The NCAA Division II bid project as a great learning process in regards to communication, planning, and creativity. It also opened a window to how I handle different types of personalities in a group setting. The outcome of the project was in the realm of my expectations, and I realized a the lessons I am learning in my internship will valuable in the not-so-distant future.
We chose Austin, Texas as the site of our NCAA bid. Our group had six people and we divided the tasks up as evenly as possible. The communication that was required to take place in order to achieve a quality project was critical. Although we had four people living in Seattle, the communication was equal to those of the group members in Florida and Montana. However, we did a fine job and pulled it together with minimal work left to do once we arrived in Seattle this weekend.
The hypothetical planning was a great exercise for expressing ideas and putting them to work in a manner that was both realistic and functional. All members of our group had an area of expertise in which we felt most comfortable. For example, I have been working on participant manuals for events at UW, so I gravitated toward that task. Mindy is an extremely organized person, so she handled the overall organization and power point presentation, and so on for the rest of the group.
The creative element came into my portion of the project when I had to imagine the golf tournament and how things would be organized in a place I had never been. The Bluebonnet Hills Golf Course was hosting our event, with a fabricated event staff, room names, hole numbers, catering service, etc. Knowing how a golf tournament works, at the most basic level, helped my imagination fill in the blanks.
Our group had several different personalities ranging from hands-on (alpha) to laid-back. Several members of the group wanted to take on many tasks and may have been unwilling to give up some control, while others were late to the party and may have been slightly overwhelmed by the amount of initiative by the other members. I found myself being quite proactive until I found the pieces I was working on. At that point I took those pieces and secluded myself until I had it mostly complete. Then I brought them back and received feedback on them, made changes, and submitted them. Our group work was not evenly distributed in the end, but options were not always available for that kind of shared workload.
Moving forward I will feel more confident in taking the work myself and making it fit into a group project. Understanding my role and doing it properly was paramount in the completion of this project. I also learned that if someone is much more aggressive about taking on the bulk of a project, that I will either need to confront it, or let it be. Wavering int the middle of those two tactics only frustrates me and drags the group down.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Ottum Reeflekshun
My internship at the University of Washington has been going well so far this fall. My main focus was the PAC-10 Cross Country Championships on October 30th. For that event I wrote the participant’s manual for all visiting teams, and also placed many of the orders for equipment and personnel. I kept a running soft budget of the items and services purchased and recently have been compiling the hard costs. Volleyball game-day operations have also been on my list of responsibilities. I meet with and brief the ball girls an hour before the game and then make sure they understand their responsibilities throughout pre-game practices and the game. These tasks were much more directly related to the position of my employer, the assistant A.D. of sports operations.
As far as typical intern work I have done a lot of packet stuffing for volleyball ball girls, creating and laminating signs and making copies of course maps for PAC-10 XC Championships, and assisting in course setup for the Sundodger Cross Country Invitational and the PAC-10’s.
In thinking back to my summer classes and how they prepared me for the internship that I am now involved in, the most memorable piece has been networking. During the cross country championships administrative meeting I shook hands with the head track and field coach at Cal-Berkeley and told him I would be coming to town in January. He was interested to sit down and chat and gave me his card to be in touch when I arrive in California. In addition, I was working directly with the associate commissioner of the PAC-10 Conference and she also invited me to come talk when I arrive in California, as they are located close to Berkeley, in Walnut Creek. These will be two important contacts for getting my next internship off the ground in January.
Another aspect I took forward into my internship is making a good impression by working hard. I show up at the discussed times, I get the tasks done that are necessary for a given time frame, and I report any questions or concerns straight to my superior. I feel that I get the jobs done in a timely manner and apply myself at all the right moments, and thusly will earn myself a strong recommendation from Karen Baebler. In addition, I’m sure she will be a great mentor for me moving forward, specifically if I stay working in sports operations or events management.
As far as typical intern work I have done a lot of packet stuffing for volleyball ball girls, creating and laminating signs and making copies of course maps for PAC-10 XC Championships, and assisting in course setup for the Sundodger Cross Country Invitational and the PAC-10’s.
In thinking back to my summer classes and how they prepared me for the internship that I am now involved in, the most memorable piece has been networking. During the cross country championships administrative meeting I shook hands with the head track and field coach at Cal-Berkeley and told him I would be coming to town in January. He was interested to sit down and chat and gave me his card to be in touch when I arrive in California. In addition, I was working directly with the associate commissioner of the PAC-10 Conference and she also invited me to come talk when I arrive in California, as they are located close to Berkeley, in Walnut Creek. These will be two important contacts for getting my next internship off the ground in January.
Another aspect I took forward into my internship is making a good impression by working hard. I show up at the discussed times, I get the tasks done that are necessary for a given time frame, and I report any questions or concerns straight to my superior. I feel that I get the jobs done in a timely manner and apply myself at all the right moments, and thusly will earn myself a strong recommendation from Karen Baebler. In addition, I’m sure she will be a great mentor for me moving forward, specifically if I stay working in sports operations or events management.
Week 8 Sosheeologee
For this week the main project was a YAP (Youth Activities Project). It was extremely interesting to see how, even in a city of culturally aware as Seattle, that there are still children (specifically those of lower income families) that do have the opportunities to compete in youth activities. We looked into such sports as swimming, tennis, soccer, and basketball to see the differences in availability, cost-effectiveness, and practice times. This was an eye-opening exercise for many of us as we realized that socio-economic factors play a huge role in youth activities, specifically sports. We focused our efforts on swimming and found that not only is it extremely expensive to register your child for a swim program, but the “pay-in” wait-lists can upwards of 10 years. This is not economically wise for families to be paying year after year to have a child on a swim team that may or may not set them up for success in the future. Many families in lower socio-economic brackets are forced to enroll their children in school-sponsored sports, which do not get the same amount of funding, attention from collegiate scouts, or the coaching caliber as club activities.
On the final day of class we had a discussion with Bob Kustra, the president of Boise State University. He gave us an in-depth look at how the president of a major football university views the athletic department, and the chain of command in decisions made throughout a university. Mr. Kustra was very informative and interesting. I’m pretty sure every student in the IAL program is now interested in working at Boise State. There appears to be a lot of school pride, founded in athletics, even through to the president of the university, whom are normally more academically focused.
In going forward, I would like to be more active in community sports for kids and making them more accessible and affordable. I’m unaware of how I can affect that in my given career path, but I am pleased to be more knowledgeable about that issue. If I end up in a coaching position, it would be beneficial to recruit from the school system as well as the club system. I have found myself in quite a few conversations about this issue, and it’s really good to have that knowledge in my back pocket.
On the final day of class we had a discussion with Bob Kustra, the president of Boise State University. He gave us an in-depth look at how the president of a major football university views the athletic department, and the chain of command in decisions made throughout a university. Mr. Kustra was very informative and interesting. I’m pretty sure every student in the IAL program is now interested in working at Boise State. There appears to be a lot of school pride, founded in athletics, even through to the president of the university, whom are normally more academically focused.
In going forward, I would like to be more active in community sports for kids and making them more accessible and affordable. I’m unaware of how I can affect that in my given career path, but I am pleased to be more knowledgeable about that issue. If I end up in a coaching position, it would be beneficial to recruit from the school system as well as the club system. I have found myself in quite a few conversations about this issue, and it’s really good to have that knowledge in my back pocket.
Week 7 Huemon Reeshorses
This week was one of the more challenging weeks for me due to the instruction and leadership of the class itself. I thought the material was somewhat interesting as we talked about the diversity hiring, religion, homophobia, and student rights. Many people in the class have been patiently waiting to discuss these issues. However, I did not feel the instructors were open to class discussions and intellectual banter between differing beliefs, as we would see in our jobs one day. It seemed as if the instructors were ignoring that many people are going to work in the South, or other parts of the country that may be more conservative in their views of these issues. I felt as if we were being talked down to and treated as adolescents most of the week and I wish it had not been that way. The knowledge and experience were certainly there, but the sharing of ideas was missing.
We also worked on a contract assignment on the second day of class, which was very interesting to me. We had three head coach candidates for a job, all with different demands for pay and benefits, but also differing in experience and overall talent. Each coach (in groups of 4-5) was interviewed by the institution (also a group of 4-5) and then a decision was made as to who would be hired. I turned out that the financial portion of the hiring was much less important than other factors. The most expensive coach was hired, even though the one requesting the lowest salary also had the highest win percentage, but was from a Division II background. The needs of a particular institution are not always conducive to a particular coach, even if they seem like the obvious choice. This assignment seemed to cause a bit of a riff between some of the classmates, although my group was oblivious to the chatter from that day.
In taking this into my career it will be good to remember that hiring people has a lot of factors involved. Both the factors put forward by the applicant, but also the needs and desires of the institution itself. Looking back on week two when we investigated our moral compasses, and applying that to what we learned this week in our human resources class, I realize that holding on to our personal (and institutional) core values will be a factor in hiring the right candidate for the job.
We also worked on a contract assignment on the second day of class, which was very interesting to me. We had three head coach candidates for a job, all with different demands for pay and benefits, but also differing in experience and overall talent. Each coach (in groups of 4-5) was interviewed by the institution (also a group of 4-5) and then a decision was made as to who would be hired. I turned out that the financial portion of the hiring was much less important than other factors. The most expensive coach was hired, even though the one requesting the lowest salary also had the highest win percentage, but was from a Division II background. The needs of a particular institution are not always conducive to a particular coach, even if they seem like the obvious choice. This assignment seemed to cause a bit of a riff between some of the classmates, although my group was oblivious to the chatter from that day.
In taking this into my career it will be good to remember that hiring people has a lot of factors involved. Both the factors put forward by the applicant, but also the needs and desires of the institution itself. Looking back on week two when we investigated our moral compasses, and applying that to what we learned this week in our human resources class, I realize that holding on to our personal (and institutional) core values will be a factor in hiring the right candidate for the job.
Week 6 Funracing n' Davelupmint
This week was more interesting than I thought it would be in regards to fundraising and development. I am not much of a salesman or a numbers person, so I was nervous coming into this class. After the first day of class I realized that it was not necessarily about selling, but was more about creating an emotion for your product. The product, in our particular case, is the brand of your university. There are many people, alumni on particular, that identify with a school for a number of reasons. Some of them because they graduated from there, some because of an academic or athletic tradition, and even some that just love the school colors. Whatever the reasons may be, they are all potential donors. These people do not need to be “sold” on the greatness of the school, but only facilitated to give back.
For my final project I had to create a booklet, pamphlet, or flyer that would help convince your shareholders to contribute to an endowment scholarship fund. In my case, I created a school and it was the Vermont State University. I touted a rich athletic experience coupled with the athletes appreciation for the financial help. The project let me use creativity, which I was happy to have found, to create this piece. I was extremely satisfied with the outcome and hope to use it as an example of my work moving forward.
The class this week taught me that fundraising and development does not have to be a daunting task, and in the right context, can be quite enjoyable. With such a necessity for this kind of work, I gained a new respect for the art of creating emotion and obtaining monetary value from it. I will not be working in this field, as it is not my cup of tea, but I feel great about my new stance on the subject.
For my final project I had to create a booklet, pamphlet, or flyer that would help convince your shareholders to contribute to an endowment scholarship fund. In my case, I created a school and it was the Vermont State University. I touted a rich athletic experience coupled with the athletes appreciation for the financial help. The project let me use creativity, which I was happy to have found, to create this piece. I was extremely satisfied with the outcome and hope to use it as an example of my work moving forward.
The class this week taught me that fundraising and development does not have to be a daunting task, and in the right context, can be quite enjoyable. With such a necessity for this kind of work, I gained a new respect for the art of creating emotion and obtaining monetary value from it. I will not be working in this field, as it is not my cup of tea, but I feel great about my new stance on the subject.
Week 5 Leegle Ish-yous in ICA
This week we studied law as it pertains to intercollegiate athletics. It was a much more interesting class than I had imagined. I was not terribly interested in the specific types of law and descriptions of specific terms; However, I was very intrigued by the case studies. We took a look into some crucial lawsuits between athletes, higher education, the NCAA, professional sports, and private citizens. John Morris was a fine instructor and really made the calls fun and interesting.
Studying situations that we may come across in our careers as leaders in intercollegiate athletics is extremely beneficial to the overall value of this degree. In the case that we studied, and wrote about, in assignment #3 (in-class), we confronted a women’s basketball team that had issues with a National Letter of Intent. A coach brought in a recruiting class, and then the coach was fired and went to a rival school. One of the girls that signed wanted to transfer to the coach’s new school. The debate, and corresponding writing assignment, was whether or not we would release the girl from her NLI obligation and let her play for the coach she was recruited by.
The debate was well debated on both sides and reminded us that there is no perfect solution to any one problem. There are several different ways to look at every decision we will be faced with and it is important to get feedback and input from your colleagues. This takes me back to our class on fierce conversations, and specifically the “beach ball conversations”. These are group discussions where several different people contribute ideas to come to a solid conclusion or decision on a topic. This can be valuable in making decision that can affect your university or a student-athlete for many years.
Studying situations that we may come across in our careers as leaders in intercollegiate athletics is extremely beneficial to the overall value of this degree. In the case that we studied, and wrote about, in assignment #3 (in-class), we confronted a women’s basketball team that had issues with a National Letter of Intent. A coach brought in a recruiting class, and then the coach was fired and went to a rival school. One of the girls that signed wanted to transfer to the coach’s new school. The debate, and corresponding writing assignment, was whether or not we would release the girl from her NLI obligation and let her play for the coach she was recruited by.
The debate was well debated on both sides and reminded us that there is no perfect solution to any one problem. There are several different ways to look at every decision we will be faced with and it is important to get feedback and input from your colleagues. This takes me back to our class on fierce conversations, and specifically the “beach ball conversations”. These are group discussions where several different people contribute ideas to come to a solid conclusion or decision on a topic. This can be valuable in making decision that can affect your university or a student-athlete for many years.
Week 4 Stoodint Populashuns
Blog – Student Populations Week 4
This week we took a class with Professor Joe Lott on Student Populations. This was an extremely interesting week for me as we dealt with many issues in intercollegiate athletics. These topics include student athlete academic services, Americans obsession with sport and success, and issues of race in intercollegiate athletics. Although these topics may appear to be unrelated, it was apparent after this week that they are closely tied to one another.
Kim Durand was our guest speaker mid-week and spoke to us about student-athlete academic services. Coming into the discussion I was not at all interested in that as a career field, but the topic we spoke of certainly caught my attention. Realizing that student-athlete academic services goes much further than simply tutoring student-athletes, and actually involves protecting them and helping them become more well rounded people. It appears after Ms. Durand’s lecture that I could find myself quite interested in this aspect of intercollegiate athletics. In moving forward I am going to speak to my internship in Berkeley about the possibility of working with some student-athletes in this format.
Another speaker that we had this week was Eric Davis. He spoke to us about race relations in universities and colleges and how they affect student-athletes. Many of us believe that race relations have improved greatly over the past several decades, but what Mr. Davis pointed out was that racism may go deeper than we even imagine, and it is institutionally and systemically engrained in our society, and even more specifically in our educational system. This will be something to be aware of, and possibly address, in my career as a leader in college athletics. I’m sure we will touch on much of this again when we study sociology in week eight.
Finally, this week’s final project was in a group format and addressed our ideas of how to graduate more student-athletes. In groups of four we wrote an eight-page paper on the topics of wellness, education, leadership development, and social development. Each of these four categories are crucial in improving the graduation rates of student-athletes across the country. As educators we must teach students more than what they can learn in the classroom, but also hold them accountable for their development in human relations, mental and physical wellness, and as leaders.
This week’s class with Joe Lott was very well balanced as far as the topics we covered. The academic schedule for the week was structured to show us the multi-faceted and multi-layered obstacles we face as educators. In looking forward to topic number one of our final project for the IAL program, this week granted me a lot of information about what it means to be an educator.
This week we took a class with Professor Joe Lott on Student Populations. This was an extremely interesting week for me as we dealt with many issues in intercollegiate athletics. These topics include student athlete academic services, Americans obsession with sport and success, and issues of race in intercollegiate athletics. Although these topics may appear to be unrelated, it was apparent after this week that they are closely tied to one another.
Kim Durand was our guest speaker mid-week and spoke to us about student-athlete academic services. Coming into the discussion I was not at all interested in that as a career field, but the topic we spoke of certainly caught my attention. Realizing that student-athlete academic services goes much further than simply tutoring student-athletes, and actually involves protecting them and helping them become more well rounded people. It appears after Ms. Durand’s lecture that I could find myself quite interested in this aspect of intercollegiate athletics. In moving forward I am going to speak to my internship in Berkeley about the possibility of working with some student-athletes in this format.
Another speaker that we had this week was Eric Davis. He spoke to us about race relations in universities and colleges and how they affect student-athletes. Many of us believe that race relations have improved greatly over the past several decades, but what Mr. Davis pointed out was that racism may go deeper than we even imagine, and it is institutionally and systemically engrained in our society, and even more specifically in our educational system. This will be something to be aware of, and possibly address, in my career as a leader in college athletics. I’m sure we will touch on much of this again when we study sociology in week eight.
Finally, this week’s final project was in a group format and addressed our ideas of how to graduate more student-athletes. In groups of four we wrote an eight-page paper on the topics of wellness, education, leadership development, and social development. Each of these four categories are crucial in improving the graduation rates of student-athletes across the country. As educators we must teach students more than what they can learn in the classroom, but also hold them accountable for their development in human relations, mental and physical wellness, and as leaders.
This week’s class with Joe Lott was very well balanced as far as the topics we covered. The academic schedule for the week was structured to show us the multi-faceted and multi-layered obstacles we face as educators. In looking forward to topic number one of our final project for the IAL program, this week granted me a lot of information about what it means to be an educator.
Week 3 Budgit 'n Fynanshal Reepourtin'
Blog – Budget and Financial Reporting Week 3
This week’s class was on accounting, which I was dreading from when I first saw it on the program syllabus. On the first day of class, Professor Hodge asked what we would like to take away from an accounting class. I raised my hand and said that I would want to know enough to hire someone and know that my accounting numbers would be correct and I was not being taken advantage of. However, after having a week with professor Hodge, and learning that accounting doesn’t have to be intimidating, I actually began to respect the field a bit more. I stand by my claim that I would still hire someone with an accounting background, instead of trying to do it myself, but I at least appreciate the craft.
One the things I took away from the class was that just because a university or organization shows a huge number on the “income statement”, does not mean they are operating in the black (positive), as the expenses report is extremely important to the overall picture. A “snapshot” of a period of time is a good way to get an idea of the direction things are going, and what steps might need to be taken to improve the outlook.
This class relates to the rest of the program in the sense that it reminded us to take into consideration the big picture, and how our decisions as administrators do not always end with our tenure. Often times decisions we make can have an affect for many years, or decades in the future. This includes positive decisions and negative ones. More specifically, I can see our accounting class tying into Jennifer Hoffman’s class on decision-making using data. In looking at numbers, most importantly accurate ones, you can gather a lot of information and use it to make informed decisions.
This week’s class was on accounting, which I was dreading from when I first saw it on the program syllabus. On the first day of class, Professor Hodge asked what we would like to take away from an accounting class. I raised my hand and said that I would want to know enough to hire someone and know that my accounting numbers would be correct and I was not being taken advantage of. However, after having a week with professor Hodge, and learning that accounting doesn’t have to be intimidating, I actually began to respect the field a bit more. I stand by my claim that I would still hire someone with an accounting background, instead of trying to do it myself, but I at least appreciate the craft.
One the things I took away from the class was that just because a university or organization shows a huge number on the “income statement”, does not mean they are operating in the black (positive), as the expenses report is extremely important to the overall picture. A “snapshot” of a period of time is a good way to get an idea of the direction things are going, and what steps might need to be taken to improve the outlook.
This class relates to the rest of the program in the sense that it reminded us to take into consideration the big picture, and how our decisions as administrators do not always end with our tenure. Often times decisions we make can have an affect for many years, or decades in the future. This includes positive decisions and negative ones. More specifically, I can see our accounting class tying into Jennifer Hoffman’s class on decision-making using data. In looking at numbers, most importantly accurate ones, you can gather a lot of information and use it to make informed decisions.
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