Today featured a variety of work in the athletic department office. I did a little work on Clery Reports and discussed with some of the coaches about their reports for this year. Some of them are trying to get them filled out and taken care of early on in the year instead of at the end, which is great for me and the coaches. I had one student meet with me today from one of the marketing classes to help him work on his website for a project in the class. I had the softball coach reach out to me early on in my mentorship to have me be the game manager for home games. I met with him to discuss the schedule and also some of my responsibilities. I met with Lonny to talk about some job opportunities and applications I have submitted and also learned more about his responsibilities as an athletic director. We also talked about a schedule for next week during spring break and some things that we are going to work together on, and help me to learn different aspects of the position.
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As part of the Cleveland Indians Ticket Sales Program the marketing classes attended a training meeting to help with selling tickets and also learning about the industry. This meeting was very informative about what it is like to work for a professional sports organization and the various opportunities available in sports. We loaded up a bus and left for Cleveland early in the morning. The location of the training was held at Progressive Field in one of the luxury boxes. It was a great atmosphere to conduct a training meeting and hopefully it helped to motivate the students to sell tickets. The first part of the meeting featured a panel of employees from different departments. Various questions were asked to each of them so that all that were involved could gain a greater understanding of the different departments and areas of operation required to successfully operate a professional sports team. The panel also explained how they got into sports and the various responsibilities they each have in their respective positions. I also learned from them that depending on the time of the year effects their responsibilities. After the panel we had a breakout session where we met with three different presenters, which included how to build a relationship with a potential buyer, a tour of the stadium, and how to overcome objections. A lot of useful tips and practices were taught to help students better communicate with prospects to sell tickets to. The stadium tour was cool to be able to see the parts of the park that fans rarely are permitted to see. When selling anything there are often objections and in order to be successful it is important to know how to overcome those objections. We were taught methods to overcome those objections when faced with them, which will be helpful to the students now and also in the future. The part I appreciated the most was at the discussion from the HR representative in charge of recruiting. She talked about the do's and don'ts of preparing a resume. I am at the stage where I am looking for a job so this was extremely helpful for me. I thought this training was a great learning opportunity and I will take what I learned and apply it. It was the final home game for the men's and women's basketball team which required some extra effort, planning, and coordination throughout the day for the games. Since it was senior night too, we had things going on during all parts of the games. Prior to the start of the women's game the two seniors on the team were honored. During the game we held promotional contests, checked in with the VIP suite to ensure they had everything they need to enjoy the game, and handed out signs to fans in the crowd. Working with the promotions coordinator we had a couple of contests to give away a donated gift card. Prior to the start of the men's game the four seniors were honored. At halftime we had four different dance teams there were to perform in the short amount of time available. I worked closely with the coaches and dancers to make sure that each team was set up and ready to go onto the court and then get each team off the court in a timely manner. All the contests that we had planned for each of the games went perfectly and without any issues. As basketball season comes to an end it was great to gain experience in multiple areas of college basketball this season. I learned what it takes to promote and engage the crowd during games. I also learned about game management and what the game manager is required to do during basketball games and feel confident that I could be successful in either of these areas of college athletics. Today I help out in the athletic department office with various responsibilities. I also met and talked with the promotions coordinator about this weekends men's and women's basketball games. This Saturday will be the final games of the season for both teams and will also be senior night. She explained the events that would be occurring before the games begin, during the games, and also anything after. We didn't have to plan much but talked about what was going on and that I would be there on Saturday to assist with anything that she needed help with. I am nearing finishing my 200 hours for this mentorship reviewed the goals and career development plan to see how things progressed from when the plan was initially written.
I met with both the undergraduate marketing classes to gather any order forms to be submitted and help with any questions. There was an issue with one of the groups sales link last week. Prior to today I contacted the coordinator from the Indians and they were able to resolve the issue so I was able to pass along that the link was working and customers should be able to use it to purchase tickets. I started receiving some Clery Reports from coaches for this year so I reviewed those to make sure the information was correct and stored them to be turned in at a later date. One of the big events I participated in today with the athletic department was a 5k at the Heminger Center. It was called a Walk to Remember and was sponsored by TU Health Challenge and was held for a number of causes, which were Black History Month, Valentines Day, American Heart Month, and JoElle Hall. JoElle Hall is the Assistant Director of Undergraduate Admissions at Tiffin University and was recently diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease called anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis and causes a person's immune system to attack NMDA receptors in the brain. The disease can be life threatening, while recovery is possible it can take months to years to occur. Our department and a lot of the other departments on campus joined in support of JoElle. The days work included a number of different tasks and responsibilities, and also working the men's basketball game that night against Salem International. I helped the office manager in the morning with a variety of tasks, including looking for some paper work and then scanning the documents and emailing it to the person in charge of compliance. After completing my work with the office manager, I and another intern that is a lacrosse player at the university met with the promotions coordinator that I have worked a lot with over the course of this mentorship. Lacrosse season begins in just a few short weeks and she wanted to discuss possible promotions for the games and how a game of lacrosse works with quarters, halftime, and timeouts. I played lacrosse in high school and had some experience but was unsure how women's games went at the college level. There was some knowledge I was able to share to help out with possible promotions for the home games. I helped out with some game preparations for the men's game later that evening. For the game I worked with promotions and pregame activities. For the last few men's games during the player introductions we have turned off the lights and turned on spot lights to create a exciting atmosphere for the players and fans and helped out with that. The promotions coordinator that usually announces contests during the game left early because she was sick. The game was poorly attended so we canceled contests during the first half. We held a raffle for a fan to compete in a halftime contest to win two tickets to a Cincinnati Reds game in April. Since the promotions coordinator was gone the responsibility fell upon me to announce the contest and introduce the contestant. The contest was to make a lay-up, a free-throw, and a three point shot. We didn't hold any contests during the second half because of the low attendance. I helped with music during game breaks for the rest of the game. I met with the marketing classes for the Indians ticket sales project and had a couple additional responsibilities with the class today because of the professor out on a trip. I took attendance, encouraged and helped motivate for selling tickets, told them to think of potential businesses that would purchase a large amount of tickets, gathered assignments that were due that day, reminded class of assignments due the next week, and assisted with any issues. I helped with the guest speaker for the class who also works in the athletic department on campus. I was given the task of distributing new keys for the campus weight room to all the head coaches. I spent the remainder of the day tracking down coaches to give them a new and also collect their old key. Some coaches were difficult to find and required me stopping by their offices later after noon to get the new key to them. I also helped with scanning documents and distributing tax related forms to a number of the coaches.
Throughout the year in athletics and upon the changing of seasons begins a new season for the different sports at a university. The athletic department hosts a sport preview for spring, fall, and winter sports. This time was for the spring sports and includes a dinner for coaches, staff, and the captains for each spring sports team. The preview featured a live broadcast by Tiffin Radio and each team was interviewed and introduced to get an outlook on the 2017 spring season. The spring sports are baseball, softball, equestrian, golf, lacrosse, track and field, and tennis.
The tasks for the day included a variety of office related duties. The men's basketball team added a game to the schedule that hadn't been scheduled through events services. There was a conflicting event when the game was to played so I had to meet with events services to get the game scheduled so that the necessary equipment was ready for game time. The promotions coordinator needed help so I edited and updated the scripts for the remaining home games of the men's and women's basketball seasons. I met with the athletic director and we discussed career opportunities as well as selected potential jobs that would fit the skills and experience I have to get my career started in college athletics. He found a number of jobs that he suggested I should apply for. Lastly, I helped scan documents from signing day that will be used to submit to the NCAA.
I had my usual meetings with the marketing classes to gather any order forms and money to be sent to the Indians. I also helped the students generate how they would achieve their ticket sale goals and the businesses, family, or friends they might reach out to in order to sell tickets. I created a roster for one of the classes that organized the teams and coordinated each team's link for customers to purchase tickets. I restocked the VIP room with beverages for the next home basketball games. At the end of the day I ran a few errands for the athletic director.
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AuthorSean Kriek: MBA, Sports Management Archives
March 2017
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