Ten weeks on the road…

Sixteen days and over forty hours of travel remain until the completion of my summer internship on the Baseball Youth Experience Road Tour. Since May 15th, I have traveled to thirteen states and visited over fifty cities. I have attended little league baseball tournaments ranging from twenty teams to over two-hundred teams. My experience has provided great learning experiences and fun opportunities I will remember forever.

Lack of communication resulted in five off days for the West Coast Crew this past week. We started the weekend off working at a little league tournament in San Clemente, California and ended our week on the beach in Oxnard, California. On Monday, we drove just north of Mexico thinking we would be setting up for opening day at the USABF World Series. Upon our arrival, we drove into an area surrounded by junk yards and food trucks. As I sat in the chase car while following the trailer, I decided to give the tournament director a call. When he answered the phone, he sounded surprised to be hearing from us. He expressed his concerns and how he had tried to get in contact with our company about our arrival in order to advertise our set-up on his tournament’s website. Since he had not heard from us in over a month, he assumed we would not be attending his tournament therefore told only the managers to arrive on opening day to pick up their team packets. I apologized on behalf of our company and relayed the message back to our main headquarters.

This past week I have learned the importance of communication and organization when working in the sport industry. When contacting tournament directors, we should be contacting them a few days in advance to ensure communication is made. As I continue to work in the sport industry, I am learning from the mistakes of others and noting how others succeed. I will continue to explore different areas of the industry to discover where I will begin my career.

In an article posted on MLB.com, author Chris Abshire highlighted the combined effort by Major League Baseball and USA Baseball to spotlight and increase the involvement of urban youth throughout the sport of baseball. “This event gives the kids an opportunity to see how the pro games work and get some attention they might not otherwise see,” said Grambling State assistant coach Davin Pierre. “This is a business-type atmosphere. That requires a maturity from them, so it’s a necessary event. There needs to be more like it.” In an effort to give urban youth the opportunity to pursue playing baseball beyond high school, Major League Baseball is using Pro Showcases to expose talented players to college and pro scouts.

One more week in California and then we will be on the road for a long journey back to Lexington!

Abshire, C. (2013, July 23). Urban youth attend breakthrough series in houston. Retrieved from http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130723&content_id=54493422&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb

Nine weeks on the road…

The West Coast has provided beautiful weather and exciting tournaments for the Baseball Youth Experience. Our journey took us down the coast from Los Angeles to San Diego for multiple tournaments in the area. We attended our first expo of the summer, with vendors set-up in the outfield for the public to attend. With thousands of individuals passing through our tents, we experienced great success in sales reaching our highest numbers of the summer.

As we progress through the summer, our crew experiences struggles and frustrations with tour members. The main office in Lexington decided to send out a representative for a surprise visit to check on the West Tour. His arrival brought guidance and a sense of relief for myself and the other tour members. He provided great feedback and advice for our set-up and sales approaches. I took the time to learn as much as I could from Eric during his time with us.

Little league baseball is beginning to heat up, as teams will soon be competing to represent their region in the 2013 Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. As I continue to travel around the country attending little league world series baseball tournaments, I like to read about sponsorship throughout the league. In an article written by David Perez called, “Oakland A’s, Intermediate Little League World Series Announce Strategic Partnership”, Perez announced the partnership agreement between the two organizations. The Oakland A’s support programs that help to improve the quality of life for people in the Bay Area therefore they will strive to meet the mission of Little League Baseball, Incorporated. Their mission is to “promote, develop, supervise, and voluntarily assist in all lawful ways, the interest of those who will participate in Little League Baseball and Softball.” (Perez, 2013)

The beautiful weather in California allows us to explore the many beaches and towns on the ocean. On Thursday, the girls went to La Jolla and battled the waves on a kayak and cave tour in the Pacific Ocean.

Stay tuned for more adventures on the west coast…

Perez, D. (2013, July 22). Oakland a’s, intermediate little league world series announce strategic partnership. Retrieved from http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/7/prweb10952091.htm

Santee, CA

The West Coast tour traveled south along the Pacific Ocean to attend the 3rd Annual National Baseball and Softball Expo in Santee, California. These two wonderful ladies played in the women’s baseball league and were in the movie “A League of Their Own”.

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Eight weeks on the road…

The adventures continue to surprise the west coast crew on our journey west. This past week we started in Denver, Colorado and ended in Chino Hills, California. On our way from Denver to Chino Hills we experienced some major bumps in the road. First, we blew a tire in the middle of nowhere Utah. Twenty miles after we changed our tire, we blew another one. With no spares left, we had no choice but to hunt down a shop. Luckily we found one right down the road and bought two tires. In route to Las Vegas, the crew was excited for an exciting night in the city that never sleeps. With two hours left in our trip, the chase car noticed sparks shooting out from the side of the trailer. As we continued driving, the sparks became worse. We immediately pulled over and noticed the rim of the tire steaming. With 8 miles to the nearest city, we had no choice but to continue. Our final destination for the night placed us in Washington, Utah.
In the morning, the boys took the trailer down the road while I stayed at the hotel and worked on canceling and booking hotel rooms. The phone call from the boys brought bad news as they reported we broke our axel and they expedited the part to arrive the following day. With a broken axel, the west coast crew was stranded in Utah for two days causing us to miss the opening ceremonies at the tournament in Chino Hills.
At 5pm on Thursday, the trailer was finally fixed and we continued on our way to California. The issues we faced over the past week taught me the importance of communication, organization and patience. I continue to look for leadership opportunities during times of trial.
This summer I decided to explore a new area of the sport industry…baseball. I have always enjoyed attending Milwaukee Brewer’s games at Miller Park but I have never considered a career in baseball. After spending almost three months surrounded by baseball, I am beginning to consider a possible career in this field. I am beginning to pay attention to all of the opportunities throughout Major League Baseball. The All-Star Game recently took place at Citi Field in New York with four days of events prior to the game. In an article published in The Baltimore Sun, author Chris Korman discussed the economic benefits for Baltimore if the city was to host the 2016 MLB All-Star game. In the article he quoted former Governor William Donald Schaeder as saying, “The All-Star Game was a chance to show off the city to the world, and we made the most of it. This was the first time a city turned it into an entire week of events. When you have an event, make it a big one.” (Korman, 2013)

Korman, C. (2013, July 16). Sports business lunch: What the all-star game would mean to baltimore. The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved from http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-what-the-allstar-game-would-mean-to-baltimore-20130716,0,6528079.story