Sports facility management is a concept in sports designed to help keep leagues, tournaments, sports complexes, and all other activities orderly and running most efficiently (American Association for Health Education). Sport facility management is not just an issue of making sure that the leisure center is organized. It also involves providing better services and ensuring all stakeholders, especially the customers (players), are familiar with the services.
In this report, I will highlight an array of activities that I performed at a sports facility center as an intern for a period of [Insert time/months/weeks]. I will extensively discuss how I carried out daily activities as I sought to gain practical experience in sports management.
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As an intern, I expected to gain practical experience in sports facility management areas. For this reason, I had to be actively involved in all departments of sport facility management. This called for collaboration and a strong team working with other colleagues to get maximum output most efficiently. To be specific, I was actively involved in management, scheduling budgeting, and baseball coaching, among other activities. I was very excited to work as an intern in managing a sports facility, and I was motivated by the fact that I would be coaching baseball, which is one of my favorite sports.
The first week was only for orientation. I was introduced to all the staff members on the first day, and during the entire week, I was taken around the sports facility to familiarize myself with my new work environment. The supervisor was the one who took me around, and once I had fully acquainted myself with the sports complex and all activities offered, I was assigned one of the employees at the facility who did an extensive orientation in the offices and stores.
He took me around the offices, and I was introduced to almost all employees, especially those I would be working closely with. Finally, I was taken to my new office, which was well equipped with a computer, a printer, files, and all the necessary office tools. Here, I was introduced to several management systems, including the sports facility management software, which I learned to use within a few days. I was given comprehensive training for the rest of the week in all areas. The exercise was necessary for understanding the practical part of sport facility management, which I must say was very useful and exciting.
Having received an extensive and broad orientation, I began running duties independently in the second week. I was provided with the work schedule, which changed from time to time, depending on the clients’ demands. Being new and having no experience was quite challenging, but I consulted my supervisor and work colleagues whenever I encountered any difficulties. Based on the level of cooperation with highly esteemed individuals, I had less worry about, as my colleagues were ready to solve any problem.
Daily activities
Because of continually traveling to different sports complexes for exposure, my day-to-day activities began with morning assessments. As a routine management practice, I walked around every morning, checking over to familiarize myself with all activities that happened when I was away. This also meant that I had to talk to different staff members and go round the sports facility. Whenever necessary, other colleagues and I would have a meeting for briefing about daily activities and general progress. Where a problem was detected, I would consult my supervisor for help, and sometimes I would help the staff members to resolve emerging issues.
Once back in my office, I would make all the day plans and organize the daily schedule. Mostly, I managed the daily schedule for all staff members under my department, and later I would organize my program. However, every staff member had a programmed plan that was well outlined on the notice board. From time-to-time, I would make adjustments and record the changes according to everyday schedule. In case there were no changes, I would assess the progress, sort out daily activities, and finally plan for priorities—this enabled efficiency and organization.
In the case of new developments, I would develop a new program to fit the new services. However, before making appropriate modifications, I would discuss all products with the supervisor before presenting suggestions to the staff members. Depending on the topic, the staff members would give their opinion, and we would make an informed decision as a team.
As part of the sports facility management, I would ensure that all routine administrative duties were kept up to date. This involved checking that accident report forms were recorded and filed appropriately. This was very necessary for ensuring the health and safety of all involved stakeholders.
In addition to this, I was responsible for accounting and budgeting. On a daily basis, I would ensure that all financial transactions were recorded appropriately and kept up to date. I also confirmed that such records were filed appropriately for future reference. At the end of every week, I would monitor the documents and assess all costs against financial targets due to issues of accountability and for the purpose of smooth running of the sports facility. I would also get involved in setting plans, including all financial budgets.
On the other hand, I had the responsibility of developing new marketing strategies. I would decide on my target group, discuss the issues with the supervisor, and, if approved, I would research the best method for attracting and reaching potential clients. In most cases, this involved working on advertisement strategies that would be most efficient. To facilitate the process, we worked as a team together with other staff members on various ways of reaching the public and getting them to familiarize themselves with the sport facility activities. At times, this would mean planning and organizing special events to sensitize the public.
Finally, in order to ensure quality service delivery, I would walk around talking to the clients and listening to their views. This was important in improving service delivery. On a daily basis, I would speak to a number of clients on issues of quality service, facilitates efficiency, and staffing levels. I would assess their feedback and make a general conclusion. The most important thing was ensuring that customers were satisfied with the services offered. Based on clients’ feedback, we, as staff members, would discuss necessary amendments with other staff members. I would oversee all changes, if any were proposed, to ensure quality service delivery.
Coaching baseball
As an intern, I was also involved in baseball coaching, and I trained the Old Travel baseball team made of teenagers between 16 and 18 years old. The training was routinely scheduled for two hours daily from Monday to Friday. In addition, over the weekend, the movement took place between10 and 12 in the morning hours. My primary responsibility was scheduling and managing the players on a daily basis.
As a baseball coach, it was my responsibility to train my players primarily on the basics of baseball. Warming up was the first step that we would get involved in before engaging in the actual playing. Through this procedure, I would be able to isolate fast players, strong ones, as well as creative ones. This would help me to know where to field each player for the purposes of training. I would endeavor to keep the notes on each player, including the time he uses to get the ball to the first base, the length of the hits in the field, and who ran fastest. The training was scheduled as follows: Monday was for physical exercises only.
On Tuesday, the first one hour was for sprinting, and the other hour was for batting. On Wednesday, training would involve pitching only after warming up. On Thursday, physical exercises again with an emphasis on sprinting. Friday was scheduled for training on catching, while Saturday, we would go for tournaments to the East Coast. Sunday was usually for recreation and team-building skills.
After the entire period of internship, the players had learned adequately one of the most useful skills in baseball: batting. The first thing they learned was to select a bat that fits one by swinging it a lot. I ensured that they understood the significance of the connection between the ball at high speed and the bat. At the end of the fourth week, each player had identified their potential and had known where they best fitted: pitching, catching or batting.
More specifically, by this time, they had learned how to keep their heads steady with eyes on the pitcher and always getting ready to swing when a good pitch is made. In addition, they were able to keep the front shoulder down and had conceptualized the idea of avoiding uppercuts by knowing the zone they were comfortable hitting. In summary, it was a pleasant experience as we interacted each Sunday and evaluated the progress of each player. By interacting, the players were able to share their views, and this helped in building the team spirit. Under my coach ship, the team won three crucial games.
Lessons acquired from this internship
Before enrolling for the internship, I hoped that it would provide me with real field experiences and skills that are useful in developing my career. I knew the training would provide me with direct experience. Foremost, the internship program really helped me to gain practical experience in the area of sports facility management and supplemented the knowledge that I had acquired in class.
Secondly, working at a sports facility actually helped me to develop leadership and management skills. Because of many responsibilities and challenges, I was forced to make crucial decisions, and this helped me in assessing the strengths and weaknesses of my leadership and management skills. Today, I believe that the experience I gained during this period equips me with competent skills to manage any other sports facility.
Thirdly, working at the sports facility provided me with an opportunity to gain cross-cultural experience hence learning to appreciate and accept diversity. As an intern, I worked with colleagues from different cultural backgrounds. This opportunity helped me to exchange ideas and experiences with other people, and because of this experience, I significantly improved teamwork and communication skills.
Finally, through the internship, I learned new dimensions in the area of sports and facility management. Due to handling many tasks and responsibilities, I was able to learn new things. On a number of occasions, I interacted with experienced individuals in this field, giving me an opportunity to develop unique aspects of sport and facility management that I may not have been able to learn in the classroom.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the internship program was beneficial and interesting too. I became familiar with issues of sport facility management, and more importantly, I developed a network while working with other professionals in this field. Although managing sports facilities was quite challenging and demanding too, I was able to handle my duties with the help of my superiors and other colleagues.
Indeed, I realized teamwork is necessary for good organization and maximum productivity. It is during this internship program that I was able to assess my strength and weakness, which has helped me improve both in terms of career and in terms of personality. With the experience gained from this internship, I believe I have acquired quality management and leadership skills. With such skills, I am confident that I can efficiently run a sports facility center in the future. The opinion is that more internship programs should be offered to students so that they can gain practical experience, which is essential in any vocation.
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