The hardest part about college is figuring out what you want to do after college.
Fortunately, I discovered back in high school the perfect career for me: sports reporting. Never once since then have I changed my mind.
Of course, the sports industry is very competitive. So, when I enrolled at Moravian, I began to wonder what I could do to get my foot in the door. It was my parents who first suggested a great place to begin: apply for internships.
I looked everywhere online for internships, including LinkedIn, Teamworkonline, and Indeed, among many other job listings. I even investigated sports teams’ websites and sports companies.
I found a lot of internships and applied to many of them, including ones at PGA Tours Internship, United States Golf Association, Fox Sports Network, NJ/NY Gotham FC Women’s Soccer Team, and the New York Red Bulls.
I applied to all of them, even though I figured they’d be hard to get, given how well-known the companies are.
Sadly, I was right: I didn’t get a single offer.
I’ll admit that the rejections were hard to take. They made me question my abilities; for a time, I even considered changing my major from Communications and Media to a totally different field.
During the spring semester last year, however, I decided to apply to smaller sports teams that were closer to my home in northern New Jersey.
My strategy worked. My first application was for an internship with The Sussex County Miners Baseball Team – and I got it!
Then I applied for another one – as a broadcast associate and content manager with the Morris Elite Soccer Club – and got that, too; this one I accepted.
Over the summer, I was the “public address announcer” for all the soccer games and conducted pre- and post-game interviews with the coaches and players. I also helped with social media when the other social media person wasn’t there.
I worked every home game for the USLW and USL2 leagues, which are the Club’s pre-professional soccer leagues (and worked a few younger league tournaments, too)..
My internship with Morris Elite taught me a lot. Whether I was learning to manage my time or just developing organizational skills, I became a better communicator in the athletic communications field. I also honed my speaking chops, so I could better interview coaches and players.
When it comes to internships, I also think one of the bigger adjustments is working with people you are not familiar with, which was something I learned as well.
I wasn’t comfortable interviewing any of the teams at first because I didn’t know them, and they didn’t know me. I then realized that is what it will be like for me in the future, so I need to practice and prepare now so I am ready and comfortable.
Ever since my experience with Morris Elite, I have been willing to take on new challenges in Moravian’s Athletic Communications, where I work now. I have improved my critical thinking skills and am able to take more initiative.
Morris Elite not only taught me new skills and how to build on skills I already have, but they also steered me in the right direction. I needed this to get experience in the sports industry, and even if it was a local soccer club, my experience there was invaluable – and now it’s on my resume.
One last thing that I took away from my summer internship is, as cliche as it sounds, the importance of never giving up. I wanted to quit so many times and just change my career path because I was getting discouraged by all the rejections or just not hearing anything.
But I learned that hanging in there and reorienting myself was just what I needed: it forced me to look smaller and more local. And because I did, I got the experience I was looking for in the first place.
