Internship Series
All for the Team: A Ticats Internship Story
December 8, 2016
By: Anthony Mancuso, recent graduate of the of the sport management program at Brock University.
My internship was with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats Football Club as a Ticket Operations, Sales & Service Intern. The opportunity to intern with a sport organization is one of the reasons I chose Brock University’s Sport Management program. While some classes proved to be more valuable in practice than others, I found myself constantly applying the values I developed during my time at Brock throughout my internship; Persistent learning, a constant maximum effort in every facet, and the willingness to try new things and appreciate new ideas helped me succeed and get the most out of my internship.
One of the fantastic things about interning with the Ticats is how they had me take on a plethora of different tasks. It is clear that their internship program is about developing professionals and helping everyone learn. In my role in the ticketing department, I had the opportunity to get my feet wet in a variety of different areas. I would be able to make customer service and sales calls to get experience on the phone and making sales. The next day I could be assisting the marketing team make sense of raw data. I learned in-depth the capabilities of a widely-used ticketing system, Archtics (Ticketmaster) that is easily transferable to hundreds of different sport organizations. On game-day I would help out in the box office, taking care of more difficult customer service situations and inquiries. My skill in Archtics and Excel became so developed that I would eventually begin assisting in the daily and weekly reporting of the department, and even build some reports that were used extensively. Despite difficulties each day learning the nuances of both programs, taking on new tasks, and being relied on, I was able to overcome them and learn thanks to the persistence and work ethic I learned while at Brock.
What was apparent from the first day I started was how everyone was striving towards a common goal. I’ve had the pleasure to work with some fantastic teams in previous jobs and volunteer positions, but never have I seen a team-centric environment like the Ticats. I wholeheartedly recommend the Ticats as an internship choice for students. To get the most out of it, I would recommend executing the values I mentioned at the beginning of this article.
The Ticats present an incredible opportunity for each and every intern to learn and grow as professionals, and it is up to you to decide how much you want to get out of it. You should not be praised on doing what you are supposed to do. Meeting expectations is not an accomplishment, but a missed opportunity. To hold yourself to a higher standard and expect nothing but the absolute best from yourself, and to still go above and beyond deserves praise and deserves reward.
Lastly, the photo I include is not of just me, but the intern team (most of it, that is). I felt like this picture best illustrated the team-oriented environment that we all worked in, and the relationships we developed along the way.
We would like to thank Anthony for his time and sharing with us his experiencing interning at the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, and wish him the best in his journey in the sport industry. To learn more about his experience you can connect with Anthony on LinkedIn.
