The Finale

I have arrived at the final blog with some unfortunate news about Excel Sports. The economy hit our company very hard and Excel Sports may not be around much longer. I suppose in tough economic times, basketball training isn't the first thing on people's lists of things to spend money on. It is not certain that Excel Sports will be shutting down, but it has definitely become a possibility. Definitely one thing I have learned from this experience is that very few careers are permanent. A career can be doing just fine, then times change and you could be jobless. This is the beauty of having a BIS degree. You have the versatility to adapt to a changing economy and a changing workplace. With these traits, it would be very difficult NOT to find a job in any market as long as you do your part and don't take shortcuts. At Excel Sports I gained valuable people skills that I believe I lacked beforehand. I also feel more confident in a leadership role as I led so many classes during my time with Excel Sports. I believe my overall experience at Excel Sports was a positive one. I met a lot of good people and was able to make a lot of good connections for my future. Now I am confident that I have what it takes to begin the next chapter of my life...in the real world.

Week 13: Improvement Strategy

I believe that Excel Sports is lacking in the promotional department. We have a good product that we put onto the basketball court, but we don't have substantial advertisement for our product. Instead of counting on return business, we should actively persue new customers. This is where the Action Theory of Sociology comes into play. Initially, this theory did not seem applicable to me, but towards the end, it does. The action theory states: "The social investigator cannot and should not be indifferent to what he/she studies. People are always both subjects and objects of research, and thus investigation should involve principled stands on the problems studied, and principled intentions of changing them". Indifference is obviously going to lead to less promotional effort. I don't believe that indifference is the cause for our lack of promotion, but it may very well be a factor. It will take "principled intentions of changing" our lack of promotional production (our problem). Thus, this theory may be applied to the area of lacking in Excel Sports. In order to create positive change, my plan would be to use our staff during the daytime hours of operation at these health clubs to promote our camps and classes physically. By physically, I mean physically being there. Putting up a flyer or two is not enough. We need to apply the Action Theory and actively persue new clients. The formula is simple. Be engaging, be friendly, be outgoing, whatever it takes to get exposure and promote the Excel Sports brand.

Week 12: Interview

The following is the interview I gave to the person I shadowed: Coach Rob Richardson.

Me: What types of challenges do you face?

Coach Rob: Fortunately, not many. Mostly just scheduling classes and registering players for our leagues. Sometimes there will be some overbearing parents too.

Me: How do you deal with deadline stress, difficult people, and internal politics?

Coach Rob: Deadlines are constantly coming and going so I'm really used to the stress. I don't have too many difficult people to deal with, mostly just small complaints about their kids in basketball class. Excel Sports is pretty small, so politics aren't an issue.

Me: What do you like or dislike about your position?

Coach Rob: I love the freedom I have, and I get to do something I love. My only dislike is that my hours are constantly changing.

Me: What do you feel can be done to make work go smoother?

Coach Rob: Every kid falling in line and doing what I say! Haha

Me: How do you feel about working with others?

Coach Rob: I love it. The team concept is something we really value here.

Me: How do you separate the personal from the professional?

Coach Rob: The good thing is, I don't have to. I work with so many great kids and parents. We are allowed to keep it friendly.

Me: Do you enjoy working on group projects?

Coach Rob: Ya, as long as we are all on the same page.

Me: What is your ideal work environment?

Coach Rob: Coaching a class where all the kids listen to instruction.

Me: How has your education and experience prepared you for your current job?

Coach Rob: I was an education major at Wyoming, and of course my experience with basketball allows for me to work this job as a coach.

Me: Who's work behavior do you respect the most?

Coach Rob: Coach D, he is the man who started this all.

Me: Have you reached out to mentors and has the mentorship system worked for you?

Coach Rob: Yes, Coach D was my mentor and I would absolutely recommend the mentorship system to anyone.

Week 11

This week I shadowed one of my superiors at Excel Sports. His name is Rob Richardson, and he is a coach/administrator for Excel Sports and SuperShootout.com. On an average weekday, Craig has meetings with member activities supervisors from health clubs around Tempe. He will set up camps and leagues with these supervisors in these meetings. Also towards the end of the day, he coaches some kids basketball classes and is also a league administrator for mens leagues. I learned that it takes a lot of meeting and set up to get these classes and leagues underway. The health club and Excel Sports have to work together to put a good product on the court. If one side is slacking, they both with fail.

Week 9

Ok, so I am trying to play professional basketball immediately after I graduate, so for now it will be my goal to showcase myself as a basketball player to agents, and teams (my employers). Below are two liks to videos I have made to get my name out to teams and agents:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEeAlKO-btQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQ51g3zsqbE

I hope these will suffice for the purposes of this weeks blog.

Week 7

As far as my future goes, I could definitely see myself doing something like what I'm doing now with my internship. Basketball is something I know very well, and something I love. Also, my concentrations of sociology and family studies make my internship a very logical career path. I'm not sure if working specifically for Excel Sports is something I want to do in the future, but if an opportunity arises, I may have to jump on it. As far as my dislikes about my job site...there are not many. The only thing I really dislike is when some kids you are coaching have absolutely NO desire to be there or listen to what you have to say. It is disrespectful to us coaches, but even more disrespectful to their parents who payed money for them to be in the class. In this experience I am learning child management skills, and I'm learning what makes kids tick. Learning how to deal with their many differing personalities is a skill I will need when I become a parent. So, not only is my work helping me in the professional world, but in my personal life as well.

Week 5: Connecting Concentration Areas

My two concentration areas of Sociology and Family Studies will be the focus of this blog and how they apply to my work. I have taken a sports specific sociology class in SOC 220, Sports in Society. This is an obvious correlation between my internship organization and my concentration. According to Jay Coakley, author of Sports and Society: Issues and Controversies (SOC 220 textbook), sports are connected to major spheres of social life including politics, family, the economy, the media, education, and religion. “[Sports] are why some people get out of bed. Sports define many of us. Some superstars command as much attention as heads of state and other leaders. Whether you weigh the good or bad of it – it’s a fact” (Bob Davis, vice-president, American Program Bureau, 1999). My work with Excel Sports will give me the opportunity to learn about how sports impact the lives of the families I will be working with. Some families may be more passionate about the sports than others. With the economy struggling presently, it will be interesting to learn about sports and its impact on the local economy and vice versa. While promoting, I will learn about how important people think sports are in a down economy and if they will still pay for their kids to have a sporting experience. Using an Interactionist Theory perspective in my work with Excel Sports I will attempt to answer the following questions: what are the social processes through which people become involved in sports? How do people come to define themselves and be defined by others as athletes? Finally, how do people give meaning and derive meaning from their experiences in sports? (Coakley, 2008). The Family Studies concentration yields correlations to my internship as well. I have taken many Child Development (CDE 220), and Human Development classes under my FAS concentration. I will be able to observe the physical development of children as young as four, and I will also observe the development of kids as old as seventeen. Laura E. Berk lists specific aspects of physical or motor development in her book Development Through the Lifespan: flexibility, balance, agility, and force are all skills that are better developed in the age group I will be working with. I will also be able to observe sex differences in middle childhood because Excel Sports works with both boys and girls. Cognitive development will also be on display with the kids I work with. I will see how well they process the instructions I give them as a coach. This can be illustrated in Piaget’s concrete operational stage which initially takes place around 7 to 11 years of age: “this marks a major turning point in cognitive development. Thought is far more logical, flexible, and organized than it was earlier” (Berk, 2007). I will be able to apply my learning of child development to my coaching and teaching duties through my interactions with the kids I am working with, and because I am working with kids of varying ages, I will be able to observe the different stages at which physical and cognitive development takes place. I hope you enjoyed the brief look into my concentrations and their theories and how they are being applied.