Looking to the Future

Having this professional experience under my belt will give me an advantage when searching for jobs. My ultimate goal is to work in the marketing, broadcast or production realm for a professional basketball team. In the sports industry, having experience and being able to show evidence of your work ethic is more important than anything else. One main takeaway that I learned from my experience with the Rome Braves is the significance of patience and resourcefulness. Before I began my internship, the Rome Braves extended their lease with Floyd County, with this extension comes government funds to improve the facilities key team and fan amenities. Unfortunately, those improvements are not scheduled to occur until after this 2019 season, which means that anything that breaks this summer receives a healthy amount of duct tape to keep it together until the end of the season. Most of the cameras and equipment used to film the games were well over 10 years old, and in the technology world that means the equipment should have been replaced years ago. There was one camera that literally could not stand up on its own without a thick layer of duct tape holding it to the tripod. On days were I was in charge of the cameras I always had to keep an eye out for random sun showers or children running around our equipment. There were many instances where I had to be quick on my feet, adapt, and come up with solutions to keep ‘the show going’. My main goal coming into this internship was to get more involved in the production and broadcasting world. I wanted to make new connections and learn how to be successful in what I am certain now will be my future career.

One of my major accomplishments was being able to implement ideas for new significant changes to the way the press box is organized and run. I reorganized the Daktronics and Globecastor systems used to display in-game graphics and videos, which allowed me to become more familiar with the system. This made game-days easier and more organized for the person running the boards that day and the rest of the season. Having these experiences will be beneficial when I am on the job market. As a future ‘recent graduate’, being resourceful will be extremely beneficial in anticipating problems and being prepared for those problems. I will need to be resourceful in order to optimize the things I have until I am able to splurge on things I would like.

Throughout my time with the Rome Braves, I was able to use my experience from working with the Sports Information Department to help me gain a significant amount of knowledge on various areas throughout a professional pressbox. I was disappointed, at first, to learn that my role was so limited. Before joining the Braves I was told that I would be able to be trained on various aspects within the pressbox, including preparing media notes, working with statistics, sending game releases to selected media outlets each game, and learning how to direct the live stream. Going from my supervisor role at Berry to the entry level position with the Braves, there were not many areas in which my assistance was needed, which felt strange. I have become accustomed to training my peers on their jobs and being available if or when anyone needs help. With the Braves, there were a few times where I felt that I could have helped in certain situations, but being one of the younger workers in the press box, my opinion or offers to help fell on flat ears. I was expecting to have more responsibility and to have opportunities to learn more about the business operations of a minor league baseball team. I had assumed that after a couple games working cameras I could be able to learn other roles in the press box.

I was one out of two females that worked in the pressbox and the only African American. There were many instances where my coworkers would make inappropriate remarks about women or remarks that were racially insensitive. Coming from Berry where everyone is polite and problematic rhetoric is rare, especially in a work environment, this new environment was shocking to say the least. There were times where an offensive comment would be made and my initial reaction would be one of anger and annoyance, but I defended myself every chance I could and was patient with people who were intent on displaying their ignorance. Overall, I am disheartened that these instances tainted my first experience working within professional sports. However, looking forward, this experience has given me more incentive to do more background research into the organization’s culture before I decide to work there.

Overall my SLE was physically very difficult. Every day I had to stand in the blazing summer heat for hours on end carrying 30 pounds of equipment up and down several flights of stairs. At the time I considered those my lowest points, and midway through the season, the thought of working the first base camera brought real tears to my eyes. There were many times, though, where I felt a deep sense of pride for the team that I had been working for for months. I have never been a huge baseball fan, but by working every single game day after day I became emotionally invested in the team’s success. While their season did not end favorably, in the end I felt myself rooting for the Braves.

My perspective about myself did not necessarily change throughout my SLE. I have always been very tenacious in my moral standing and resilient when presented with difficult situations. I believe that this experience, if anything, was just another experience from which I was able to use my strengths to persevere. Through this experience, I learned that there will be more situations, even where I least expect it, where I will have to persevere through unfavorable conditions. Additionally, I learned that I can make it through any situation I put my mind to. Having this realization was very important, and will be important for me to hold on to when I begin my future career. Going forward, I do not mind starting off at an entry-level position, but I do not plan on staying there very long. Continuing my education and becoming more specialized will hopefully give me a greater boost into the career I am pursuing. I believe working for the Rome Braves this past summer has strengthened my love for athletic communications. I plan on attending graduate school and obtaining a master’s degree in business or sport’s administration.