Guest Speaker #4 Bob P.

Today, October 28, 2010, our class was fortunate to hear Mr. Bob P. speak. He spoke about a lot of different topics that what our other speakers have talked on. I felt like I learned how to be a better person today instead of learning of just general aspects of what he does. He shared a lot of quotes and meanings to those quotes and gave us great advice on being successful in life.

Bob attended and received degrees from various colleges as a student and has seen lots of young adults pass him by while working at the college he is at now. He has been at Berry for 29 years now and couldn’t ask for more out of each day that he is there. He explained how every day is different for him. Some of the things he could be doing on any given day would consist of teaching any P.E. classes, and advising coaches or students. In his almost 30 years of experience he thinks the biggest difference that he has seen with student learning is the hands on experiences they endure these days compared to the very little in the past.

I was very intrigued with his presentation and what he said today. The one thing that I will probably remember most about him speaking is probably the word LAGNIAPPE. It means this: Always do more than is expected of you. I think if I keep this in mind, no matter what it is I do in life, I shall be successful.

ICE 11-15

In the third set of Internship/Career Exploration I discovered yet 5 more different opportunities that I could possibly take upon graduating. There was a wide range of opportunities that have been totally different from the first 10 explorations. I found another professional sports franchise to work for just like I did in the ICE 6-10. The difference was the sport. I found a job with a professional baseball franchise, the Baltimore Orioles. There I would be working on the grounds crew. Yea, I would be working with the crew that comes out during the game and rakes the field and changes the bases. There were two careers that I found that involved sales. One of them was working with a high school sports company that was selling sponsorships and the other was with the LPGA selling sponsorships as well. Of course, the LPGA job would consist of more stress because it is a professional organization but I believe I could excel in both settings. The fourth job I found dealt with the sports management. It was with Turner Broadcasting. Every time I drive through Atlanta, which is the home of Turner Inc., I always see the Turner buildings and say to myself that I would be interested in working for them. Finding the opportunity to work with sales and marketing will be of much interest when I graduate. The last opportunity I found was with a Superintendent organization. Upon graduating, I already have a job working at a golf course and if I could take the opportunity to learn how to become a head superintendent one day, I feel like I would reach a personal goal. By continuing to explore opportunities within the sports field, I feel like I am setting myself up for a bright future in the next few years.   

Guest Speaker #3 Bill P.

Today, our class was fortunate enough to have a faculty member here at the university to speak. Bill is the Athletic Director and Head Baseball coach at the university. I learned a lot of information about both the college and the NAIA.

First off, I am going to give a little background on him. After attending West Georgia, he finished his collegiate career at Kennesaw State where he played baseball and earned a degree in Sports Management. He then became a head coach at Oglethorpe and was there for 12 years before coming to Reinhardt. He has been at RU for 7 full years now and has served as the AD for 6.

He explained what all he actually does as an AD. Some of the issues he deals with is budgeting for the whole department. Budgeting is a key factor for any organization and he reported that the RU department has been operating below budget for two years now. Also, he has to deal with eligibility issues. The eligibility process is a very tedious one and is one of the most important subjects he has to deal with. AD duties are broad and you have to know how to do a lot of things. Along with explaining his duties, he also provided a considerable amount of information regarding the NAIA and that the organizations future is BRIGHT!

Event Management

Yesterday, October 7th, I completed my event management task with our Sports Information Director Steve R. He is a great media relations guy and also great to work with. The event I chose was women’s soccer. Our girls were playing an in conference foe, Tennessee Wesleyan. I didn’t think much about how much work and effort it takes in setting up the event.

When first arriving around 12:15, I met with Steve and we got started with pre-event process. Before heading to the field we had to complete and print off the game day media guides with the rosters on it. At the field there is a media guide box where we placed those brochures. Afterwards we had to get out all of the equipment which was stored at the baseball clubhouse, a storage box at the field and in the car, from which we transported from the office at the gym. Some of the equipment that we had to set up or have on hand included these: sound speakers (2), microphone, receiver, 4 channel mixer, stereo or boom box, electric cords, and towels. The towels were for in case there is bad weather. Then after setting everything up, we had to check and test the sound systems. Then ensure that the scoreboard is functional and that includes the board and the operation box. With all of that done we had plenty of time to rest and wait for the teams to get there. Once they got there we had to get the rosters and starting line-ups from each team so we could set up the statistical program that Steve uses and to also fill out the PA script.  

Now, its time for the event to get started up! Steve started by announcing the introduction and line ups. Then we played the National Anthem. The teams then took the field. While play was going on we had to keep the scoreboard and stats on the laptop Steve had provided. He uses binoculars sometimes when he can’t see the number of the players. The reason for having to know that is because when a player scores or commits a foul, he can identify them for stats and the spectators. Throughout the game Steve announced other Reinhardt and future events.

After the game is over, it would usually be clean up time but today there is a double header so he and other students have to go through another game with basically the same process. If, there was not another game, we would clean everything up and return it back to where we got it. Steve would save the game files so when he got back to the office he could send stats to the opposing teams and local media. We also had to shut off the scoreboard as well.

Unfortunately, our girls lost this game 0-2. I learned a lot about how to set up for a soccer game at this university. It is much harder than I ever thought it could be. You have so much equipment and tedious work. Pre-game and post-game is by far the hardest times of event management. One thing that I failed to mention about the pre-game set up is that we have to tell the opposing team the introduction procedures so they are not lost. I enjoyed this experience but did not enjoy the outcome!

ICE 6-10

In the second Internship-Career Exploration I explored some different areas of my interest. In the first 5 I mainly focused on basketball related jobs but 6-10 was a totally different area of interest. I explored the event management side of the sports field and it seemed to be quite interesting. Also, I looked at interning for a marketing position and also interning as an athletic director. Along with the event management, I also looked into the sales of sporting goods. The event management position was open at the University of the Pacific. The marketing and internship positions were also located within a university setting. The marketing one is for UMBC and the assistant athletic intern was at Stanford University. The other ywo explorations took me to the professional business level. They were both in sales and they included an NBA organization, the Phoenix Suns; and the other professional business was Nike. The Nike sales mainly focused on golf which is a high area of interest of mine. This set of exploration was much different than the first and I have found that other areas of the sports field interest me much more than I thought before the search.

GAE 1-5

1. Graduate Assistant (Basketball)
   The first one I chose was not really to pursue my Master's degree in Sports Admin. but more so to complete my double major. Upon graduation I will have a minor in business and if I go to Dakota Wesleyan University, which is NAIA, I could get my major in business while still graduate assisting. This would be a great way to earn a double major and still get some coaching experience.

2. Graduate Assistant (Basketball)
The second one I found was at another NAIA university. The site is at Henderson State University. I could also be a graduate assistant at this school but the degree outcome would be different. Henderson State offers a Master's degree in Sports Admin. This situation would probably be the best for me because it would give me a chance to earn a Master's so one day I could be a college head coach.

3. Graduate Assistant (Athletic Trainer)
The third one is diferent from the first two. It is different because it would take me on a whole new route. I would have to get a little more education than just in Sports Admin. to become an assistant in the athletic training field. Indian State University offers a business as a field of study so I could get my double major here. Before attending Reinhardt on a basketball scholarship, I wanted to go to college to be an athletic trainer, so this opportunity would definitely interest me.

4. Part-Time Assistant Coach
The fourth is definitely an upgrade from graduate assistant and would put a lot of weight on my shoulders. I think I could handle it. It would be to be the assistant coach at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland. Although it would not be grad. assisiting, I could probably work something out to where the school could pay for my education in business while helping out with the basketball team. This would give me experience in coaching and pay for my college education.

5. Graduate Assitant (Any sport)
The fifth one would be like a dream situation. It would be to help out with any sports team at Georgia State University and to get my Master's in Sports Admin. Although the graduate assistantship would be something I would try to get, I would still want to attend that school to get my education because I have heard a lot of good things about the program from former Reinhardt student, Heath Hooper. The location is perfect and even if I had to pay for some or all of my education, it would be well worth it.