To finish off my Sport Management degree, I was required to do an internship
related to sports in one way or another.
We could not coach, it couldn’t be at WSU and we had to figure out where
to go by ourselves with the manual we bought for the class. Yipee.
I was having a hard time finding an internship and I was running out of time fast. I really did not want to venture off that far from home. I wanted to keep it within six hours of driving. I had to keep in mind that I did not have a lot of money, no place to live (depending on where I went) and I worried about how I was going to eat. At the end of May I was getting worried. I had no internship and I had no idea what to do. I wrote some emails, sent some letters in with resumes and even called a few places. The letters were sent back with rejections in them. Back to the drawing board...sigh.
I kept in contact with one of my friends who lives in Oregon. Her dad has affiliations with Linfield College. He attended and graduated from there and he now volunteers as a stat keeper for football and basketball season. Time was running out and I had to do something. I asked her if her dad could talk to the athletic director and she said yeah, he could ask a few questions for me. He emailed me and told me to contact Dawn Graff-Haight, the senior woman’s administrator for the college, through email. I told her who I was, what I wanted to accomplish and asked if she had a position for me. She emailed me back and told me to come down and visit. I drove down there and met with Dawn, their senior administrator who was also a professor. She asked me who I was and what I am doing. We discussed what I wanted to accomplish while I was here and she gave me the tour of the athletic department. She asked me if this was something I wanted to do and I told her yes. I got my papers signed and I finally could sleep soundly at night, I had a secure internship.
First of all, before we go any further, I hate change. I can not deal with change. I have had a hard time with it my whole life. I couldn’t just go and do the things I was used to doing. I did not like the fact that I couldn’t just go and hang out with my friends when I wanted. I hated missing all the parties, get-togethers and mostly softball, oh how I missed softball. I had a hard time dealing with the family I was living with in Oregon. They did not get me, I couldn’t be myself; I felt like an intruder. It made me exhausted just being there.
I started my internship on August 20, 2007 and I walked into the college very nervous. I really had no idea what to expect. Once I started meeting people and getting into my tasks they assigned to me. The work environment here is very laid back and easy going. A lot of the staff in the athletic department wears shorts, t-shirts, jeans, sandals and tennis shoes. I have never seen anyone wear anything like a button up shirt, slacks or a blouse. One of the questions I asked Dawn before I started was what do I wear to work? She said whatever you feel comfortable in, people dress in coaching-type gear, so wear something like that. Everyone who I come into contact with is very friendly and asks how I am doing.
I find myself working alone most of the time and always having trouble finding something to do. This is a small school so a lot of the people who work here have many jobs besides the one they were hired to do. They are very busy and some of them do not have time to find jobs for me to do. I feel like I haven’t done much of anything but I know I have done some stuff that they wouldn’t have had time to do like the Lindex and cleaning the storage room. I feel like I am not learning valuable information but more like “gopher” work. The sports information director has lots of stuff to do but he has his army of work study students who are trained to do what they are suppose to do and he would give me some of that work to do but I would have to be trained in it and it would take time and work away from the work study students.
I was having a hard time finding an internship and I was running out of time fast. I really did not want to venture off that far from home. I wanted to keep it within six hours of driving. I had to keep in mind that I did not have a lot of money, no place to live (depending on where I went) and I worried about how I was going to eat. At the end of May I was getting worried. I had no internship and I had no idea what to do. I wrote some emails, sent some letters in with resumes and even called a few places. The letters were sent back with rejections in them. Back to the drawing board...sigh.
I kept in contact with one of my friends who lives in Oregon. Her dad has affiliations with Linfield College. He attended and graduated from there and he now volunteers as a stat keeper for football and basketball season. Time was running out and I had to do something. I asked her if her dad could talk to the athletic director and she said yeah, he could ask a few questions for me. He emailed me and told me to contact Dawn Graff-Haight, the senior woman’s administrator for the college, through email. I told her who I was, what I wanted to accomplish and asked if she had a position for me. She emailed me back and told me to come down and visit. I drove down there and met with Dawn, their senior administrator who was also a professor. She asked me who I was and what I am doing. We discussed what I wanted to accomplish while I was here and she gave me the tour of the athletic department. She asked me if this was something I wanted to do and I told her yes. I got my papers signed and I finally could sleep soundly at night, I had a secure internship.
First of all, before we go any further, I hate change. I can not deal with change. I have had a hard time with it my whole life. I couldn’t just go and do the things I was used to doing. I did not like the fact that I couldn’t just go and hang out with my friends when I wanted. I hated missing all the parties, get-togethers and mostly softball, oh how I missed softball. I had a hard time dealing with the family I was living with in Oregon. They did not get me, I couldn’t be myself; I felt like an intruder. It made me exhausted just being there.
I started my internship on August 20, 2007 and I walked into the college very nervous. I really had no idea what to expect. Once I started meeting people and getting into my tasks they assigned to me. The work environment here is very laid back and easy going. A lot of the staff in the athletic department wears shorts, t-shirts, jeans, sandals and tennis shoes. I have never seen anyone wear anything like a button up shirt, slacks or a blouse. One of the questions I asked Dawn before I started was what do I wear to work? She said whatever you feel comfortable in, people dress in coaching-type gear, so wear something like that. Everyone who I come into contact with is very friendly and asks how I am doing.
I find myself working alone most of the time and always having trouble finding something to do. This is a small school so a lot of the people who work here have many jobs besides the one they were hired to do. They are very busy and some of them do not have time to find jobs for me to do. I feel like I haven’t done much of anything but I know I have done some stuff that they wouldn’t have had time to do like the Lindex and cleaning the storage room. I feel like I am not learning valuable information but more like “gopher” work. The sports information director has lots of stuff to do but he has his army of work study students who are trained to do what they are suppose to do and he would give me some of that work to do but I would have to be trained in it and it would take time and work away from the work study students.
I helped create and organize the FLO sheet document for the football team. I was responsible for counting the hours, making a list of the football players who turned in the hours and bringing it to the head football coach. I helped the assistant facilities director put lines on the soccer field to prepare it for the first soccer game of the season. I helped the SID with the production of mug shots for the winter sports season athletes. I put graphics onto the football scoreboard with a program called the Venus 7000. I helped compile an updated list for the HHP&A building and added it to the Lindex. I worked with the game management manager and helped set up for the home volleyball matches. I also set up the video camera to the DVD burner and the TV and taped the games. I was also responsible for making a copy of the game and made sure both coaches each received a disk. I worked game management for both football and soccer games. One of the biggest jobs I did was clean out this storage room they called the “cubbie hole”. It was about half a normal person’s height so it was difficult to stand in it. Luckily, there were old boxes of equipment to sit on. It took me about three weeks to clean it out. Instead of piles and boxes of random, everything is neatly organized and labeled. I helped organize all of the SID’s pictures, picture CD’s, media guides and game programs. They are now more accessible to get to. The other big job I have spent a lot of time on is the history room. It has been an on going project and it looks more visually appealing than it did before I got to it. I learned how to use LiveType, which is similar to PowerPoint, and a desktop publishing program called Quark. We were one of the school’s running for a bid for the football playoffs and I was given the job to call the local hotels for availability. I got to drive a really nice school car to PLU for the SAAC trip with two members of the group. I made place cards for the Hall of Fame Banquet in which they turned out very nice and I got many compliments. The current visitor’s guide is seven years out of date and I got to update it, looks nice. I helped the SID proof read the seasonal athletics newsletter. I went to my first swimming meet and got to learn to use the scoreboard and helped time the events.
My major project was to help with the Hall of Fame Banquet but I found out that I would not play a huge part in it like I was originally told. Most of the jobs have been taken by the assigned staff. A lot of the projects I was given I really did not get to do in its entirety. Most of the projects were taken away from me and given to the staff because they’ve either done it before or they had more resources to complete it, most of the time I assisted. I was assigned to update and make the history room more appealing to the alums, staff and students. I would have gotten it finished sooner but I had to wait because I did not have the resources to just go and do it. There were three things I did do myself, the Lindex, the FLO sheets and cleaning up and organizing the storage room downstairs.
The skills and competencies required for this internship are you have to be able to work with many different types of people. I worked with several people during this internship. One was very laid back and let me do my work, one let me do the work but just couldn’t let me have the final say in the project and the other one I hardly saw, they trusted me and let me do the project my way as long as I got it done. You have to have communication skills (verbal, written and computer). I worked a lot with the Sports Information Director and I had to use my organization skills as well as my creative side for some of the projects I did. You have to be familiar with college sports and athletic administration. You have to be willing to accept any and all projects that are given you.
I was lucky with my cost factors. I had a family who put me up for the four months that I would be doing my internship at Linfield. I did not have to pay rent, pay bills or buy groceries. I did have to take out a loan for tuition and the rest of the money after it was paid for was money to live off of. I did pay for gas and everything else I wanted to do. Parking for Linfield Staff is free as long as you keep your permit in your car and you keep out of the places you can not park such as parking sideways in a parking spot or parking in a tow away zone. I would suggest to other interns is find a place with people you know and could possibly live with or find a place where they will provide housing and food.
My internship at Linfield College ended December 14, 2007. I volunteered 480 hours of my time, effort and energy. I am so relieved it is done. I am no longer a college student.
Linfield College is a great place for someone who is looking into getting into a small college atmosphere and having many jobs that are not outlined in their job descriptions. The athletic department knew I was coming in August but when I was there it seemed like they were not prepared for an intern. They have never had one in the athletic department and they didn’t use me as much as they could have. I found myself not knowing what I was going to do each day. It definitely would have helped me out by having a schedule that I had to follow while I was there interning. Hopefully by having me there, they will now know what to do with an intern in the future and be better prepared for one. What I learned from being an intern is when I get a job and have an intern, I will know exactly what they are going through and have projects prepared for them so they do not feel like they are doing nothing. Linfield was very friendly, supportive and willing to work with me when I needed the resources to finish my jobs.
Leaving Pullman did not really affect me until I left for Linfield. The first few months I felt so left out. I saw pictures and heard stories of my friends having fun without me. I could not stand it. It was so hard for me to adjust not being there with them in Pullman.
I believe that you should hire a person based on experience and not what the degree says. It's gonna be a rough couple of years.
