Week 7: Game Time- Final Presentations

Wednesday concluded the final day of our group sessions. It was a fun and busy day filled with group presentations, a lively guest speaker and a good-bye lunch. Each presentation had to be 10-15 minutes long and needed to include the process of our projects, the goals we had set and the individual tasks we had completed. Our group, the athletic district promotional video group, presented first, followed by the Buckeye Bash group and then the Scarlet and Gray Games group. For more information on the final group projects click on the Group Projects tab above.

Following presentations was our guest speaker, Steve Graef. Graef is a sports psychologist and former student-athlete at Ohio State and was so full of energy. He first talked about his personal journey as an example of his advice to us on the process of reaching our goals. According to Graef, the initial step needs to be “Finding your IT,” or identifying the goals you want in life. Next, once you know what your IT is you need to figure out “Why do you want IT?” What is the reason behind wanting to reach this goal? After you know why, you need to figure out “Who do you need to be to accomplish IT,” what characteristics, skills, strengths and values do you need to possess to achieve your goals? Finally, “How will you accomplish IT?” Brainstorm the steps/ process you need to go through to obtain your goals. Graef then went on to list 12 tips for us as we enter the professional world:

  1. Chart your course- know the directions to get where you’re going 
  2. MAP it out- Mastery Autonomy Purpose
  3. Discover your sweet spot- where strength passion and money collide (also talked about by Coach Patrick Klein) 
  4. Take care of yourself
  5. Serve others- leaders serve their teams 
  6. Take baby steps- small steps lead big changes
  7. Learn to say “YES”- making the most of opportunities today adds experience that can make a difference in the future
  8. Listen to your gut- not just in the professional world but in all aspects of life 
  9. Water the bamboo- trust the process, just because you don’t see immediate results doesn’t mean they won’t exist later
  10. Picture success- what the mind believes the body achieves 
  11. Get out of your own way- fear is false evidence appearing real, let out your inner child 
  12. Find balance- work hard, play hard

My favorite tip Graef gave us was #11 about getting out of your own way and expressing your inner-child. He used the example of when you are little you just go for everything such as playing tag at recess, and looking so uncoordinated while running but you don’t care because you’re having the time of your life. When you’re little you just go for things because you want to. Over the years society has masked how we think we should act, making it difficult to get out of our comfort zones and compressing the inner-child within us. Graef explained that when you can be truly comfortable with yourself and passionate about what you are doing  success will come easily.

The day ended with a quick thank you from our supervisors along with an exclamation point lunch of pizza and salad from Adriatico’s. We all said our thank you’s and good byes and headed out with only one day left in our area internships.

Week 7: Game Time

Crazily enough, we are in the midst of the final week of the BucksGoPro internship. Martin Jarmond, executive associate AD, was the guest speaker to start off Monday morning. Jarmond is the Sports Administrator for Baseball, Football, Men’s Basketball, Men’s Golf, Women’s Golf, Pistol, Rifle and Spirit Teams along with being in charge of football scheduling. Jarmond has a very energetic personality and was not afraid to call any of the interns out for yawning and still being half asleep Monday morning. As Jarmond spoke you could tell how passionate he was about his job and sports, he was a former student-athlete and loves helping other student-athletes. He talked about his journey to get to where he is today and lessons he learned along the way such as:

  • “Don’t count another man’s change”– meaning don’t worry about what everyone else is doing, focus on yourself
  • Just Do Your Job (JDYJ)
  • “Play good in the game”– be prepared and ready to perform and produce
  • “Don’t major in minors.” While it is important to pay attention to details it is not necessary to worry about the little things.

BGP_MartinAfter Jarmond left us with his words of wisdom every intern presented what they had done in their area internships. Overall, everyone had a lot to talk about and seemed to be very busy the past six weeks working on various projects. While not all of us are the best public speakers it was good practice for our future careers.

Week 6: Learn to Lead- Alum Creek

We had a very rainy start to our Wednesday morning and we soon learned that it would be getting even more wet as the day continued. All we were told to do was  meet at the Adventure Recreation Center (ARC) and to wear a bathing suit under our clothes. As soon as everyone got there we piled into 3 different vans with trailers hooked to the back of them carrying canoes and paddle boards. We were on our way to an exciting day at Alum Creek, a 3,387 acre reservoir located in Delaware, OH just 25 minutes north of campus.

Once we got there we were randomly split into two groups and taken to opposite sides of the creek. On the opposite sides we started an activity similar to the behavioral assessment we did on Monday to teach us what our leadership styles are and how to apply them in everyday life. The four styles consisted of “Drivers” who like to take charge, Analysts and Architects who pay attention to detail, “Relationship Masters” who think with their feelings and want everyone to be happy and the “Motivators” who extremely passionate. Once everyone figured out there particular style we were then separated into groups of four to work directly with members of rec sports, who specifically work in the outdoor recreation center (OAC).

The first station we went to we discussed the decision making process and how decisions are made varying on the situation and the environment you are in. The next activity was more hands on and involved a lot of communication and cooperation amongst the group. There were three pieces of ten foot tall pieces of wood drilled together in the shape of an A and we were instructed to move it from the start to the finish line with 4 ropes. However, you had to remain at least five feet away from every point of the A. We were not allowed to drag the structure and at least one point of it had to be touching the ground at all times. There also had to be one group member balancing on the A and was not permitted to touch the ground or we would have to start over. As soon as we fully understood the instructions we began brainstorming, it was decided that we were going to lay the A flat on the ground and tie the ropes to the three points. I was chosen to be the one balancing in the middle and had to move to the back of the A if were moving the front and to the front if we were moving the back. Thirteen minutes later and about 30 small steps we finally reached the finish line. While we did have the fastest time of any group to complete the task the instructor informed us that we did not do it the most efficient way which would have been to stand the A straight up and use the ropes for tension to have the person in the middle walk with it like they were on stilts. Even though we made it a lot more difficult than it needed to be our group did a really good job of listening to one another and communicating how to get from point A to point B together.

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We next got to take the canoes and paddle boards we had been so anxious to ride on since we left across the lake towhere the other group started. Five us we able to use the paddle boards and the other three were in the canoes, I was on a paddle board which I had never used before and caught on pretty quickly. Once we got to the other side we got back into our groups of four and where two more activities waited for us. The first one my group went to we discussed the timeline of people who have had a large impact on our lives and what type of personality style they had and how it affected us. Majority of my group talked about family members and coaches and that when people have opposite leadership styles from us it can be frustrating but it can also challenge us in a positive way.

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The final activity of the day was a game where we split up into two teams along with an instructor. One person was blind folded, one person could only talk but not see the blind folded person behind them while the third person could not talk but could see the blindfolded person and use hand singles to tell the talker what to say. The mute person was given a card with instructions on it to gesture to the talker so they could tell the blind person what to do. The instructions were simple like bend over and pick up a ball and throw it at the other person. However it was extremely difficult to communicate that when each participant is missing one of their essential senses. My team was victorious and had completed each task the fastest even after switching roles. We  decided that it was because we trusted each other and were fully committed to accomplishing each assigned action.

We finished the day with lunch and could not thank all the members of Rec Sports that helped us yesterday, it was a blast and each activity really helped us encompass what our true leadership styles were.

Week 6: Learn to Lead

First thing Monday morning we were introduced to a panel of head coaches at Ohio State, Lori Walker from women’s soccer, Geoff Carlston from women’s volleyball and Bill Wadley from men’s swimming. The main topic of discussion was leadership and how each coach acts as leaders themselves and what they expect from captains on their team. Wadley, who has been a coach at Ohio State for 25 years talked a lot about his experiences as a coach over the years and how times have changed with athletes. He explained that its no longer just black and white and that you need to be understanding of every athletes background.  Walker, who has been coaching at Ohio State for 17 years, talked about the impression leaders have on the team and those who follow them can be influenced positively or negatively. She also talked about how she personally, has to balance the difference between being a leader and a dictator as a coach. For example asking the entire team to stay for summer session. It’s easy to tell the team that they all need to stay in the summer but she also needed to explain to them that last season they tied for eighth and that is unexceptable. In order to be the best you need to do what the best teams are doing and in this case that means staying the entire summer and training on campus.

Next, Geoff Carlston, who has been coaching volleyball at Ohio State for seven years, compared the differences between coaching a women’s team verse a men’s team. He said when coaching women they take every general comment personally while men will blame one another. When he is leading his team he needs to think about what he says before he says it and how they will react. Carlston also described negative players on teams to Eeyore, the character from Winnie the Pooh. He said that “Eeyores” can be cancerous cells that spread throughout the team and can lead to an unsuccessful season. “Be anyone but Eeyore, be Pooh or Piglet, be Tigger or even the Owl but don’t be Eeyore.” It was very entertaining  to watch these coaches attempt share a stage together. They are all born leaders and wanted to be the head of the discussion.

After a quick break we were then introduced to Brandon Wright, who works in the compliance office at the University of Cincinnati and presents DiSC assessments for the NCAA. The DiSC assessment is a behavioral model that shows your leadership style based on 15-20 minute questionnaire we had previously taken. There are 4 basic

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DiSC styles, D for dominance, i for influence, S for steadiness and C for conscientious. No one style is better than the other and everyone is a combination of all four styles but lean more toward two of the styles. Essentially, if you are categorized as a D you like immediate results, challenging yourself and others and winning. D’s fear losing control, being taken advantage of and come off impatient and insensitive. On the other side, i’s like expressing enthusiasm, encouraging collaboration and enjoy group activities. However, i’s fear social rejection, can be disorganized and don’t always follow through. S’s are similar to i’s and enjoy collaboration and maintaining stability, they are good listeners and team players but hate confrontation and offending others. C’s are all about being accurate and challenging assumptions. They pay close attention to detail, fear criticism and being wrong.

Personally, I was directly in between being an S and an i, which surprisingly applied perfectly to my personality and how I interact with others.

The last part of our day was an informational discussion with members of the ticket office. Brett Scarbrough, assistant AD, ticketing and premium seating, Josh Larson, assistant ticketing director and customer service and Matt Carabajal, associate ticket director and operations talked about their personal journeys getting into the ticket office.  The three members explained to us what goes on in the daily life of a ticket office between pricing tickets, dealing with customer service and how to classify how many tickets will be sold. It was very interesting to hear the operations behind a department that we all use so frequently but know little about.

Week 5: So You Want a Job?- Resume/ Cover Letter Workshop

Going into Wednesday morning we were required to have a hard copy of our resume and cover letters with the changes made from the feedback given to us on Monday. The first thing we did was exchange our newly altered resumes with the person next to us. Brittany Savko, the front desk coordinator and resume tutor at the Student-Athlete Support Service Office (SASSO), took us step by step on how to properly format and edit one anothers resumes.  We started at the very top with the heading and worked our way down to the Education, Professional Experience, Intercollegiate Athletics and Volunteer Experience sections. Savko emphasized how important it is to quantify what you do, for example if you are volunteering once a week make sure you say weekly and if you are dealing with a budget add the amount you are working with. We also discussed the importance of adding transferable skills to our Intercollegiate Athletics sections instead of listing all of the awards and accomplishments we’ve received  to maintain relevance in our resumes. We were also advised to keep a master resume of all of our experiences and then narrow it down to one page when applying for specific jobs.

Next, we moved onto our cover letters where we again went from top to bottom learning the correct formatting and what to say in each paragraph. The most significant take away I got from editing our cover letters was; don’t repeat what you’ve already put on your resume, you’re cover letter is your chance to show employers how you write, impress them! 

We were then split up into our group project groups where they asked us to brainstorm and write up what we would put on our resumes for this internship, specifically for the group projects. After a lot of rewording we finally came up with:

  • Produced promotional video for proposed $XXXXX athletic facilities 
  •       Coordinated and scheduled, interview dates, location, discussion topics and attire 
  •       recorded 20 interviews with members of the athletic department 

Because we are all doing different tasks in our area internships the other bullet points that will be included will vary.

To wrap up the day we had an open discussion to answer any questions we had about the interview process. While majority of our questions were situational, Savko gave us some helpful tips for doing phone or Skype interviews:

  • Dress the part
  • Prepare your surrounding ahead of time
  • Practice first
  • SMILE!
  • Stay present- make sure you’re listening
  • Keep a copy of your resume in front of you (phone interviews only)
  • Address technical problems ahead of time
  • DO YOUR RESEARCH

Week 5: So You Want a Job?

Week 5 is solely dedicated to helping all of the interns prepare for future careers. Monday was devoted to showing the interns how to utilize all of the resources offered on campus such as, Career Connections, Buckeye Careers and SASSO. We also got the opportunity to sit down and meet with the director of our specific colleges. The majority of the group is in the Fisher College of Business while the rest are in arts and sciences and education and human ecology. I am in the college of arts and sciences along with 3 other interns and we got to meet with the director of Arts and Sciences Career Services, Stephanie Ford,who advised us to “obsessively stalk 20 companies that you would like to work for.” She told us to follow them on Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin to learn as much as we possibly can about the company and that they could possibly be posting about new job openings. She also encouraged us to spend 90 minutes a week researching jobs for our future careers, seeing whats out there and what job titles sound appealing to us.

At the end of all the presentations and guest speakers we were handed feedback on the cover letters and resumes that we had submitted when we applied for this internship. As homework we are supposed to return Wednesday morning with revised copies of both for the team of employees working with us to review and critique.

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Week 4: Columbus Convention Center/ Crew Stadium

Wednesday brought another full day of of trips and tours around Columbus. The first stop was the Columbus Convention Center, where they were preparing for the second largest Horticulture Convention in the world. The convention center was so big it felt like we were walking through an airport with signs directing us to the ballrooms, meeting rooms and exhibit halls along with a vast amount of escalators. There were construction workers hanging strings of butterflies from the ceilings while others transformed the 410,00 sq. ft. of exhibit halls with displays for various plants and flowers.Beside from being well known for holding various conventions the convention center also holds numerous athletics events such as fencing tournaments, volleyball tournaments and cheerleading competitions. They are capable of transforming their  3 exhibit halls to 60 individual volleyball courts. We also got to see the Batelle Grand, which is a new multipurpose ballroom that can seat up to 3,000 people and has been used for everything from weddings to large conferences. The lighting above the Batelle Grand was filled  with beautiful, multicolored lights that you can set to whatever color scheme you wish. At the end of the tour we got the chance to sit down and talk in one of  the 65 meeting rooms to the general manager, John Page, who had also been a student-athlete at Ohio State. He explained to us his journey and how he went to graduate school at Ohio State for sports administration and how much it benefitted his career.

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Next stop, the Columbus Crew Stadium. Right when we arrived at the stadium we began our tour, starting directly on top of the field. To my surprise the field was completely grass and not turf and had maintenance mowing and watering it to prepare for next weeks games. Next, we got see the group party tents that large parties can rent out to eat and socialize before the games. In the tents there were banners of  all the teams in the MLS and I also learned that the Crew was the first team to start the MLS in 1996. The history and credibility of the team is the main reason why the Crew Stadium was selected to host the USA vs Mexico game in 2013. We then got to see both the home and visiting locker rooms and the facilities manager explained to us that the visitors locker was strategically designed to make the other team feel uncomfortable. The walls are bright yellow and there are high taping tables located directly in the middle of the room so the visiting coach cannot see his entire team in one spot in the locker room. The players also do not get there own individual stalls but rather a community bench that borders the locker room. The Crew locker room was the exact opposite, it had a very clean cut feel to it with a lot of open space and the largest white board that could possibly fit in the room. We were then taken all around the stadium to the suites and media rooms until we had done a complete circle and ended in the press conference room where we finished our tour.  

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Week 4: Outside the Bubble- Huntington Park/ Nationwide Arena

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Already in week 4, we started Monday morning off again with a chartered CABS ride to downtown Columbus. Our first stop was Huntington Park where the  the minor league baseball team, the Columbus Clippers play. As soon as we got there we were introduced to the director of marketing, Mark Galuska,  as well as the director of communications/ media relations and team historian, Joe Santry.  Both Galuska and Santry gave us a full tour of the facility starting upstairs in the suites and media room and then down to the batting cages and dugout followed by the upstairs bar piled full of Clippers history. Since Santry is the team historian he had a story for every place in the park that we went and was very proud of the bar that he researched and filled with historical pictures and artifacts. Even the bar top featured a timeline from when the program started to the more recent events. Our final stop was the bleacher seats with the secluded roosters concession stand. On our way out Galuska as the director of marketing pointed out all of the decorations on the walls such as the black and white photos that looked as if they were painted onto the brick walls as well as the Nationwide advertisements that embodied their motto “life comes at you fast” with a baseball essence.
Once our tour at Huntington Park was done we walked down the street to Nationwide Arena. Our first stop of our tour was the top floor (or what we thought was the top floor at the time) in the room where all of the sound, light and scoreboard controls are handled. Then we climbed a ladder to go up into the ceiling of the arena and when we didn’t think we could go much higher we crossed the catwalk looking straight down at the lowered scoreboard in the middle of the court and climbed a ramp and another set of stairs that led us to where the goal horn was stored.  

Natiowide_2Luckily, the goal horn was disabled because if it went off while someone was standing in front of it they could easily go deaf. After we climbed down the ladder and were safely back on the ground we went all the way down to the bottom floor where we met the ice manager who is responsible for the the installation of the ice as well as the melting and removing of it and the tending of it when it needs to be covered for a concert or another event. He also makes sure all of the zamboni’s are working properly. Next we talked to Gary O’Brien who works in communications at Nationwide but is not only one of the BucksGoPro supervisors but he is also the program development director at the Schottenstein Center and works with Melissa Rennie for her internship. Our last stop was the TV room where there were easily 20 TV’s around the entire room and we got to learn about all of the different dynamics it takes to broadcast a sporting event such as someone directing which camera is being broadcasted when.  

After a long day of tours it was really eye-opening how many different operations go into not only running a professional sports team but also a large facility. It was very interesting to see people working in sports outside of just sports management and public relations but also people who work on the technology side of it as well as in facilities management.

Week 3: Buckeyes Give Back- Life Sports Camp

photoAfter a great day of volunteering at the Ronald McDonald House we were thrown into another eventful day of volunteering, but this time for Life Sports Camp. Life Sports is a 4 week long camp that is offered to inner-city Columbus kids free of cost. At camp the kids learn the how to play different sports and in a recreational and structured atmosphere. This week happened to be the last week of the camp and the camp olympics so all of us volunteers were split up and assigned to a specific sport and field or court. The group I was in along with seven of the other interns was the football group, where we either refereed the game or kept track of the time and score. The other groups included basketball where the interns had similar jobs as we did at football but they got to be inside in the air-conditioned R-PAC. The other group worked with track where they lined the kids up by age and they raced in the 100, 200, 400 and 800 meter dashes.

While I was a time and score keeper for the football games I got the opportunity to talk and meet a lot of the campers. There was one group of 6-10 year olds doing cartwheels and flips on the sidelines who I went over to talk to because I struggle doing a summersault and asked them to teach me something. Without hesitation they decided to teach me how to do a handstand and with their strict instructions to “squeeze your butt and put your feet together” by my fifth or sixth try I was successful!

The end of the day came quick and the counsellors called the end of the game and led the kids back to to the outside of French Field House where about 20 CABS busses were waiting to take all the kids back home. One of the BucksGoPro interns, Khara Walker, worked at Life Sports for her specific department. It was really interesting to see what she did in her area work on a daily basis, while we do get to see all of the other interns on Monday and Wednesdays and hear about what each others doing we never get the chance to actually experience the work, and Life Sports camp was hard work.

Week 3: Buckeyes Give Back- Ronald McDonald House

Week 3 has been solely dedicated to volunteer work at nonprofit organizations such as the Ronald McDonald House and Life Sports camps. Monday morning we were introduced to Dee Anders, Executive Director and CEO of Ronald McDonald House of Central Ohio. Anders explained to us that the purpose of the Ronald McDonald House is to house the families who have a child in the hospital, specifically Nationwide Children’s Hospital, so that they can be close by without worrying about paying for a hotel. The only criteria for staying in the House is that you have a child in the hospital and you live outside Franklin County, otherwise it is free of cost to stay. Another major use of  the House is if a child has been released from the hospital and lives out of town and needs to stay in Columbus for weekly check-ups the House welcomes them with open arms. After Anders finished teaching us all about the amazing things the House offers we got to go and volunteer to gain first hand experience there.

As soon as we got to the House we were immediately put to work, they split us into two groups; a mulching group and a bed making group. The mulching group went outside and mulched the court yard while the bed making group stripped down the newly donated TempurPedic beds and put the mattress pad and bed liners in the correct order. The Columbus House is the biggest Ronald McDonald House in the entire world, with 121 rooms and the newly donated beds that we had made where in the brand new wing of the House that will open before August.

After all of our work was done we got to go on a full tour of the House, which was my favorite part of the whole day. It is remarkable to see how much support the Columbus community has given to such a great organization and it is evident in almost every room of the House. Large organizations such as the Columbus Blue Jackets along with the wives of the Blue Jackets, The Lady Jackets, designed and furnished two separate rooms including  a full game room along  with old school video games. The Columbus Crew also designed and donated a workout room filled with treadmills, ellipticals and weight machines surrounded by bright yellow walls with black accents. There were also multiple Ohio State themed rooms and murals in the hallways as well as rooms donated by Coach Thad Matta and Coach Jim Tressel. There are also 4 full kitchens, a library and a theater room to really make the families feel comfortable, creating a home away from home.

Even though we only got to spend a few hours at the Ronald McDonald House it was a very heartwarming and rewarding  experience to go through. The house provides so much support for the families who are undergoing an extremely difficult point in their lives and the community is behind them every step of the way.