Week 4

    My goal for this project was to learn more about the work that goes on behind the scenes in the athletics department and to gain a better understanding of the skills that are necessary to be successful as an athletic director. One of the skills I noticed play a big role this month is organization since so much planning goes into scheduling, games, and events. This week I got to help Kate design the basketball uniforms for next year and listen in on a meeting she had with someone at BSN who helps order the uniforms. Aside from just designing the uniforms, Kate also has to pay attention to how much they will cost and what other gear we can order within our budget. As a player, I of course would love to have new travel sweats and practice jerseys, but did not realize how expensive it is to order these along with 15 jerseys in white and 15 in blue for each of the boys and girls teams. This is just one example of the many decisions that Kate and Tyler are faced with each week in the athletics department.

    This week we also held a signing day for the seniors in my class who have committed to play a sport in college. We made posters for each student's school, got balloons and tablecloths, and designed certificates for them to sign at their table. We also made a slideshow to highlight each student's accomplishments and hosted a Zoom to share with the player's families and friends. When we were setting up all the tables on campus, faculty from Toad Hall kept coming out and telling us how amazing they thought it looked. As Tyler mentioned to me, even though this type of event feels pretty normal when you work in athletics, it is cool to see other people's reactions who don't see something like that all the time. The students were really appreciative of the signing day and I enjoyed being a part of that excitement.

    Lastly, Kate gave me the opportunity to speak to the vice president of innovation & technology at the Portland Trail Blazers, Christa Stout, via Zoom, which I will get to do next week. I am excited to speak with someone who works in athletics on a much larger scale than a K-12 school. As I mentioned in a previous post, most of the athletic directors in our league are male and I am interested to ask Christa if she notices this same trend at the Blazers.

    I would definitely recommend this senior project to anyone who enjoys sports or management. There is a lot of admin work that goes on behind the scenes, but you still get to interact with a lot of players and students as well as athletic directors from other schools. Each day is different and I never found myself doing the exact same thing two days in a row, so if you are someone who likes variety this project is perfect.