By Sean Donkin, Marketing Manager
I’ve played sport pretty much my entire life, thanks to my parents’ encouragement to try as many sports as I could. Sport has always been a way to learn, compete, and have fun, all lessons that extend far beyond the pitch or the course.
As a kid, I was football mad, a Sunderland season ticket holder from the age of four, travelling home and away pretty much every weekend. That passion soon shifted to cricket, which I played at club, town, and county level for more than a decade. But like many people in their 20s, life got busier, and it became harder to juggle multiple sports alongside work and further education.
That’s when golf came into my life. Encouraged by my dad, I picked up a set of clubs, and before long Saturday mornings were spent on the course – often nursing a hangover, but always with a drive to compete. Fast forward almost 20 years, and the game has become much more than a hobby. Golf is my passion, my challenge, and often my best form of escape.
What I love most about golf is that it’s a battle against yourself. It pushes you physically more than most people realise, walking approx. 10 miles a round, carrying your clubs, and dealing with the mental grind of every shot. It’s also sharpened skills that have been essential in my career: organisation, strategy, resilience, and the ability to connect with people from all walks of life.
Post Covid, I took the game more seriously. A few friendly wagers with mates quickly turned competitive, and the realisation of how much I hated losing became ever greater. That drive saw my handicap drop from 6.8 to 1.3 in just three months. Now my sights are set on scratch golf, and the pursuit of improvement continues.
Just as my sporting journey has evolved, so too has my professional one. I joined Podium (then PA Betting Services) two years ago, a business widely known for racing and data. Since then, I’ve been fortunate to play a part in the company’s evolvement – with projects including a rebrand, website launch, product naming, new trade show presence, and the launch of our annual International Racing Conference, with our next one taking place on Wednesday 22nd October in London. Alongside that, I’ve worked closely with our commercial team to drive campaigns and lead generation, and with our APAC colleagues to shape regional marketing strategies.
But what excites me most is Podium’s breadth. We cover more than 40+ sports, providing data, content, widgets, and solutions that genuinely solve customer pain points. With golf being such a passion of mine, it’s been especially rewarding to see our data powering new products, including the Ryder Cup hub we’ve just launched, built using our Sport API.
The Ryder Cup is a reminder of why golf resonates globally: it’s about skill, strategy, and bringing people together, even in a sport that’s often individual. I see those same qualities in what we do at Podium. My role spans every department, giving me the chance to collaborate, build relationships, and contribute to projects that are shaping the future of sports data.
Golf is also a constant topic of conversation in the industry, from client meetings to race days to emails out the blue, and with our Managing Director Josh Sparke branding me as the “resident Podium pro,” I don’t mind one bit. When you’re passionate about something, whether that’s golf, marketing, or solving customer challenges, you give it your all.
As the Ryder Cup approaches, I’m excited not only as a fan but as someone who gets to work at the intersection of sport and data. Golf, like business, is about preparation, execution, and persistence. And at Podium, we’re applying those same principles to help our partners achieve their goals.
Connect with Sean: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-donkin/
