BYU-Idaho Sports Society Wrap-Up

I had the opportunity in December to attend the baseball winter meetings, it was a great event and it was an amazing experience to be part of the culture. The people in the sports industry have a vibe that they give off and it's fun and invigorating to be a part of, when I experienced it I knew but I wanted to bring that same experience back to BYU-Idaho. For a few years I've met numerous students that have voiced their desire to work within the sports industry, but the lack of sports and programs at BYU-Idaho make it tough to feel that you have the experience needed to enter the industry right away. After my experience at the winter meetings and being able to rub shoulders with the leaders in that sport I felt that I was at a position to help. So, I decided that I was going to start the process of creating a program on campus to prepare myself and others to enter the sports industry. Now to highlight what has happened I'd like to break it down into three parts: the plans and process, the results, and the future.

Plans and Process

BYU-Idaho has no programs or classes to prepare people for the

sports industry, so everything had to be built from the ground up. I gathered a

group of students and friends together to talk about our plans for this

organization, we decided it was best to meet Thursday evenings outside of class

and other society meetings. We also found it best to bring in alumni that have

already worked in the industry, the problem however is that most of us didn't

know people in the sports industry. To start we got to work on LinkedIn and

connected to alumni with similar majors and interests to ourselves. After

getting to know them I pitched the idea of speaking to our society and most

were very interested in the idea. Next, we reached out to different colleges within

the university as well as telling classmates, this was to build and grow

attendance at these meetings. We also felt that growing our membership would

help as we petitioned to become official as a school society. Eventually we

felt that we were at a place where we could become an official society and

submitted an application for it, and there were a lot of hoops to jump through

and some full-time faculty really went above and beyond to help in the process

but it was well worth it.

The Results

As we continue to meet and reach out to alumni, we found great

success. We had four different speakers throughout the semester, and they were

more than qualified to share their experiences and knowledge with us. The

speakers currently worked for: The Dallas Wings, Bleacher Report, Southern Utah

University, and Mountain America Credit Union sponsorships. This gave us the

ability to reach students interested in communications, marketing, management,

writing and more. Once people started to see the benefits of attending each

meeting membership grew, people were telling their friends and word was going

around that there was a group on campus helping people prepare for the sports

industry. Attendance consistently grew each week throughout the whole semester

and students were more engaged each meeting. It also helped to see this

progress because faculty started to vouch on our behalf and our organization

became an official school society. From there it was taking off, and we had two

more great speakers wind up for the rest of the semester, and then covid-19. We

quickly had to adjust and work through everything remotely. For the most part

we canceled everything and started preparing for a world where our society was

going to meet remotely.

The Future

While Covid-19 was the headliner for issues this semester, it

wasn't the only one we had a big learning curve to fully get up and running.

Through it all though, we figured it out. I learned how to lead, while also

involving others and giving them opportunities to grow. I found ways to be

comfortable pitching myself to people, I found how to be bold and humble enough

to ask others for help. This came in handy when I needed students help, along

with asking for guest speakers. It also helps me make great connections that

have led to other helpful connections. The future is bright for the society and

our processes have led into this upcoming spring semester. We already have the

first half of the semester filled with speakers, and projects to help build

students' knowledge and portfolios going forward. We have leadership and

direction among ourselves and are prepared for any other chaos that the world

might throw at us. Best of all the school is behind us, and they've offered to

let us take students on expedition trips to different locations as well as

hosting events on campus. It's been an amazing journey thus far and it's really

taught me that anyone can make a difference, we just have to see a need and be

ready and willing to help fill that need.

-Carter Smith, President/Creator