Shuffling Around in the Sports Industry

I’ve had my fair share of opportunities in the sports industry, and no two have been alike.?

I believe that most people think they should gain lots of experience in one area. That way, when they look for jobs in that specific field, hiring managers will see that they are well-versed and will carry out that role efficiently and effectively. Before this year, I thought that too. Looking at my LinkedIn, you can probably tell that I’ve hopped around quite a bit within the Sport Administration and Advertising and Public Relations fields. I thought employers wouldn’t find my resume impressive because of that. Do I have enough expertise in a certain area to get a job there? Will employers think I’ve job-hopped and can’t seem to settle down somewhere? However, after hearing from guest speakers this semester and networking with UNC alumni, I realized that might not be so bad.?

In this blog, I wanted to share about some internship experiences I’ve had in sports and how those experiences changed my perspective on building a resume. I’m not going to talk about UNC Women’s Soccer here because I could do a whole separate post about that :)

A family-friend told my parents about summer internship openings with the Winston-Salem Dash , a minor league baseball team in my hometown. As the winter break of my sophomore year approached, they urged me to take advantage of the opportunity and apply. “I’ll figure it out… summer is still a long way away,” I told them, thinking that internships were mainly for juniors. They kept bugging me about the Dash internship, and I applied just to make them happy and get them off my back. Around February, I heard back from the Dash’s Matthew Beksinski asking for an interview, and received an offer to participate in the Game Day Internship Program for summer 2023.?

That summer, I explored the operations perspective of minor league professional baseball and shadowed other departments, like sales, marketing/advertising, and entertainment. I rotated through positions around the ballpark, getting to talk and work with different employees as they shared their stories in the sports industry. I worked at the VIP desk, where I was the first face that customers at that level saw as they entered the stadium. Always with a smile, I started conversations with them, asking about their day and if they were excited about the game, and guided them to their sections. I monitored the “Picnic” area, where sponsorship groups and group ticket sales sat with their friends and families. Again, as a representation of the Dash organization, I chatted with them and made sure their experience was up-to-par, asking them if there was anything that could be improved while assisting in ballpark navigation, helping fans get to where they needed to go. I crowd-controlled food and beverage stations, assisted staff in the set-up, in-game procedures, and break down at the party deck and club levels, and even participated in raffle sales and auctions. Overall, I was a friendly, welcoming face for the Winston-Salem Dash.

That experience helped me to realize that opportunities are always available, even in your small hometown where sports don’t seem to be a huge highlight. Also, they might be right in front of you, coming from a guest speaker. The next semester in my Introduction to Sport Administration class with Tony Patterson, PhD , Hunter Bell came and spoke about the company he works for, The Tournament (TBT/TST) . I had heard of the Tournament from the summer prior, when it introduced TST, or The Soccer Tournament in Cary, NC. Former US Women’s National Soccer Team members joined together as a team and competed, which I thought was so cool. From Hunter’s lecture, I found out that the company was originally just TBT, or The Basketball Tournament, and it changed its name to The Tournament in its expansion towards soccer. At the end of the lecture, Hunter brought up internship opportunities, saying his events team offered remote internships in the spring. I was set… with the internship being remote, I could continue working with soccer and do another internship at the same time… the more experience, the better!

That following spring semester, I got a look at Facility and Event Management for the first time, working closely with the events team to primarily organize TST for the upcoming summer. TBT followed in late July, so TST was our priority. As the event was only in its second year, I got to see an event being built basically from the ground up. There were factors from the previous summer that the team wanted to remain consistent, but there were also a number of changes needing to be implemented to make the event as efficient as possible. George Alexander , Hunter, and I worked on signage efforts, hoping to make WakeMed Soccer Park as easy to navigate as possible. The last thing we wanted was fans getting lost and missing the games they paid to come and watch. We broke down signage ideas from the previous year, determining what was lacking and needed improvement, designed signage posts, and went onsite at WakeMed to take dimensions and predict the best routing. Kelly Quigley and I worked on community outreach efforts to involve the surrounding Triangle area as much as possible and spread the word that TST was coming back. We sorted through local soccer clubs, schools, and parks and recreation organizations in order to gain the best picture of who we could connect with. Jared LaVigueur and I compiled training and game schedules, making sure there was no confrontation between overlapping itineraries. We calculated how much time teams needed to get to the stadium from their housing, how much time they needed to train, how long in between games there should be, when the shuttles would arrive and leave, and more.

After working as a spring events intern, I got the opportunity to work on-site at TST that June. It was exhilarating to see all the planning we had done come to life. I worked with an amazing team of interns throughout the tournament. Even through the long hours opening and closing umbrellas when storms rolled in, moving heavy barricade and ground protection mats as games concluded, or simply running at least ten miles around the stadium each day, we had a great time. It was also cool to not just see the events team, but also to work with community and team relations, marketing and advertising, social media and production, and more. I even got the opportunity to work with representatives from Octagon to put on a kid camp event, allowing them to have the experience of playing on the same field and shoot on the same goals as the pros. We organized small-sided games, dribbling and finishing drills with cones and small goals, shooting around a defender, and simply providing the experience of a lifetime for young children and their families.

The fall before I started the spring events internship with TST, I was in a panic. Junior year had snuck up on me, and I thought a big route to my future success was getting an internship with a big company for that upcoming summer. I applied… and applied… and applied… and didn’t really hear back from anybody. It helped remind me that taking advantage of local opportunities was not a bad thing. Dr. Patterson recommended I apply for an internship with Sports Promotions Group , a retail affiliate of SOCCER.COM The internship title was “Event Sales,” which made me a bit hesitant, not sure if I even wanted to consider sales. However, SPG and Soccer.com are based in Hillsborough, only a 15 minute drive from Chapel Hill, and the internship featured extensive travel. I love Chapel Hill, and I love travel, so why not shoot my shot? What if I end up liking sales? I connected and interviewed with Cori May , UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media and Sport Administration alumni, and I got the job!

Throughout this experience, I traveled across the country assisting Sports Promotions Group in event retail for youth soccer leagues such as The ECNL and Girls Academy , but also in-stadium professional soccer events like Celtic Football Club and Manchester City Football Club 's USA Tours. My teams traveled to Seattle, WA., St. Louis, MO., Richmond, VA., Washington D.C., and Notre Dame, IN., where we had to work, but we also got to explore the cities and make lifelong memories. I even worked for SPG at TST for a day! During these trips, I learned about product assortment and inventory for Soccer.com’s brand partners, 耐克 , 阿迪达斯 , and PUMA Group while gaining experience in how to market certain products for certain audiences. I interacted with hundreds of customers each day, guiding them through purchasing decisions and influencing sales. Something that I had never gotten a taste of was being far away from home for long periods of time. For example, we were in St. Louis for two weeks, and then we jumped straight over to Seattle for two weeks, came home for one week, and then were back in action in Richmond for two weeks. I’m not good with change, so this was definitely a step outside of my comfort zone, but I learned how to manage myself and my work while also accounting for changes in the environment.

Now, at the start of my senior year at UNC, I am a Game-Night PR Intern with the Carolina Hurricanes … Yes, another sector of sports. One day in my Career Exploration and Preparation class, Livis Freeman mentioned that the Hurricanes were looking for PR interns to help out with game nights. Hesitant about PR and how it would collide with my soccer schedule, I held back initially, but when I went to ask Livis a question after class, someone asked about the demand, and I thought I might give it a shot. I connected with Michael Sundheim and am now embarking on my newest endeavor. I’m one game in, which was an absolute blast, and I am so excited to see what this season has in store for me.?

If you have made it this far, you can probably tell that my journey has been all over the place. I haven’t had more than one internship in the same sector of sports, and each experience was unique from the others. After taking the time to ponder all that I’ve done, I’m okay with that. Before, I would have thought that I was doing something dumb. Each guest speaker that has spoken in my classes has said something to the extent of, “There are so many opportunities out there that you don’t know about… You don’t know if you like something until you try it out… Take advantage of opportunities in front of you.” I feel that my career journey embodies these statements. My goal through internships has been to discover my passion and learn about different positions I could see myself in one day.?

Sure, not every internship experience is going to be amazing, and you might realize what you are doing is something you absolutely do not want to do in the future. That’s the point of internships, to explore opportunities before you enter full-time work. I can confidently say that without my internship experiences, I would have no idea what my post-grad life would look like. I still don’t, but I think I have narrowed down my options a bit.?

What have I learned? It is good to try new things! Take advantage of opportunities in front of you before it is too late. Every experience is a good experience, and even on rough days, try to force your mind to think about the positives you are gaining out of a situation. You never know where one job might take you. Also, MAKE CONNECTIONS! In this industry, it is all about who you know, so get to know as many people as possible. Someone you met might be able to help you out down the road.