COPA90 - EA SPORTS Beat The Bias Internship

This summer, COPA90 & EA SPORTS inspired, educated, and empowered the next generation of young minority ethnic creators through the EA SPORTS Beat the Bias Internship.

Over the course of 12 weeks the paid internship gave six individuals invaluable experience in what goes on behind the scenes of sports media, helping them build their network of industry contacts and dive deeper into the inner workings of the women’s game.

So we worked with the team over at COPA90 to find out some of the things they got up to on a typical day. Hear from Ambi, James, Josh, Megan, Priyanka, and Rory in their own words…

Ambi

I have a one hour and fifteen minute commute into London Bridge, so I use that time to take a look at my socials, to see any football news that broke overnight. I then get into the office and catch up with the other interns over the progression of the zine, and see what is outstanding. I then go into an editorial meeting, where we discuss the ideas we want to research and write about.

Depending on the day, we may have client meetings discussing briefs, copies and/or designs. In these meetings we present what we have done so far, get feedback from the client and see what the next steps are. When I am working on editorial content my time is filled doing research for the copy, finding images to go with the script and proofreading the editorial work.

When working on the zine, it normally entails working with the other interns to flesh out the chapter brief we have been given, finding quotes, pictures, writing copy, and making sure it is all in one cohesive tone.

I have also been lucky enough to create and execute a photoshoot with a football player. For the shoot, I would need to create a rec document, which has location information, timings etc and make sure everything has been organised for the shoot.

James

I get into the office, grab a hot chocolate because they are marvellous, and get to my desk, researching any footballing stories that could make great editorial content.

There’s usually a few meetings where I present my ideas, listen to the team's ideas, and collaborate with the other team members. After that, I do any outstanding tasks that I need to do for the zine and work on the editorial ideas I've suggested, which have the green light.

Then it's time for lunch and after that, I continue any remaining tasks that are outstanding. I will check in and see if there's any work that someone is working on which I can support.

Josh

As I make my way to work, I will do some research on the latest football news and stories to present at our daily editorial meeting. Within this, I will sometimes work in collaboration with the TikTok editor to create posts for the channel.

Then I will have a meeting with the rest of my intern team about the zine that we are creating. As well as working on editorial bits to post on the company socials, I will work on briefs for activations the company has been commissioned for. My role in these briefs can range from anything such as research tasks or ideation tasks to even being involved in presenting to the client.

Some days I may be involved in working on the company podcast that goes on TikTok and Snapchat. This involves me going in and working on set in the studio as well as working on post production helping edit the show.

Megan

It’s very difficult to choose one day to be representative, as every day is different, so I’ll talk about my favourite day - shooting an interview with legends Leah Williamson and Rafaelle Souza, during my placement at She’s A Baller.

I was able to wake up slightly later than usual, as I was meeting the rest of the team at London Colney - Arsenal’s training ground and the location of the interview. Around 10am I made my way to the ground, arriving at the same time several pro players were.

I worked my way through the crowd clamouring at the gate to get pics and signatures of the players in their cars. The security guard let me through and I went to the meeting place. As I’m waiting for the rest of the She’s A Baller team to arrive I watch Gabriel Jesus chauffeur pick him up.

When the rest of the team arrives, we begin to set up the equipment in the dome where we will be filming, moving around props and checking camera focus and angles. Once that’s done, we chill out, watch Martinelli do some skills for a shoot, and kick some ball ourselves, whilst we wait for the players to arrive. 2pm comes around and Leah and Rafaelle stroll in.

We only had 20 mins, so it was a bit of a rush, but they were having so much fun we ended up being with them for nearly 40 minutes! They took some pictures with us, signed a shirt, and then left to go home. We packed up and then went home as well.

Priyanka

Most days at the office start with a morning catch-up with the interns about the zine work, followed by an obscene amount of snacking (genuinely I’ve memorised everyone’s snack rotation by heart now).

After this, we separate and do our own bits of work for the rest of the day, across different departments at COPA on top of our individual chapter work for the zine. Some of the other interns have been more involved in editorial / media work, but I’ve been mainly working on helping around the strategy department.

This has meant mainly helping with basic research and this has allowed me to get involved in a bunch of different projects with massive brands such as the likes of Nike, Chelsea, Tottenham and more!

Between working on the zine and helping out in various projects across the office time passes fairly quickly and before you know it its time to go home, though we always manage to find time for a quick ping pong game (I am the best ping pong player put of all the interns don’t let anyone tell you differently).

Rory

A day in the life at Copa is so bespoke.

Typically if it’s an office day I will get in at 9:30 and organise my to-do list with tasks related to the zine I need to get finished. Then it’s time to have a bit of breakfast, going into the morning catch up with the team at 10:30.

By 11 I’ll be cracking on with a task I’ve been given in a brief for at some point in the week and usually there’s a creative brainstorm of ideas and I split my time between different briefs. For example, this can be anything from a Nike project to a project we’re doing with EA SPORTS.

Lunch is always at the food market and we normally eat as a group which is great.

Once 14:00 hits it’s right back to it and usually there’s an afternoon catch up or briefing. On a Wednesday I have a catch up with my mentor Miles, who has been great to me!

I then look through my to-do list and finish up any remaining tasks I need to do before the end of the day, and then it’s time to go home at 6!