Experience Matters - Grand Valley State University

Grand Rapids Griffins Game Day Internship

Adam
Major: Sport Management Worked mainly with the game day ticket sales team to assist in the box office. Helped with areas such as the Will Call line for anyone picking up tickets left for them during game days, the Ticket Resolution line for anyone who is having issues using their mobile tickets, and the Ticket Selling line for any walk-up ticket purchases. Throughout the game, our team also contributed with aiding the promotions team by participating in the T-shirt toss and Throw for Dough promotions which positively impacted fan experience.

GVSU Marketing & Fan Development

Cooper
Major: Sport Management Being a marketing student assistant, I have done various tasks. This includes playing music, operating the videoboard, handing out promotional items, facilitating in-game promotions, writing game scripts, sponsorship fulfillment, on-campus marketing, etc. These tasks are in every sport we host: soccer, volleyball, football, basketball, wrestling, baseball, softball, lacrosse. Within my time in this position, I've been fortunate enough to have gotten to run some of these events myself, with other students being my main assistance during the games.

Game Day Ops

Sydney
Major: Sport Management As a game day ops intern, my job is pretty wide spread. We show up a few hours before puck drop to ensure everything is set up and prepared when doors open just an hour before game time. There are some roles that we get assigned per game: working the team store, following the mascot, helping photographers, shadowing Calvin (our game day ops manager), help with intermission games, and my personal favorite... Chuck-A-Puck! We let all the kids in the arena come out on the ice to help clean up all of the pucks that have been thrown and its so fun seeing them so excited to be out on the same ice that some of their favorite home town players skate on.

Recreational Sports Opperations

Devin
Major: Sport Management I am the Director's Aid and right hand man as I am constantly helping Matt schedule practices and games, take care of fields and equipment, order and deliver uniforms and make sure everything operates well. This includes dealing first hand with parents, coaches and the school.

Nick Cortese AJGA Internship

Nick
Major: Sport Management I am a part of a team consisting of nine interns and we have traveled across 11 states over the course of the summer and conducted 13 junior golf tournaments. We set up the golf course and serve as the rules officials throughout the tournaments.

Ops Never Stops

Mathew
Major: Sport Management In the first two weeks we were instructed to move a full metal gazebo on top of one of our concession stand outlets. The gazebo would then become our "Zipline Concessions" where we would sell beer and send the beer down a zipline to the customer. My day to day tasks would be setting up my areas on game day. Making sure everything is clean, set up correctly and having all food prepared for game day. Also, I was incharge of the part time staff that was assigned to my areas for the day and also volunteers when we had them.

USPBL Marketing Internship Experience

Rebecca
Major: Sport Management This summer I had the opportunity to work in the marketing department for USPBL. Throughout the season I have written ad reads for local radio stations and assisted in writing press releases. On game nights my jobs varied but I was responsible for clipping the live game feed and posting clips to twitter for in-game updates.

Athletic & Recreational Facilities Intern

Ethan
Major: Sport Management I conducted interviews of potential student employees, and Grad Assistants. I was delegated projects dedicated to renovating the rec center and working with vendors. I helped introduce leadership opportunities to the students working in our facilities by giving them chances to take on more responsibility.

Assistant Golf Professional

Kyle
Major: Sport Management Besides day to day golf course management duties, I was in charge of the rental clubs for the season. That including constantly taking inventory, as well as being in constant contact with the reps to ensure that if there were any issues with our clubs that we could constantly and swiftly pick any issues.

Valpo Parks Summer Internship

Robert (Bo)
Major: Sport Management I spent lots of time being involved in special events and golf operations. Special events is responsible for hosting/carrying out the 35+ parks sponsored events that range from day-trips to the Popcorn Festival, arguably Valpo's largest event. I have been specifically tasked with implementing the new golf attire suppliers, "Good Good," as well as offering a hand wherever needed among other departments. My day-to-day duties can consist of taking photos at youth tennis camps, to meeting with police officers about policies, as well as traffic control for our races/more populated events.

Whitecaps Promo Team

Zoey
Major: Sport Management As a member of the Promo Team, I was responsible for running on-field games, finding fans to play games with, and working with the mascots. We have a variety of tasks for each game that could be assigned and we would work together as a team to run the game.

Director of Operations Intern

Gavin
Major: Sport Management As a football operations intern, my tasks include assisting with day-to-day office tasks and coordinating team events. Support player needs by distributing equipment, planning meals, and arranging transportation. Additionally, help plan and execute events like youth camps, recruitment events, and game-day operations. Managing football equipment and supplies, maintaining effective communication with coaches, players, and staff, and assisting with the analysis of game footage and performance data to support coaching strategies are also key responsibilities. Ensuring adherence to NCAA regulations and university policies is crucial, aiming to support the smooth operation of the football program and provide a comprehensive learning experience in sports management.

My Experience at Michigan Sports Academies

Gavin
Major: Sport Management Throughout my various roles, I undertook a range of tasks and projects that combined my skills in sport management and marketing. I gathered content for social media platforms to enhance engagement and visibility, ensuring the promotion of events and activities. I precisely prepared fields and courts for events and camps, guaranteeing they were in top condition for participants. I also stocked clothing and food for concessions, maintaining inventory to meet customer demands efficiently. Additionally, I consistently upheld the cleanliness of the facilities, ensuring a safe and welcoming environment for all attendees. My efforts in these areas contributed to the smooth operation and success of numerous events and activities.

Hudsonville Athletics

Naomi
Major: Sport Management I collaborated with the athletic director on various daily responsibilities, including ensuring referee presence at games, offering hospitality services, managing events and games, and conducting research of the competitive landscape within the OK Conference

Coopersville Recreation Admin

Connor
Major: Sport Management I had to help set up equipment at the beginning of the season as well as help with any errands Matt needed help with. I also had to referee basketball games. We make suer that all events and practices are running smoothly.

Coopersville Rec

Diamond
Major: Sport Management While doing my internship for the Fall sports I started as an assistant coach for the 3rd and 4th grade girls' basketball team as well as a referee for the 1st and 2nd boys and girls' basketball teams. For Spring sports I helped with Soccer and Softball with setting up and assisting Matt in anything he needed. Last I also helped with TikTok by posting videos and showcasing the kids' talents.

Grand Rapids Gold Internship Experience

Sam
Major: Sport Management In this job, you are expected to complete game day related tasks. These tasks ranged from ticket sales, merchandise sales, security, team assistance, and promotional assistance. Along with this, interns helped support both operations and marketing teams during Grand Rapids Gold game days.

Events Intern at West Michigan Sports Commission

Alyssa
Major: Sport Management I worked on a variety of projects throughout my time as an intern. A lot of my projects included looking up information and putting it into Excel for my supervisors to use. I also updated our events website and the PlayEasy website to make sure they had all of our current events on them. I worked on the budget for March Madness bids, called companies, answered emails, tracked hotel information, marketed events, and worked with event directors to meet their needs. I created flyers on Canva to share information about events and posted about them on PlayEasy. I also revamped their volunteer network by contacting different groups and sharing sign-up information.

GVSU Athletics Internship

Kenleigh
Major: Sport Management In this role, my main responsibilities include organizing contracts and inventory, assisting in fulfillment of contracts, and documentation of contracts fulfillment. Organizing contracts is taking the agreed upon terms and inputting them into the database. We later access this information to identify fulfillment tasks to be completed. Fulfilling the contracts includes everything at an athletic event with a partner logo on it. This may include signage, T-shirts, promotions, video board, roster cards, etc. New fulfillment is not needed every year for some things, such as signage that can be reused every year. Things like T-shirts for a specific giveaway or marketing campaigns for a sponsored event are made for that specific occasion. Lastly, documentation of contracts is provided to sponsors as a proof of performance. This process is important in communicating our team's effort of fulfilling the contract to the sponsor. Documentation efforts are also essential to ensuring a positive experience and relationship with sponsors, leading to a better opportunity for renewal. Although these are the big three responsibilities, I like to always be willing to assist in any other areas. For example, this fall I learned how to operate broadcasts for athletic events. This included setting up and feeding the livestream to Flosports while managing the cameras and score board during the game. Along with broadcasting, I will frequently assist in tasks in the marketing department, administration, or merchandising.

Coopersville Rec 24

Jeffery
Major: Sport Management I oversaw practices, help set up, tear down practices and games along with reffing.

Professional Sports Experience

Ben
Major: Sport Management A game day intern can have several different tasks throughout the season. - Rebound and Mopping: Rebound for players during pre-game warmups/halftime. Mop the floor during the game (when players fall, something spills, etc.) -Bench Security/Bench Assist: Assure players are safe from fans, and escort players in and out of tunnels when ejected. Bench assist requires you to help the coaching staff/players with anything they need. (Towels, water, athletic training equipment, warmups, etc.) - Tunnels: Throw T-shirts to the crowd after every made 3-pointer, assist with giveaways, crowd engagement, etc.

Non-Profit Organization

Taylor
Major: Sport Management During my time thus far, I have edited on the TransplantNATION magazine, created social media content, and other tasks related to preparing for the Transplant Games of America, like registration, special event tickets, etc.

GVSU Internship

Brody
Major: Sport Management I helped execute promotions during games, along with assisting in giveaways and other types of promotions. I would help assist with setting up events, as well as making sure certain aspects of sponsors were fulfilled correctly. At other times, I would operate music or the video board during events in correlation to the game or promotions. Before certain events, I would assist in promoting them by passing out flyers or working on getting shirts and other items prepared.

Zeeland Natatorium Internship

Jamahl
Major: Sport Management My internship was located at the Zeeland Natatorium at Zeeland West High School. I was the intern for the pool director. This meant that I was not only helping maintain and run the natatorium, but I also assisted in running the multiple teams that ran out of the pool. I handled the scheduling and communications for the teams. I also was involved in marketing and various projects to grow the teams. I was primarily in charge of the Zeeland Age Group Team. I was in charge of organizing all of the team's practices and major events as well as submitting all of the team's entries as well.

Game Day Internship

Roman
Major: Sport Management I have done all of those positions and it has been a great experience.