ICE's 11-15

Softball Director at Camp Starlight Summer '11
Camp Starlight is an 8 week sleepaway camp located in Northeast Pennsylvania (about 2½ hours from New York City). Currently,we are looking to hire an experienced, enthusiastic and qualified individual to be the head of our very popular and active softball program. We offer a great salary with room and board included. Coaching all sorts of athletes, coaching tournaments and games, manage all other softball instructors, and work in other camps. 

Assistant Softball Coach at Mississippi State University
Assist the Head Softball coach with recruiting, scheduling of practices and games, conditioning, and help with all other things asked from the head coach. 

Intramural & Facility Coordinator
Oversee and administer all intramural sports program. Set up recreational activities for Brown University students. Provide direction, supervision and foresight in the operation and management in all areas of the intramural sports program.

College Sports Television Internship
Internships available for: Ad sales, Internet, Graphics, Marketing, Operations, Public Relations, Production, Programming, Features, and Research.

Facilities and Event Management
A huge number of academic internships, and a few paid internships.

Guest Speaker: Bill Popp

On Tuesday Bill Popp, the Reinhardt Athletic Director and Head Baseball Coach, visited our class and told us all about his career and how he got to be the Athletic Director at Reinhardt. He went to West Georgia College where he played baseball for 3 years before transferring to Kennesaw State University. He received his Bachelor's Degree from KSU and then went to Oglethorpe where he was a volunteer baseball coach. He was called up as the head coach the following year and kept that job for 11 years. He then came here to Reinhardt where he started the baseball program in 2004. The school has gotten a lot bigger since then and added a number of other sports: Softball, Men's Lacrosse and Women's Lacrosse.

There are currently about 240+ athletes that attend Reinhardt.Reinhardt went from NJCAA to the NAIA to be included with the other 290 teams in the NAIA.Reinhardt also recently went from the SSAC to the AAC. He also told us how our men's soccer team had 3/4 of the total ejections last year of all men's soccer teams in the NAIA. Our conference is currently searching for more teams to add to the AAC. At Reinhardt they are looking at adding a few programs as well: Football and maybe Track.

Popp told us that a lot of what his duties are as the Athletic Director include the eligibility process for all athletes, as well as a list of criteria that each student needs to meet. I asked him what was one of the main reasons that Reinhardt changed conferences and he said that one of the main ones was the amount of money that we were getting for scholarships as compared to the amount that the other schools in our conference were getting. Another reason was that it was one of our program and school goals to match our playing field with those in the AAC.

I found this speech to be particularly interesting because I could see myself traveling down a similar road later on in my future.

Graduate Assistantship Explorations 1-5

For my five Graduate Assistantships, I chose these five positions: Tourism/Recreation/Sport Management, Athletic Training, Career Events, Intramural Sports, and a facilities graduate assistantship. I found all of these at the University of Florida.

The Tourism/Recreation/Sport Management graduate assistantship requires me to concentrate on tourism and commercial recreation, natural resource recreation, recreation administration and supervision, and campus recreation programming and administration.

The Athletic Training graduate assistantship program provides for intensive study in the sports medicine area emphasizing prevention, assessment, treatment, rehabilitation, therapeutic modalities, and administration. Clinical experience in the field is expected throughout the student’s tenure in the program. An extensive clinical outreach program provides assistantship opportunities for students who are certified athletic trainers.

The Career Events graduate assistantship requires me to assist in the coordination and implementation of the bi-annual Career Showcase and other career events. I also work with recruits, trains, and manage the showcase student committee and day-of-event hosts. I will work with my supervisor to create a plan to maintain a sustainable showcase committee. I will also make ongoing connections with employers, students, faculty and staff to promote career events and other center activities. I will aid in the management and maintenance of the Gator CareerLink Career Events Database System, and I will also conduct research and provide data analysis for career fairs and events.

For the Intramural Sports graduate assistantship, I would provide full administration of major and minor team and individual sports as well as special events. I would also help with extramural flag football and basketball tournaments; recruits, hires and trainings 300+ student officials each year.

The facilities graduate assistantship requires me to help manage two Fitness Centers and the Broward Outdoor Recreation Complex with hiring, scheduling, training, supervising, and evaluating the staff. I develop training strategies for employees and administers and updates facility inspection procedures for the recreation centers and other recreation facilities on campus. I also help with the development of the budget.