Sport Researcher, PhD student - Joseph Nolan
Class of 2012
Be the best that you can be in the area that you’re passionate about.
Upon finishing school in 2012, Joseph was inspired to start a Bachelor of Business at Griffith University and he recalls that his Business Management teacher at Citipointe, Mr Bettinson, helped him find a passion for the subject. Joseph enjoyed the generic business subjects in the first year of his degree, but when it came to selecting a major, Sport Management was an area that stood out to him. Spending a great deal of time during his teenage years as a track and field athlete, the combination of sport and business excited him and he chose to double major in this as well as Marketing. After completing his Bachelor degree, he decided to undertake a further year of study to complete a research Honours. He was encouraged to do this by several of his university lecturers and also thought that it would look great on his résumé. Little did he know that research would become something that he would grow passionate about as a career path moving forward into the future.
“God has continually opened different doors in my life, some of them completely unexpected. I never would have imagined that I would become a researcher. I remember back in school, dreading whenever research was needed for assignments but now I’m absolutely loving it! It’s a chance for me to think creatively about problems. It certainly hasn’t been easy, but it’s been really rewarding and enjoyable so far.”
“My Honours project was my first opportunity to work directly with sports in a research capacity. From my experience as an athlete and a coach I had gained insight into some ongoing challenges within my own sport of athletics and I began to recognise that research was an avenue for me to investigate these problems, work with sport managers, and make a real difference.” Joseph was awarded the Griffith University Medal for academic excellence at the end of his Honours year, which is an award presented to the top performing honours student across the university. “I felt very honoured and encouraged to receive this recognition for my work and it re-affirmed that I’m in the place where God wants me.”
After completion of his Honours dissertation, and with his new found passion for research, Joseph felt led to embark on a PhD. His thesis focuses on stakeholder relationships in sport, and his overall goal for the research project is to “develop an assessment tool that sport organisations can use to measure, and subsequently enhance, their relationships with internal stakeholders.” Joseph’s research is the first of its kind to examine an array of sport stakeholder relationships from multiple perspectives within the one study. He recently presented his initial findings online at a European sport management conference and stated that it was a fantastic opportunity to share his research and network with other PhD candidates from around the world.
“I’ve also been incredibly blessed to have received financial support from both Griffith University and the Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS) throughout my studies in the form of scholarships. The QAS have been instrumental in helping connect me with sports in order to conduct my research and I’ve loved working with like-minded people who share my passion for sport. I’m sure a number of people from Citipointe still remember me as “that fast Sports Captain who always wore long stripy red and white socks to represent Asher on athletics day”. I was very committed to athletics for over half my life and I had Olympic aspirations from a very young age. I was 11 when I first started training quite seriously. I got a coach, joined a club and started competing at Little Athletics. When I was 13, 14 and 15, the hard work paid off and I was fortunate enough to make the Queensland team and compete at nationals. I won some gold medals there and broke a couple of Queensland records in the sprint events. At that stage we were quite hopeful and ambitious in regard to my future career as an elite athlete but in the years after this I had a number of serious injuries that put me out of competition. I tried to get back to competing at the same high level but my body could no longer do what it used to and I realised that my career as an athlete was no longer going to happen.”
He says that it was a tough realisation at the time, but upon reflection he recognised that God was in it all. The years he dedicated to being an athlete helped him find the career path that he is on now and the life skills and relationships that he developed during that time were invaluable. “I think it’s good to plan ahead and have goals, but I also think it’s really important to be flexible, to re-evaluate, and to pray that God will continue to direct your steps and open the right doors at the right time. It’s easy to get caught up in our own plans and expectations, but I’ve learnt to be more adaptable and keep an eye out for different opportunities that God may be leading me to.”
Joseph remembers Citipointe as a school where “teachers really want the best for you and will go out of their way to show that they care.” He goes on to say that “I think having a Christian education in my early years, surrounded by teachers and peers that shared my convictions and beliefs, helped strengthen and reinforce my character. Having Christian teachers that are positive role models, who set high moral standards and actually care about you as a person has a significant impact on students. When my sister and I were growing up, our father became very unwell and was unable to work. As a result, my family struggled financially for a number of years. The school discounted our school fees so that we were both able to attend and I’m incredibly thankful for the opportunity to be in that environment when we otherwise wouldn’t have been able to.”
Joseph advises current students that, “You don’t have to have all the answers now. It’s okay not to know exactly where you’ll be or what you’ll be doing straight after school. Make sure that you are pursuing something but be flexible and know that the direction can change over time. Trust in God’s plan for your life and pray that He will guide you. His plan will always be better than anything that we can come up with on our own.”
Joseph still regularly catches up with some of his high school friends and remembers the camaraderie that was developed over the years. He loves going on outdoor adventures with them and continues to enjoy physical exercise and fitness. But above all he really values the quality time that he gets to spend with his partner Frances as well as his family.
“Family is incredibly important to me. My parents have provided a great example to me of what a strong marriage and a loving, supportive family can look like, and that’s something that I look forward to experiencing for myself in the years to come. Ever since I can remember, I’ve always wanted and dreamed of one day being a great husband and a great dad. And I think that’s probably another bit of advice that I would like to give others: don’t feel like your ambitions just need to be focused on a career. I think it’s an amazing thing to want to be a great sibling, a great son or daughter, a great husband or wife, or a great parent. Don’t disregard the desires that God has placed in your heart just because it might not be a flashy career. If I can be known for my strength of character and my love for God and the people around me, that would mean more to me than any worldly accolade or achievement.”
