Coopersville Recreation Intern
Hayden
Experience Information
Employer: Coopersville Recreation
Job Title: Intern
Major: Sport Management
Received Credit: Yes
Paid: Yes
Abroad: No
Description of the Organization
Coopersville Recreation is run by the Recreational Director, Matt McKinnon. Five parks are within Coopersville that activities, practices, and games take place at, as well as some of the Coopersville school fields. Matt is in charge of the people who overwatch the events, as he needs to monitor all of the events going on every day. There is one supervisor that Matt assigns to each sport that he watches over.
Description of the Tasks/Projects Completed
Over the summer, I took place in the mini sport camps where kids were dropped off for 4-5 hours, 3 times a week for 5 weeks, and I was assigned to come up with tasks and activities for the kids to partake in. Other interns were there to help me as well, but we divided up the kids based on their age group and ran different activity stations throughout the day. Lunch was provided and activities were run before and after lunch. During the fall I took place in field preparation, as well as over watching games and managing the scoreboards during the games. I was in charge of making a schedule for Matt with all the times of the games on them, as well as making a flyer for an event that takes place in December. These games were soccer, flag football, volleyball, and sideline cheer.
Skills/Knowledge Gained Through The Experience
I learned that it is best to over plan for an activity, then plan just a couple of things as some activities don't work out or take shorter than expected. Do not over react to certain situations when they happen, you should regroup, and come back to it later. Finding a good work-life balance is key to making the most out of your job, find time for it to be work time and find time to focus on yourself and things you like and want to do.
Favorite Part of the Experience
My favorite part of this experience would be the summer program as I was able to interact with kids and other interns throughout my working day. The interactions with the kids and other interns made this experience feel personable and this made me want to do my best. The kids were great and fun to be around, and the other interns made it easy to bounce ideas off each other and work together as a team.
How the Experience Influenced Future Career Goals
I learned and got so much out of this experience, and Coopersville Recreation has made me consider going into recreational sport for my career. I was reminded about when I was taking place in my local recreation growing up, and this made me want to try and put a smile on all the kids and spectators when I was working here. This experience helped me realize why I am doing the work, as I learned what I do effects the entire program.
Internship Format
In Person