Embrace The Grind
Everything Can Be Used as a Learning Opportunity
In today’s world, you don’t find many sports executives that got to where they are without working for it.
Climbing the corporate ladder is a long process that is only for the truly dedicated.One should know that it will take some long hours, consistent work and the ability to network with the right people to make it to the top.
Yet in today’s world, with more and more students possessing the desire to work in sports than ever before, the sports business landscape is more competitive than it has ever been.
Breaking into the industry is hard enough. Couple this with the growing demand for paid internships and you’ll find that there simply are not enough spots for everyone who wants to be a part of this industry. That is why you need to get to work.
I had always been fascinated by sports and the raw emotions that can be generated by partaking in them. Yet, I initially had never thought of a career in sports. From my first day at Arizona State University, I was a Management major.
However, during my sophomore year, I added a Sports and Media Studies major to my portfolio after talking to many of my colleagues and realizing that there is in fact a business behind what you see on TV!
I was eager to get involved. Yet, with many internships requiring previous experience, I knew I had to start somewhere. Elana Kutz, the Director of the Sports Business Program at Arizona State University, is a firm believer of the value that internships hold.
“I always recommend that students obtain as many internships as possible during college. It’s not just about building your resume, but internships offer a wonderful opportunity to “test drive” different career paths. Gaining experience allows you to find out what you like and also what you don’t like before entering the working world,” Kutz says.
I wanted to work in the sports industry. But, I knew that I had to start somewhere.
I obtained my first internship when I was in between my sophomore and junior years. It was in the healthcare industry for a recruiting firm. Keep in mind that this was one of two paid internships that I would hold during my time in college. Day after day, I would go through a monotonous routine of cold-calling, candidate research and meticulously scouting databases to find qualified candidates for open positions.
Wash, rinse, repeat.
After five long months on the job, I knew that it wasn’t what I was passionate about. I decided right then that no matter how long it would take or how little I would get paid, I would settle for nothing less than working in the sports industry. The recruiting job wasn’t a total waste: I learned the key value of being consistent.
From there, I wound up taking two unpaid positions: one with a startup based sports recruiting company (notice the trend), that specialized with showcasing high school athletes to collegiate athletic programs, and one as a marketing assistant for the governing athletic body for Arizona high school sports. One was held in the founder’s house. The other had offices more than 30 minutes away. The work I had was minimal impact and my responsibilities weren’t enormous. Yet, it was amazing to get my first taste of what the sports industry had to offer. This is where my passion and drive grew.
After those two internships ran its course, I took another unpaid position, this time with a soccer team playing in U.S. Soccer’s third division. As a Street Team Member, I would travel to different areas throughout the valley, displaying my personality and grassroots marketing skills as an avid fan of the beautiful game.
Since the soccer position only took up part of my time, I decided to simultaneously take on a more consistent internship with a public relations company working in the business development department. I also took on a part-time consulting role with a startup sponsorship company where I would travel to the various sports stadiums throughout the valley and analyze all of the sponsorships that were there.
As many of the executives of these two companies were former executives in the sports industry, I took every opportunity that I could to pick their brains about what they had learned in sports. I used every connection that I could to help pave the ways for multiple internship interviews with many professional teams in the Phoenix area.
While none of the interviews translated to internship offers, it was during this time that I honed the key ability to network and soak up as much information as possible.
As Kutz puts it, “Students should think about internships as a foot in the door with that organization. Once they have completed all of the necessary project work for their direct supervisor, they should ask permission to seek out additional projects from others in their department or even a different department they have interest in. Network with the other interns, learn about the company culture, develop a relationship with executives, and stay in touch after you leave.”
Networking is one of the most important skills that I learned. It is a fundamental skill that has served me well throughout my sports career.
The skill of networking came in handy rather quickly as the soccer position translated into an internship with the team in their Media Relations department. I had the opportunity to write press releases, interview players, and help to run some of the team’s social media accounts. Yet, as this was at the tail-end of my junior career, I wanted to go out-of-state for a true, bonafide internship. I accepted a Marketing internship with an agency out in Irvine, California.
It was the typical hours of a Monday through Friday internship.
Even though I had this new internship, I wanted to stay involved with the new soccer opportunity as well. Since that was confined to the weekends, I attempted to do the impossible: work in Irvine during the weekdays and then drive back to Arizona in time to work soccer matches whenever the team played at home.
I was fortunate enough to stay at my grandma’s house in Carlsbad, California. While it was a great situation to have a free place to stay for three months, it meant that I would have to complete the hour journey to and from Irvine. And that’s exactly what I did.
Since work started at 8 a.m., I would wake up every morning at 5 a.m. to run two miles to help jumpstart my day. I would leave just before 7 a.m. to fight off the near-hour long traffic up I-5. After an 8-hour day, I would drive straight to Carlsbad to work on homework for my online classes for the next three hours. As a big believer in getting at least eight hours of sleep whenever possible, I’d make sure to be in bed by 10 p.m. every night. I’d reinforce my habits of being consistent as I continued to develop a routine.
Yet, this routine only accounted for my weekdatys. When there was a soccer game to work, I would leave straight from Irvine at 4 p.m. on Friday and drive more than 7.5 hours to Phoenix. I would spend the better part of Saturday relaxing whenever I could before leaving for Peoria, roughly 45 minutes away from the apartment that I was renting out over the summer, to work the soccer internship. Once Sunday rolled around, I would make the drive back to Carlsbad to make it to my grandma’s house in time for dinner.
This was a typical week that lasted for the entirety of my 12-week internship program. There were seven home games that I drove back to Arizona for during that summer. That’s over 5,236 miles that were spent just driving back and forth between neighboring states. That doesn’t include the 5,650 miles it took to drive to and from Carlsbad and Irvine every weekday. My friends and family thought I were crazy. I felt absolutely drained at times. And yet after that summer, I gained the most valuable aspect of my sports career: perspective.
After that summer, I truly believed that if I could get through that grueling, consistent grind that carried on for three months, anything else wouldn’t seem as intimidating. Upon my return to Arizona for my senior year, I acquired internships (Sponsorships and Marketing/Game Presentation) within Arizona State’s athletic department. These led to an interview with the Arizona Diamondbacks which led to the second of two paid internships that I held during my time in college.
I’ve been asked many times before if I would change anything to get to this point. In hindsight, I would reconsider holding as many internships as I did at one time. Or I would think twice before agreeing to the logistical nightmare that is working in two different states in the same week. And yet when I’m asked if I regret anything, the answer is an easy one: not one thing. It is all part of the long journey to the top.
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