Life as an Intern for a Semi-Professional Italian Basketball Team

Brian Hall?

SPM 201, Professional Development in SPM

Beth Perez

February 20th, 2023?

Basketball Internship in Florence?

This past summer, I had the fantastic opportunity to intern for Olimpia Legnaia Basket League, a semi-pro organization in Florence, Italy. I applied to study abroad in Florence and was thrilled with the opportunity to gain real-world sports industry experience while exploring the beautiful city of Florence. Before accepting my position with Olimpia Legnaia Basket League and signing my acceptance forms to study abroad, I was surprised to find out about anybody else attending this summer program. I was delighted to find that many of my freshman-year friends were in the same program, and I was able to rekindle an old friendship and room with one of my close friends that I had fallen out of touch with. Before arriving in Florence, I was nervous. Living in a different country where I do not speak the local language made me nervous and excited. Everything I was about to experience would be new, and I wanted to learn to accept every part of the trip, the good and the bad. I was able to connect with my boss and the team I would be working with and was immediately made aware of the struggles I would face on a day-to-day basis. Their English was broken at best, and upon our first conversation, I knew I was in for a challenging internship.?

When I touched down in Florence, Ben (my roommate) and I had a culture shock immediately. We stood out like a sore thumb, we were not sure what it was, but it was clear that we were Americans, which we learned to suppress and fit in more as we became more comfortable with the area. Life was laid back; it was clear that people did not value money as much as we do in America, and people seemed genuinely happy all the time. This culture shock was also apparent in the workforce in Florence; when I talked with all my friends who were completing internships in Florence, they all said the same thing. Bosses were laid back, did not have sharp deadlines, and were not as concerned with earning tons of money as business owners back in America. I enjoyed this break from reality as I knew it and found myself highly motivated to do my best. However, the pressure from my bosses was less barring than in some of my previous internships in America.?

I intended to begin my internship on Monday, May 23rd, but I ran into some complications and began working that Tuesday. The train system in Florence could have been more straightforward at first, and I could not receive any valuable information on maps to help me reach my intended location, which would have been a 2+ hour walk. I began my first day at one of the satellite gyms on the outskirts of Florence, where I was formally introduced to my boss, Simeone, who spoke the best English out of my colleagues. After a brief introduction and tour of the facility, I hopped on the back of his scooter. We drove a few miles to their primary gym, conveniently located directly under a cafe. Their main facility was where they held all their home games and served as my internship destination throughout my time with the team. This location was hard to locate the first few times commuting to and from the location. Still, I became accustomed to the train system and even began to bike to work after becoming comfortable with the city and the traffic laws.??

My first day at work was interesting, to say the least. Most of my work was with the youth teams aged 8-18, which provided me with a different experience had I worked with their adult teams, which were in the off-season when I arrived in May. The younger kids looked at me like a zoo animal, fascinated by why I was there and about my culture and language. I loved working with the younger kids; they wanted to learn more about my culture, and they offered me an authentic insight into their culture and were eager to show it off to me. The adult team shared a different eagerness to learn about my upbringing and to teach me about theirs. I appreciated working with the younger groups during my brief seven-week internship. I worked as a Social Media Marketing Intern and allocated my time towards marketing and on-court work with the athletes. I implemented many different marketing techniques and strategies that the organization needed to familiarize itself with because of the difference in the work environment in America compared to Italy.?

I worked directly and primarily with Marco, the Vice-President of the organization. My initial impression of Marco and all the coaches and employees at Olimpia Legnaia Basket League was that they were super friendly and wanted me to feel as comfortable as possible. They knew there was a language barrier between the coaches and me, especially with the kids. It was rare that I found a kid I could converse with productively; most of my communication was through physical gestures or minimal amounts of English or Italian. This did not discourage me much as basketball is a universal sport that does not necessarily require language; I connected with the kids because of our shared love for basketball, regardless of our lack of understanding of each other’s languages. Fortunately, some kids had a better grasp of the English language than others, and I found it interesting how these kids gained their knowledge of the language. Multiple kids I spoke with said they learned English from watching cartoons; these kids communicated well because of their exposure to American cartoons that they grew up watching, which was very intriguing.??

I learned a ton during my time abroad and was able to grow as a person and as a professional. Working with an Italian-based company, I was forced to overcome a language barrier and still perform at a high level, which I did successfully. I am forever grateful for the opportunity Syracuse Abroad, Olimpia Legnaia Basket League and the city of Florence presented me with and for making Florence feel like home for the summer.??