (Local Organizing Committee).
I learned a lot about importance of
communication, networking, team work, and certain
professional approach to tasks. All these things
that I have observed and learned during the event
have helped me gain perspective and made me
understand the importance of work ethics and
also belonging to a community for future growth
in the sports industry. 2. Harleen Kaur Kohli,
MSM (2nd year) I had just finished my internship
in September and was looking out for some
volunteering experience. This is when IISM
presented me with this opportunity to work as a
volunteer for AFC Womens Asian Cup 2022, to
which I couldnt say no too. I got selected and
was volunteering in the media operations
department. Unfortunately, the event took place
during the covid-19 situation due to which the
teams got divided in two different groups one
group was suppose to work within the bio-bubble
and the other was in charge of handling from
outside the bio-bubble. Still, it was inspiring
to see the young ladies representing their
respective countries within the game. It was an
incredible experience to witness Samantha Kerr,
an Australian professional soccer player (The
Matilda) forward who also plays for Chelsea,
playing right in front of my eyes. Since I was a
non- bubble volunteer, I made sure that the
bio-bubble people are not getting affected by
the activities happening outside and also made
sure that the tasks are executed in a smooth
manner. I was alert constantly about my
surrounding and also towards my responsibility.
I ensured that the flow of information is
constant as well and there arent any
interruptions. We managed to conduct everything
from our end in a calm and professional manner
with support from LOC (Local Organizing
Committee). Volunteering at this event boosted my
self-confidence, social skills, teamwork,
leadership skills and always open to help in
every possible way. So, as I keep on getting
such challenges, I will always accept them and
perform way better than I did the last time.
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• Khushi Deshmukh, SYBSM
• As soon as I came to know about my selection I
  immediately started with my preparations towards
  the event. I was selected to volunteer as an
  anti-doping chaperone and event coordinator. I
  had to live and operate within the bio-bubble
• for my entire term of work. My first day as a
  volunteer passed in making all the necessary
  arrangements and organizing the anti-doping room
  as per the doping doctors instructions. My duty
  always began 2 hours before the match where I
  supervised the arrival and preparation of the
  local medical team, equipment and ambulance.
  Following that I assisted the anti-doping doctor
  to check the players body temperature and also
  the climate temperature. During the match, I also
  kept an eye out for red card players who were
  taken for testing at half time. As an event
  coordinator, I supervised the cleanliness of the
  venue, refreshments and snacks supply to the
  referees and teams dressing rooms, kept a check
  of the playing surface to search for any harmful
  objects on field and provided to other requests
  of the teams and officials. Furthermore, I also
  got a chance to communicate with the
  international players in the waiting room and
  gain insights towards their sporting journeys.
  Engrossed in preparations during the matches, I
  lost track of time and my 10 days of volunteering
  went by in a flash. I feel proud and honored to
  have been a part of this grand sporting event.
• Sabareenath Namboodiri, SYBSM
• Specific roles were given to everyone, but due to
  the pandemic situation one had to step in all
  the given roles and follow all the precautions.
  My role was to oversee the airport department, I
  had to pick up the players from their arrivals at
• the airport and guide them to the RTPCR test from
  there to the immigration and the customs. This
  was truly a great learning experience for me.
  Being a part of the event crew helped me to
  improve my communication, teamwork, problem-
  solving, task management and it also helped me to
  increase my self-confidence. I would like to
  thank IISM for providing me with this opportunity.

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5. Shraddha Hemantkumar Chopra, SYBSM My
responsibilities being in the bio-bubble ranged
from pre match preparation, match day and
post-match preparations as well. As an
anti-doping chaperone along with competition
volunteer my duties were ensuring given policies
procedures are been followed, completing
documentation associated with the conduct of
testing, verifying athlete identity, verifying
sample collection, accompanying and watching the
athlete and their sample to the Doping Control
Station and witnessing, the processing of the
sample by the DCO and athlete, liaising with the
DCO and sporting related stakeholders, and,
working within legislative and organizational
requirements. On the other hand, as a
competitions volunteer, I was looking after team
services, fulfilling their requirements,
assisting AFC, LOC and RLOs in delivering the
match. I was also appointed as a team liaison
officer for team Myanmar. I accompanied the team
from the time of arrival in Mumbai until the end
of teams official stay. Also ensured that the
team adheres to their daily schedules including
meal, training, matches and other activities. My
journey has been like a roller coaster where I
have come across so many new areas in a
tournament being conducted and still have so much
more to learn. And I have always loved meeting
new people and learn about their cultures, and
this platform has given me a lucky chance to do
so. This opportunity has made me look into many
more career possibilities.
6. SHRUTI SREENIVASAN IYER, MSM My experience at
AFC event has enhanced my profession and led to
self-guided improvement. At the AFC WAC 2022, I
worked in the Anti-doping team as a chaperon.
My responsibility was to assist the athlete
representative, to get the selected athlete by
the anti-doping commission straight to the
anti-doping room after the completion of a game,
to show the athletes and their representatives
the procedure of anti-doping test, and help them
with all the details due to the
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presence of covid. From my end I was wearing a
PPE kit since I had to be in direct contact with
players so precaution was at priority for
everyone. The tournament was conducted within
the bio-bubble and the fundamental behind this
was to ensure isolation of players, volunteers,
staff and dignitaries within tight physical
location. I was too inside the bubble during the
whole tournament for safety reasons. We were
alerted for the protocols associated with the
bubble concept. Each location was monitored to
ensure adherence to regular testing, hygiene
measures, physical distancing, and daily symptom
reporting. Learning and implementing various
protocols was a first-hand experience for me at
this early stage. I appreciate the AFC committee
greatly on how amazingly they had planned ,
managed and implemented the Womens Asian Cup
2022 during the pandemic time.
A Special thanks to Chetan Soni, Head of
Volunteer Management, AFC Womens Asian Cup
India, 2022 (IISM Alumni), PGP 2013-14 batch,
for giving our students this golden opportunity
of learning from AFC Womens Asian Cup, 2022.