August 6-10 (20 hours)

The next week began with one last major project on our table. We were to make a DVD out of all the photos and film that were taken during that week. I was in my glory. I love putting those kinds of things together. I have never done that exactly but I was quite excited to learn such an amazing marketing tool. After countless hours of reviewing footage and pictures, labeling teams and awards, and going over songs and how exactly we were going to put this all together my boss go an email at the end of the week. The email included a DVD already made from the one of the guys that took the pictures for the tournament. Although we have already spent a while on this project this gentleman’s work was very good. The entire office reviewed it and we all came to a consensus to use his DVD. But I got to make changes!!! I got make sure all the teams were showed, well at least all the ones we have pictures of, I got to move things around, and like my boss said “put a little player touch to it”. It was nice that all my hard work didn’t go to waste and I still got a pretty good idea of how to make the DVD. The rest of the week consisted of wrapping everything up. Got all the papers together, thank you letters and just talked about the job offers I received throughout the internship. That Friday night we went to a local crab house where the office took me out to dinner. It was a great way to conclude an AMAZING internship. From the experience, to the people I got to work with, a long with all the experiences I could possibly have in the future; I couldn’t ask for anything better!!

July 31-Aug 3 (20 hours)

Since it was so busy these past two weeks my boss gave me Monday off. It was great to get a break but Sunday and Monday just felt so empty. We both agreed that we felt so weird to finally have the tournament over. We had spent so much time, well all of our time on this and it was just amazing to see it come and go very successfully. I went back to work on Tuesday where Andy (my boss) and I did a lot of talking and reviewing from the tournament. I thought it was very good that we discuss the tournament, what people said and our own personally opinions. We had kind of been doing that the entire week but it was really good to sit back and then go over it all. Several things were brought up during this time but what we really focused on was the next step. Just because the tournament was over doesn’t mean that the work was over. We made a list of things we would do the next couple of days. Along with follow up we also had another tournament coming to town on Friday. It was a lot smaller men’s fast pitch tournament. So while we didn’t have too much planning for this one we did have to provide some things. So once our list of what I was to do and what Andy was to do to follow up our World Series I started making sure all the hotel rooms confirmed for the umpires we had coming into town that weekend. We have a very good relationship with our hotel, which allows doing such things as get rooms compensated for our umpires to lessen the expense. While I made sure the rooms were compensated I also gave the hotels the name of the umpires in which they would be hosted. That way there would be a less chance of confusion when they were checking in. Little things like that are very important to make sure of in order to make sure we wouldn’t have more to take care of later.
Wednesday and Thursday was full of checking off stuff on our list. The main project I worked on was auditing our report from the major World Series tournament. I primarily checked the advertisement part because I spent so much time with the transferring of money and orders. I kept a very diligent copies and records of all the transfers. So with most of them I just had to double check the accounting office’s statement with ours.
Once I audited our report I made a very thorough account of who still owed us, what they owed, along with all their contact info. After my boss and I went over it all I sent it to our accounting office. Though I didn’t see that particular job being difficult I did enjoy doing. I loved that they allowed me to follow up on stuff I was working on this entire summer as well as them trusting me enough to get all our money in.

July 23-28 (90 hours)

Monday was a day of special events. Many things were going on at the Coach’s check in. Coaches or managers came to pick up passes player gift bags, coach’s gift bucket, agendas for things that were going on, and a chance to get local area information. My role at check in was to talk to coaches and managers about the Opening Ceremonies later that night. We had that available for a couple of hours then while the guys were at the Coach’s meeting I was actually off to the mall to set up the Mom’s meeting. I stayed a while once the moms were showing up, passed out gift bags for them, answered questions and made sure things were going well. Once that was established I had to go over to our civic center. There we hosted a college recruiting seminar where we had two local softball college coaches talk about all the things these girls really needed to start focusing on. I was there to set up everything and once we had everyone there I also played the role as a college athlete and answered those questions as well as adding to what the coach’s had to say. I then had to rush over to the Delmarva Shorebirds for Opening Ceremonies. There I helped get the last little things in the facility ready. I tried to make little personal touches like give all the umpires leis since it was a beach theme as well as personally greet all our top community heads that were coming to watch. After that we could pretty much sit back and just watch only having to do little things here and there. It was an amazing success!!!

Tuesday was when the first ball was pitched. I started the day meeting with the bosses early at headquarters. From there we went to see all the games get off the ground. Going to each park and complex. Only half the teams played on Tuesday, the other half would play their first game on Wednesday.

Wednesday was another day of what we call pool play. This day was full of the rest of the teams playing their first 2 or 3 games. All the results would then set them up into bracket play where we would then begin double elimination. I had a different role that day. Now I would not be traveling site to site but I was stationary at the main complex. And while the state director was there for tournament info I too could answer their questions because I’ve been a site director at other tournaments and have worked very very close and hard when building this tournament. In addition I was in charge of the scores. All the state site directors reported the scores to me; I would enter them into our computer system then configure it all to get the seeding according for the day of games. I had to make sure all that info was posted on the internet asap for those that were following the games but not there as well as rely info to all the sites so we had it posted everywhere. I continued that until almost 930-10 every single night.

The games lasted up until Saturday night. All the days were quite the same besides that day. That day started off the same but it was a great day for PR. And while every day I made it a point to network and personally go up to teams and families to see how they were enjoying their time as well as thank them for coming.Yet, the last day was our last face to face chance to making a good impression to get them to come back next year. At the last day there was only six teams left ad six games left. This really gave us a good chance to watch the games and thank the coaches after each game. Once our tournament director announced and awarded the girl/s from that team it was my job to post their name and award on the internet. I’ve learned so much about their computer program.
Its one they use at all their tournaments, for all sports, and all year round. I’d be able to use it if I just work a weekend tournament for them again or if I go to work for USSSA as suggested they wanted.

After everything started to wrap up we ended the day pretty normal and went for a late dinner. And while all of us were exhausted we couldn’t help but talk about everything that happened that week. It was a great way to informally overview the week.

July 21 & 22 (18 hours)

Saturday we started with a meeting with the tournament heads. There my boss and I met with the USSSA regional director, two state directors, and one of our maintenance guys (who is always very involved in various positions for all our tournaments). Our meeting lasted a couple of hours. There we discussed the exact jobs we would each have on Monday as it was going to be a very hectic day. Before we branched off in the office to get more things done I had approached to the group on just how important I thought it was to put a packet of directions together. I have been to several World Series during my softball career and knew just how that can make an event better or worse. Everyone agreed it was a great idea. It is so great to see that people I work with, new and all summer, really value what I think it is good for the event and our guests.

Sunday was a little different. I began the day at the office; making signs for Coach’s check in, responding to last minute emails and phone calls. But once that was over myself, my boss and the regional tournament director all went on quite extensive site visits. We went to all three park sites where we met with the park and complex managers and double checked out the fields made sure the breakaway fences were up, the mounds and bases were at the right measurements. We also spent a good portion of the day delivering the last odds and ends to the site of our Mom’s meeting, Coach’s meeting and check in, and Opening ceremonies. All in all this weekend was quite busy but definitely not as crazy as the tournament week was.

July 16-20 (45 hours)

When I got back from time with my boyfriend it was right back to work. During this week I began by working on invitations to our rendition of a coach’s meeting but for team moms. My boss and I decided it would be a great idea to build relationships with these teams by 1^st providing a meeting just for moms (definitely one of the first that I know of) and by personally inviting them to let them know just what we intended to offer. After writing up the invitations and emailing them to all the team contacts I then had to run over to our local mall to meet with the General Manager, their mall Marketer/Special Events and her assistant marketer to go over exactly how we wanted to run this meeting as well as see what they had come up with.
During this time I also had to stay very connected with one of our partners, the Delmarva Shorebirds. The Delmarva Shorebirds are a local triple A baseball team for the Baltimore Orioles here in Salisbury and have been helping us with another part of the tournament, Opening Ceremonies. Opening Ceremonies is one of the biggest parts of a girls world series, though it is not usually too successful. I have been to many and my team never wanted to stay.. So my boss, myself and our contacts with the Delmarva Shorebirds, their GM and special events coordinator, have been working very hard to make sure it was the best one any of the girls and their families have been to. Thus, why it was so important to consistently talk with the Shorebirds during the week before our biggest week. The rest of this week was filled with site visits to our 3 parks that the games were going to be played.

Past two weeks and father's day weekend

Week of 6/11-6/15 (24 hours)
During this week I worked with our marketing director very closely for advertisement designing. I also, with my boss, had a meeting with the local baseball team, Delmarva Shorebirds. It was there that we discussed opening ceremonies: event flow, goody bag contents, scripts, DJ, and much more. It’s definitely going to be the best opening ceremonies I have ever seen. I also had to research what teams and their family members thought of previous opening ceremonies. This will allow us to really get a grasp of what “the people” want.

Father's day weekend: BLAST AT THE BEACH (24 hours)
During Father’s day weekend (6/16 and 6/17) I worked a total of 24hous. Funny how I did that in two days and the same about the week before in four. That weekend was definitely long hours but a lot of fun. I liked this side of the fence for once and the responsibility as well. My favorite part of being a site director is figuring out the seeding for all the teams after the first day.

This past week 6/18-6/22
After such a long weekend my boss gave me off that Monday. Where I just got caught up on all the homework I needed to do since I didn’t have time to do it that weekend. There was a lot to do this week because my boss left for vacation on Wednesday. So everything was put into my hands. It definitely kept me busy as he really wanted me to organize our ad sales: who was definite and who is still in progress. Friday was a little different. I met with the Shorebirds by myself where we caught each other up on what each other has been doing and where we stand. I then spent the rest of the day organizing everything, making a couple more calls for I too am going on vacation. I then reported to my co-works on my status for they were going to help until my boss got back. My boyfriend is coming back from Iraq for 2 weeks and ill be with him most the time and then in Las Vegas the rest time for my bother’s 21^st birthday. During this week I worked 28 hours.

THIRD WEEK (22 hours)

This week my boss and I met with the Pepsi rep and discussed our partnership in the World Series tournament such as signs, water coolers, and cup donations. During this meeting we also discussed our joint idea for Pepsi to connect with our Exxon gas stations where Pepsi’s coupons are to bring customers to the Exxon station and that station only. I then was given one of my favorite tasks. TO SHOP!!! We are putting gift bags together for out opening ceremonies. I was given a budget and got to shop for what would be in them. I made a very detailed spreadsheet with all possible items sectioned off into different groups. It was great and everyone loved my ideas. I'll get to present my ideas to our opening ceremony partners next week. The next day was:
meetings meetings meetings!!!! We first met with our CVA (Convention Visitors Association) then headed out of the office to meet with a field director to discuss last little operations for our father's day weekend tournament. Concessions was next on our list. It was brief but as my boss always tells me that just checking up (calls or stopping by) is great for a sport marketer. And while we really didn't need to stop in keeping that relationship is absolutely pertinent!!! Our next step was to our community's Civic Center, we work closely with their departments as we are pretty much just another branch. We stopped by there to meet with the complex manager to discuss the father's day weekend tournament. Instead of talking about field maintenance like we did with our field director we talked about site director logistics, making sure we had enough man power for all the fields and complexes we would be using. Once we returned back to the office I solicited an ad from a major car dealer in town. As well as enlisted Potomac food groups (Golden Corral and Burger King) as a sponsor and I communicated their ad with our marketing department. Solicitating the ad was definitely a great accomplishment but making that contact and beginning a relationship will be great for my department in the future as well as myself. The week continued as we followed up and met with a partner, optimist club, to see how they were doing with their ads. I learned that we have a special deal with them where they actually get a return from all the ad money they bring in. For all their close involvement we are giving them 10% of all they bring in. A great incentive and it really doesn't cost us anything. I then branched off to my office and worked closely with our director of marketing and public relations to make sure everything was secure advertisement designs such as Burger King/ Golden Corral. Andy and I then discussed all the signage we are receiving from Pepsi. Since we get to instruct what the signs will have on them we needed to come up with what they will say. They consisted of everything from welcome signs, directions, park rules, and opening ceremony signs. Just another detail that is not always thought off but yet very important. We ended week with a in house faculty meeting where Andy, my boss, had me present to the rest of the gang just how well we’ve been doing as well as talk to them about other possible sponsors we might not have thought of. A special bonus came at the end of the meeting when they then asked me to come on board for our county’s wine festival. Meetings for that start very soon. They also talked about possibly sending me with my boss to Salem, Va ( a major event management and sport marketing area) – past host of DIII softball world series - to research and get new ideas. I was very honored.