Disrupt to Engage: Wild Cards in Action

If you’ve ever worked in sport management — or taught it — you’ll know this: nothing ever goes entirely to plan. Strategies shift. Stakeholders change their mind. A player tweet can derail a week’s worth of campaign planning.

And yet, in our classrooms, students often build neat, linear plans in perfect conditions. It’s clean. It’s comfortable. And it’s not what the industry looks like.

That’s why I created Wild Cards, classroom disruptions that mimic the unpredictability of real sport work. They challenge surface-level thinking and give students a taste of what it means to think on their feet, not just plan on paper.

Wild Cards with the Titans: Where It Started

The concept first came to life in a first-year course I redesigned around a real-world partnership with the Gold Coast Titans. Students were acting as consultants, tasked with developing strategic community engagement initiatives aligned with the club’s 2030 vision.

They had clear briefs, stakeholder roles, and plenty of time to collaborate. But midway through the trimester, things changed. Or rather — I changed them.

One week, a Wild Card dropped:

“The Titans have lost five games in a row. Community sentiment is shifting. Your initiative must now respond to a drop in morale and rebuild local pride.”

Another week:

“Your project has lost 40% of its funding due to sponsor withdrawal. You now need to re-scope your initiative, maintain impact, and justify your priorities.”

Suddenly, the classroom felt real. The polish came off the plans. Students had to debate, revise, justify, and act under pressure. And the learning deepened.

They reflected on how decisions impacted stakeholders, how hard it was to collaborate under stress, and how real-world sport problems never wait for perfect conditions.

“It wasn’t just a curveball, it was like having to manage an actual setback. It made our team work differently.”

“I felt frustrated at first, but that was kind of the point. We were forced to adjust quickly, and our idea was better for it.”

One group pivoted their entire initiative, shifting from a high-cost school activation to a grassroots volunteer-led programme. They held their strategy together, made it more inclusive, and produced one of the most compelling presentations of the course.

How I Design Wild Cards (Behind the Scenes)

Each Wild Card follows a clear design logic. I ask myself three things:

1. Is it plausible? Could this happen in real-world sport management? (If yes, it’s in.)

2. Is it disruptive enough? It must force a re-think, not just a tweak.

3. Does it connect to the learning goal? Each Wild Card is tied to a weekly theme — branding, inclusion, community engagement, stakeholder conflict.

   
   

I design the disruptions based on:

• Current media stories

• Known organisational challenges (e.g. budget volatility, public perception)

• Ethical and social issues students might not anticipate

Each week, I present 2–3 Wild Cards, and groups choose which one to tackle. This allows for some autonomy while still keeping the element of unpredictability.

The key? Ambiguity. There’s no one right answer. Students must weigh trade-offs, argue for their choices, and own the outcomes.

The Pedagogical Why: What Wild Cards Teach

Wild Cards aren’t just disruption; they’re grounded in active learning and designed to:

• Create authentic, scenario-based learning (Kolb’s experiential learning cycle)

• Activate higher-order thinking (analysis, evaluation, creation)

• Build metacognitive awareness (how students respond under pressure)

• Support “assessment as learning” when paired with structured reflection

  
  

They help students practise thinking like sport managers — not just learning about them.

Sample Integration Grid

Here’s a simple planning grid to help educators embed Wild Cards intentionally across a course. Each Wild Card is designed to match a weekly topic or theme and reinforce key learning outcomes. The Wild Card Theme summarises the type of disruption (e.g. backlash, exclusion, crisis), while the Wild Card Idea gives a flavour of the actual scenario you might introduce. The debrief prompt supports critical reflection after students adapt their plans. Below is a fully formatted table for easy planning:

Week	Topic	Wild Card Theme	Wild Card Idea	Learning Focus	Debrief Prompt
3	Branding	Social media backlash	A controversial post from an athlete ambassador prompts public criticism of your campaign.	Strategic messaging	“What brand values were challenged?”
5	Inclusion	Representation gaps	Your campaign is criticised for excluding diverse voices — a local advocacy group speaks out.	Stakeholder sensitivity	“Who was missing from your original plan?”
7	Community Engagement	Crisis response	A natural disaster hits the host community days before your event. Should the event go ahead, pivot, or pause?	Values-led planning	“What does ethical response look like?”
9	Sponsorship	Funding withdrawal	Your lead sponsor pulls out two weeks before launch. Your new budget is 60% of what was planned.	Budget prioritisation	“What did you choose to let go of — and why?”

Try It: A Full Wild Card Example You Can Use

WILD CARD: Budget Blowout Your $10K sponsorship deal has fallen through. You now have just $2K to

deliver your activation. You must scale your strategy, maintain impact, and justify your trade-offs.

Discussion Prompts:

• What parts of your idea are essential? What can go?

• Can any partnerships, volunteers, or digital tools help reduce cost?

Reflection Questions:

• What did you learn about prioritising under pressure?

• How would this change your stakeholder messaging?

What I’ve Observed as an Educator

Wild Cards don’t just expose gaps in student planning, they reveal where students shine.

• Quiet students often step up during disruptions. They become the calm voice of logic.

• Strong communication becomes essential — especially when plans break down.

• Groups that had conflict early often bond because of the disruption. It unifies.

I’ve also seen where students struggle:

• Some freeze when the Wild Card is introduced. That’s why I now scaffold from low-stakes to high-impact.

• Some teams default to “scrap everything.” That’s where facilitation matters — guiding them to adapt, not start over.

What’s Next for Wild Cards?

I’m expanding this concept even further:

• Live-timed Wild Cards tied to breaking sport stories — so students learn to track and adapt based on real events

• AI Agent delivery — Imagine Jack (Auckland FC) dropping a Wild Card mid-conversation: “The board just cut your budget — what now?”

• Assessment-integrated Wild Cards — Two weeks before final submission, a twist is released. Students must reflect on how they adapted and why.

These next-gen disruptions are about building career fluency, the kind of thinking students will need in graduate roles, not just in group presentations.

Ready to Try It?

You don’t need a live case study or fancy setup to make Wild Cards work. But if you want a shortcut — I’ve got you. Our GOAT Department x Masters 2025 Resource Pack includes:

• 5 themed classroom activities

• 3 think-pair-share prompts

• 5 Quick Hits with included Wild Cards (just like the ones above!)

• Ready-to-use scenarios + reflection prompts

Let your students lead through uncertainty, adapt their thinking, and feel the weight of real-world sport management, all inside the classroom.

Download now and bring Wild Cards into your teaching

In a field where adaptability is everything, I want my students to leave not just with knowledge but with the confidence to pivot when things get messy. That’s what Wild Cards are all about.