Though each experience has gave me different perspectives and different ways to get things done, the time I spent at Mott has affected me the most. This experience alongside Mr. Brown and Mr. Perry was eye opening as they are involved with the college at the exact level I'd like to be someday. My day spent with Mr. Perry is what influenced me the most. Though we only spent a little time together he truly devoted his time in to talking to me about what is needed to be great at what he does. He is remarkably turning twenty-eight years old soon and will soon become the Athletic Director at Mott. He acquired his Master's at the mere age of twenty-two! Him being where he is at is because of his devotion to be the best at whatever gets thrown his way. His first couple years at the college were spent through financial aid and human services. Those first few years he outworked all other employees and never turned down any challenge. Finally he got offered to join the Athletic Department because of all the great things he had done at the college. One of the biggest things I learned from Mr. Perry is that to get where you want to be in life the only person in your way is yourself. The time he spent in financial aid and human services he mastered all of their components. Though when he first got there he didn't know much, he researched what he had to and perfected his job. Now as the upcoming Athletic Director he has another job to master. I'm grateful for the time I spent at Mott because it assured me of what I really want to do with my life in the future and I made a few great connections into the business along the way.
This week was very interesting to say the least. I spent December 18th at my Alma Mater Clio High School with their Athletic Director Mr. Lamphere. His history is quite interesting as he happened to play professional baseball back in his hay-day. This was a great experience for me as I quickly noticed the difference between Calvert and Clio. With Calvert being a division 6 in Ohio and Clio being a division 2 in Michigan, the difference was pretty obvious. The first thing that popped out to me was how Mr. Lamphere had many different people under him at Clio. There was a secretary, an Assistant Athletic Director, and many different student workers were in the office throughout the day. This gives him the ability to push some of his daily responsibilities off to others that he trust. Giving him more time to do his duties and to be able to put 100% into them. Mr. Brickner at Calvert didn't have the opportunity to do that. He had only one other person in the office to help which was the Assistant Athletic Director. Both him and the Assistant AD also taught classes at Calvert as well, while at Clio there only job was to run the Athletic Department. I'm glad I had the opportunity to be able to experience such a big difference and to be able to realize the different aspects that are required in each job. Though they both hold the same titles, their jobs are completely different. My second day at Clio was shut down early as the whole county had threats. Later that day every school in the county ended up closing school early for the holiday because they didn't feel the risk of something happening to their students was worth it.
On Thursday, December 20th I spent my day at Mott Community College shadowing Mr. Brown. Mr. Brown holds a lot of responsibility at the college from being the Assistant Baseball Coach, to helping out the Athletic Department, and even teaching classes. Today was a big doubleheader against Owens Community College in basketball. My day consisted of preparing for the game as they were having a "black out" and expected attendance to be high. As I finished up assisting him in preparing for the game by getting the shirts ready and setting up various tables, I then helped him set up the concessions. Mott is known for their basketball nationally, so to say the game was crowded was to say the least. Working concessions for their games is nothing like the concessions we have at Tiffin. I also got introduced to the Associate Athletic Director Al Green. We both shared our numbers and I will be in contact with him after the holidays to be able to work alongside him for a few days. I'm excited to be able to say I have worked at two different high schools and now a community college. These experiences are all very different and will all help shape my future. My last week at Calvert was a busy one! With their current league breaking apart (MAL) they are on a search to join another league. This week I spent most of it cleaning up the inside and outside facilities; getting them prepared for meetings. Making the facilities look nice and clean is important as you want to impress the other schools. With Calvert being such a known school in the area I feel that they will have a choice on which league they'd like to join. Mr. Brickner discussed with me that he'd prefer to join a league where there athletes would succeed. Nowadays that's probably not what most Athletic Administrators would say as it's turning more into a business each and every year. It's all about making money in most cases. At the high school level the big money making sport is football. Joining a conference where there are football powerhouses would benefit the school as it would bring in attendance to their home games from the away teams traveling to watch their school. The biggest problem is the travel time between schools which is crucial into joining conferences. Joining a conference where you have to travel hours to get to the other schools would not be smart as parents would most likely not drive hours to watch their children play, especially in the economy that will live in now.
Overall this was a great experience at Calvert and I am very grateful that I had this opportunity. There are very few interns who get to experience everything that I did as Calvert is a small school which allowed me to see all the in and outs of the business as I shadowed Mr. Brickner. I was also lucky to experience the changing of conferences as some Athletic Administrators don't even get to see what I've seen in their career. I would like to thank Calvert and Mr. Brickner for allowing me to grow professionally and personally in their organization. This week was a hard week as I put in quite a bit of hours in the past two. I am starting to feel more comfortable at Calvert as everyone is starting to warm up to me and make me feel like I'm an actual employee there. This week consisted of counting all the money brought in by the athletic department throughout the entire fall. It was a long process as Mr. Brickner and myself double counted everything to make sure it was all correct. After we finished counting the money we went to the bank and deposited it immediately. Having that amount of money on you for a long period of time is not a good thing, getting it to the bank as soon as possible is a must.
After we dealt with the money, we had to officially finalize the winter scheduling through OHSAA. This by which is a long and complicated process as scheduling is never easy. Making sure the times were correct and that we didn't over schedule was another process. With Calvert joining the new league next year, this year was somewhat difficult in scheduling. Once that was completed it was time to get on the transportation schedule and to confirm all the times with the corresponding coaches. Double checking everything to make sure it's a smooth process is the best way to go about this. If the coaches approve of the times or asks them to be changed then once everything is finalized and sent out to the parents it's there duty to mention the extra change. Being an AD at such a small school is truly a challenge as everything goes through you. From the accounting to making schedules it seems as though there isn't much time to relax. You must be committed and love what your doing to be able to be good at being an AD. Mr. Brickner handles himself well in this tough situation. For my sake I'm glad I got to see what goes on at a private institution such as this because after every week of working here I know that this is not the place I want to be. It's a great school and great community but the pressure that is involved and the amount of work involved in this job just gets me stressed thinking about it. These past few weeks have been hectic as I've been scheduling for my last semester at Tiffin University and the Calvert High School football team has made the playoffs. Preparing for the playoffs through the OHSAA is something that I'm glad I get to experience. One thing I have learned is that the time spent in between sports as a little bit of a down time for the AD is lost if the team makes playoffs, this time is crucial is some aspects of "catching up" on things that you are behind on. It's truly though all about the kids and them making playoffs is huge for the school and getting the Calvert name out there as a possible powerhouse in football. Much is required from the OHSAA for the playoff games such as a picture of the team, the roster, the starting lineup, head and assistant coaches names, and the cheerleaders. For the playoff game to run smoothly and it to be a great experience for both coming schools this information must be sent in as soon as possible for the programs.
Calvert High School football team won round one of their playoffs! I get to experience this all again as the same process is needed for the second round. Preparing documents and getting everything ready for the OHSAA is a process, but it's a process that needs time to be put into it for everything to be correct. It's all about the experience these kids have and for them to remember it for their entire life. Even though all of this playoff football is going on, bills still had to be paid. That's one thing you can't let yourself get backed up on. Early in the week, preferably Monday, is the time to get them off your chest so the rest of the week can be focused elsewhere. It's not cheap to have a football game as security is needed, refs, and a medic on hand. None of this stuff comes cheap. The athletic department must be ran smooth and error free for everyone to be happy. One thing goes wrong A lot went on in these past weeks. We had mid-term break and Mr. Brickner went to Nashville, Tennessee for a little bit. My days were limited but I worked a lot more hours since I had no baseball for the week. These past few weeks I learned a lot and am truly blessed to have the opportunity to work with a small high school to see the all of the behind the scene action. With it being such a small school the Athletic Administrator has a lot of things he must do. He has no secretary, where as most schools do have. From the accounting aspect to preparing for a game he does everything in between.
I feel this experience has taken its toll on my though as I do not want to have anything to do with High School Athletics. Finding a job at a college has always been what I preferred and this experience has solidified that. I will soon be working with Heidelberg College and Ohio State University. These experiences will broaden my horizon greatly. Currently I play baseball at Tiffin University and played at Mott Community College which is a JUCO for two years prior. Working at Heidelberg and Ohio State will give me perspective from every college division other than NAIA. I'm excited to get things going and to further prosper my career into college athletics. Week three was an interesting one to say the least. The Athletic Director is allowing me to help him with the creation of a new conference. This experience is one that I will treasure being apart of as it's one that most AD's don't experience in their lifetime and I get to have the privilege of knowing the in's and out's of this process as an intern. It's a lot of work already and the item that I'm working on needs to be finished by this coming Thursday for the proposal.
As all of this is going on behind the scenes, it was also the High Schools Homecoming week. This unfortunately I didn't get to help out as much with as I'm too busy with baseball and school myself. Though as an Athletic Director I feel that you must have some part of the activities surrounding your football teams big game. Homecoming game was always the biggest game for me back home. I was fortunate enough to be able to shadow him during the game to learn the process of getting everything set-up and broke down. Being apart of the baseball team at Tiffin University that's our job to make sure the foot Week two went as expected. I learned quite a bit! Athletic Directors hours at least at the High School level are from sunrise to sunset. My AD that I am following had quite a night for a Friday night football game as there were weather problems that cause several delays. I also noticed that having great communication skills is a must as the Athletic Director is in charge of a lot of things. Making sure the bus schedules are on time, the refs/umpires are getting paid and are arriving at the game at the right time, to even teaching your class. As an AD you must be able to manage your time very good; this is something I feel that I am very good at as being a college athlete, keeping above a 3.5 GPA, and maintaining this internship at the same time is makin
First week went as expected. I got a look at behind the scenes when it comes to schedule making and getting things ready for the week for the athletic teams. Mr. Brickner also has to teach a class which adds on to the pressure he has as the Athletic Director. You must have thick skin and be prepared for a lot of things to go wrong. As a college athlete I believe I'm more than prepared for that aspect of the job as we have to deal with schedule changes all year round. As my first week rounds up I must say being an Athletic Director at the High School level is something that I am not interested in doing. Learning the ends and outs at this level is a great way to start my career
Today was my first day on the job at Calvert High School. My day went as expected as I got right into creating the winter schedules provided by the athletic department to families and fans. After which Mr. Brickner went on to explain the process in which he does things. In his opinion getting certain things done and out of the way early Monday morning even though they don't need to be done till later is smart. If you get these things which normally involve spending money out of the way early in the week, that lets your mind focus on auxiliary things for the rest of the week.
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January 2013
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