Game 2 Week

This week in the office we were preparing for our second home game. On Wednesday in the office, I spent a good amount of my time cutting additional badges and laminating them for more volunteers and additional staff members. I also had to copy and cut out 150 player voucher cards for them to give to family and friends. I know that I cut out 150 because I had to number each of the cards. In addition to those player voucher cards, I copied and cut out voucher cards for the office staff and couches. In total I cut out 400 voucher cards for staff. During my office hours on Thursday, I helped Derek develop the script for the game on Sunday. I specifically helped him come up with activities for breaks during media and team time outs, one minute warnings, and half time. One of the events I came up with for half time was the family relay race since it was “Family Night” at the game. The event consisted of a family of four with the husband carrying the wife fifteen yards then switching and the wife carrying the husband back fifteen yards. Next, the children wheel barreled out fifteen yards and switched roles on the way back. Obviously the family to complete the relay race first won. While in the office I also numbered more voucher cards for the staff and signed them. It was different to have the authority to sign the vouchers because in the past my signature had very little meaning. On Friday, I had to cut out additional voucher cards for the players along with numbering and signing them too. In the end, I numbered and signed a total of 284 voucher cards for players. I also spent some of my time folding pocket schedule box holders for the sales reps to bring out to places. Along with folding pocket schedule boxes, I rolled t-shirts to be shot out of the gun for game day. At the end of the day we went next door to king signs to pick up more signs for our dasher boards. Even though it seems like I do not do much in the office, the work I do helps the staff in preparing for game day and for them to use their time for more vital work in the office. On game day, we arrived at the stadium at 9:50 am for a game at 4pm. Right away when we arrived we were put to work. For the next two and half hours we spent our time ripping off the older sponsor signs from the dasher boards to place the new sponsor signs on the boards. This was an extremely long and exhausting task because the old signs were exceptionally sticky. By the time we finished ripping off all the old signs my hands were so sticky that if my hands touched each other I struggled to pull them apart. After washing my hands we placed the new signs on the dasher boards which looked spectacular. Once we were finished putting up the new sponsor signs we took a lunch break at the dog house which was free since they are one of our sponsors. When we arrived back at the stadium it was about an hour before kick off so we had to get all the other little things in place. During the game I was a runner in the tunnel which consisted of picking contestants off of a signup sheet for each contest and escorting them down the elevator to the back of the tunnel to walk on the field. While I was not finding and escorting contestants I was able to watch the game from the sideline and at times catch extra point field goals. At the end of the game I wrote an article about the game that will be posted on the team’s website.

Game 1 Week

Over the past few weeks I have been interning with the Fayetteville Force Indoor Football Team. For my internship I will be working with Alex Garmezy and Derek Hardy. Before this past week I had been going into the office about once or twice a week. At the time the Force was not needing my help all that much in the office and they did not have much for me to assist them with. Throughout those 3 weeks which I spent little time in the office, I did help with finding companies to provide helmets and shoulders pads at the best price offered. I also helped design and cut out cards for players to sign and handout to fans at a fan appreciation day. Another day in the office I assisted Alex in editing film from practice and moving each clip into a separate file to upload on the teams website. This past week was very crazy and hectic since it was the week right before the game opener on March 18, 2011. Alex and Derek both needed me in the office every day of the week to help them prepare for the home opener against the Carolina Speed. Prior to Friday’s game I helped Alex prepare field passes for all the interns, media passes, coach’s passes, and passes for everyone else in the office. Additionally, I helped prepare the dasher boards in preparation for Friday’s game. This was a very long and tiring process. On game day I arrived at the arena 5 hrs before the game to help set up sponsor signs along the railings, as well as making sure the field was fully prepared. I further assisted Alex in retrieving food for the Media room after the game as well as taking down all the sponsor signs after the game. During the game my duty was ball boy which entailed me throwing a football to the refs at times when a ball was thrown outside of the field or a field goal was attempted. Being a ball boy was first for me and a good experience since I was able to enjoy the game while working. Furthermore, being behind the scenes before and after the game was an eye opening experience to see all the time and planning that must be put in for such an event to be put on. As of now I have worked a total of 30hrs from spending time in the office and 9hrs this past Friday for the home opener. Now that the season has official started I will be going into the office a minimum of 3 times a week for 4hrs.