Journal
Behind the scenes
august
8.14.15
Last day!
With it being the last day of my mentor/internship with Indiana Elite AAU and Coach Seifers, I spent a couple of hours today once again doing some youth league work. Mainly I had to persuade a couple of coaches that said thank you but no thanks, to continue to think about signing up for the league. Persuasion is strength of mine :).
Knowing that next week I will not being anymore work is definitely a bittersweet feeling. I have enjoyed my time learning and growing as an adult and professional under Matt Seifers and the rest of the Indiana Elite AAU family.
8.13.15
Today was more youth league work. I did a lot of emailing out to several coaches that responded back already. The feedback so far is wonderful! A lot of the coaches are very excited that there is a new league in the surrounding area that closes the gap between summer AAU play and school basketball.
I also was able to spend some time in the gym today, doing a couple training sessions with some of the high school girls. These sessions were not the best performance wise on the girl's behalf but it is always a joy to help basketball players strengthen their weaknesses.
8.12.15
Today I was assigned a different project which was really nice because the youth league work was becoming extremely repetitive. I worked on creating new offenses and defenses for the high school girl's team. Sounds easy but it is extremely hard to do this because not every girl fits certain offensive and defensive sets.
I began by watching film from last season and breaking individual players strengths and weaknesses down. When I found out that the majority of the girls' strengths incorporate coming off of screens, this allowed for me to focus on a certain type of offense to put together.
I also was asked to rank the girls on a pre season scale of 1 being the best player the team has to 25, the worst. Much harder to do this then one would think.
It is going to be even more exciting watching the girl's play this upcoming season because hopefully they will master the plays I have drawn up and run them properly.
8.11.15
Today I continued working on the youth basketball league. I finally was able to get an email sent out to numerous coaches throughout the southern part of the state of Indiana. I am hoping that coaches will begin to respond back to this email as soon as possible. Unfortunately due to my relocation, I had to incorporate in my email a few names of other people that coaches need to reach out to if the youth league is something they want to be apart of.
8.10.15
Last Monday!
As this internship process begins to wind down and with my relocation and I am spending this week to do as much work as I can to help Coach Seifers out with the youth girl basketball league this fall. Today I spent my time continuing to work on the list of schools I have put together and have begun drafting an email and gathering both email addresses and phone numbers.
8.9.15
This World is so Small!
As I am now just getting back to Indianapolis I must share how much this internship has helped me in terms of getting my foot into the sports world. Today while being up at Trine University, I was in a store and came across a gentleman that looked extremely familiar. He went on to stop me in the aisle and asked if I was a basketball coach or was familiar with AAU tournaments; he remembered me from the NCAA check-in table at the Indiana Elite tournaments this summer!
This gentleman spoke of how highly he thought of the Indiana Elite program in the south part of the state and went on to explain that he wished there was program up north that had a similar reputation for basketball excellence and advancement. As I was excited to hear this, I can not take any of the credit for it is the coaches, players, and staff members that have built this program up to what it is known to be.
Continuing on, this gentleman said he appreciated my professionalism whilst working the tournaments, giving me his business card and asked me for my personal information, telling me to send him my resume and cover letter because he has many friends that are currently working in professional sports. I couldn't believe it! How exciting and again gratifying to know that others' notice the work that I not only have been doing but also the Indiana Elite organization.
8.8.15
Trine University
Today was a very fun day, as I traveled up to northern Indiana to visit a few basketball coaches from Trine University where I played college ball. A few weeks prior, during some of the down time I had at a tournament I was able to scout a little bit for one of the coaches, as he was looking for a few more solid athletes to fill his roster.
It was a very gratifying experience being able to sit down with this coach and explaining to him what all I have done this summer and who I have been working under. He even went to say that he wished he would've been forced to do an internship/mentorship during his collegiate years because he now understands how helpful it is in regards to the mentoring aspect.
It really wasn't until today that I realized how other people perceive mentorships. This coach was tickled to death that Tiffin University placed this in their curriculum and wants to somehow implement this into his basketball program at the school because he believes it would allow for his players to understand that after college there is much more to life than just basketball. Sometimes, he said, it takes more than an internship to open up the eyes of a young adult, it takes an adult who has been there and is willing to teach some else their ways of life.
8.7.15
As I am going into day 4 working on the document for schools, I have finally finished the first organizational part! It really does take some time to look up schools that are in a specific area of the state and then further gather individual, specific information on these school in regards to their basketball programs.
I also was given the projected schedule for the league. It is going to be a very exciting league and I am sad that I will not be able to be apart of it but I know it will be a success!
8.6.15
Today was definitely one of the toughest days of my experience working under Coach Seifers yet. Reason being, I had to inform him that after the end of the last day of this current semester I would no longer be able to further help him with a lot of the projects that him and I discussed on day 1. Due to family and personal reasons, I will be relocating in early September.
Even though things take place in life where relocation is necessary, I am super bummed that I will not be able to further help him in regards to the girls and boys youth league and the possible girl's state tournament next summer.
8.5.15
Youth League Work
Again today my main focus was on continuing to work on getting schools organized in order to begin reaching out to individual schools. Work such as this makes me really miss working long days at tournaments during the month of July.
It actually catches me off guard to think this way because I usually am one that enjoys "clerical" type of work but apparently not in a sports atmosphere, which is very good information to learn. I was beginning to look for any position that allowed for me to be in a sports setting but maybe being a secretary/assistant would not be an appropriate position for me to seek in regards to an entry-level position.
8.4.15
Youth League Work
Today I spent the majority of my time continuing to look up High Schools in the mid/southern part of Indiana. I definitely underestimated the amount of time that would go into this. Laying out the schools by county and then placing them into alphabetical order on a separate document, takes some serious time! I also am going to include each of the coaches names, along with a phone number and school color and mascot.
It takes some serious time to go to each individual school and get that information. After this sheet is completed, then next step will be to reach out to each school, in hopes that they want to participate in the league.
8.3.15
A New Month!
Today I met with Matt Seifers to discuss the plans for the month of August. I will begin to get the plans set in stone for the boys and girls youth basketball league that will begin mid-September.
The first step to this process is researching schools in mid/southern Indiana and contacting the boys and girls basketball coaches to see whether they would like to participate in this tournament. Time to get to work!
8.1.15 & 8.2.15
First Weekend Without a Tournament
I decided to just bundle both of these days together because I actually was unable to work due to my big sister coming into town. She lives in Salt Lake City, Utah and flew into town because her wedding is in one month and has to do the finishing touches. Being the Maid of Honor, she instated on me being there.
It definitely was a different change of pace. For the past month I have gotten very used to working tournaments all weekend. I previously journaled that I did not think working tournaments was something that I could see myself doing long term, but now I am starting to feel somewhat torn. Being away from the atmosphere and the people has really made me realize how much I truly enjoy working tournaments, even if it means being stuck in the back room!
Last day!
With it being the last day of my mentor/internship with Indiana Elite AAU and Coach Seifers, I spent a couple of hours today once again doing some youth league work. Mainly I had to persuade a couple of coaches that said thank you but no thanks, to continue to think about signing up for the league. Persuasion is strength of mine :).
Knowing that next week I will not being anymore work is definitely a bittersweet feeling. I have enjoyed my time learning and growing as an adult and professional under Matt Seifers and the rest of the Indiana Elite AAU family.
8.13.15
Today was more youth league work. I did a lot of emailing out to several coaches that responded back already. The feedback so far is wonderful! A lot of the coaches are very excited that there is a new league in the surrounding area that closes the gap between summer AAU play and school basketball.
I also was able to spend some time in the gym today, doing a couple training sessions with some of the high school girls. These sessions were not the best performance wise on the girl's behalf but it is always a joy to help basketball players strengthen their weaknesses.
8.12.15
Today I was assigned a different project which was really nice because the youth league work was becoming extremely repetitive. I worked on creating new offenses and defenses for the high school girl's team. Sounds easy but it is extremely hard to do this because not every girl fits certain offensive and defensive sets.
I began by watching film from last season and breaking individual players strengths and weaknesses down. When I found out that the majority of the girls' strengths incorporate coming off of screens, this allowed for me to focus on a certain type of offense to put together.
I also was asked to rank the girls on a pre season scale of 1 being the best player the team has to 25, the worst. Much harder to do this then one would think.
It is going to be even more exciting watching the girl's play this upcoming season because hopefully they will master the plays I have drawn up and run them properly.
8.11.15
Today I continued working on the youth basketball league. I finally was able to get an email sent out to numerous coaches throughout the southern part of the state of Indiana. I am hoping that coaches will begin to respond back to this email as soon as possible. Unfortunately due to my relocation, I had to incorporate in my email a few names of other people that coaches need to reach out to if the youth league is something they want to be apart of.
8.10.15
Last Monday!
As this internship process begins to wind down and with my relocation and I am spending this week to do as much work as I can to help Coach Seifers out with the youth girl basketball league this fall. Today I spent my time continuing to work on the list of schools I have put together and have begun drafting an email and gathering both email addresses and phone numbers.
8.9.15
This World is so Small!
As I am now just getting back to Indianapolis I must share how much this internship has helped me in terms of getting my foot into the sports world. Today while being up at Trine University, I was in a store and came across a gentleman that looked extremely familiar. He went on to stop me in the aisle and asked if I was a basketball coach or was familiar with AAU tournaments; he remembered me from the NCAA check-in table at the Indiana Elite tournaments this summer!
This gentleman spoke of how highly he thought of the Indiana Elite program in the south part of the state and went on to explain that he wished there was program up north that had a similar reputation for basketball excellence and advancement. As I was excited to hear this, I can not take any of the credit for it is the coaches, players, and staff members that have built this program up to what it is known to be.
Continuing on, this gentleman said he appreciated my professionalism whilst working the tournaments, giving me his business card and asked me for my personal information, telling me to send him my resume and cover letter because he has many friends that are currently working in professional sports. I couldn't believe it! How exciting and again gratifying to know that others' notice the work that I not only have been doing but also the Indiana Elite organization.
8.8.15
Trine University
Today was a very fun day, as I traveled up to northern Indiana to visit a few basketball coaches from Trine University where I played college ball. A few weeks prior, during some of the down time I had at a tournament I was able to scout a little bit for one of the coaches, as he was looking for a few more solid athletes to fill his roster.
It was a very gratifying experience being able to sit down with this coach and explaining to him what all I have done this summer and who I have been working under. He even went to say that he wished he would've been forced to do an internship/mentorship during his collegiate years because he now understands how helpful it is in regards to the mentoring aspect.
It really wasn't until today that I realized how other people perceive mentorships. This coach was tickled to death that Tiffin University placed this in their curriculum and wants to somehow implement this into his basketball program at the school because he believes it would allow for his players to understand that after college there is much more to life than just basketball. Sometimes, he said, it takes more than an internship to open up the eyes of a young adult, it takes an adult who has been there and is willing to teach some else their ways of life.
8.7.15
As I am going into day 4 working on the document for schools, I have finally finished the first organizational part! It really does take some time to look up schools that are in a specific area of the state and then further gather individual, specific information on these school in regards to their basketball programs.
I also was given the projected schedule for the league. It is going to be a very exciting league and I am sad that I will not be able to be apart of it but I know it will be a success!
8.6.15
Today was definitely one of the toughest days of my experience working under Coach Seifers yet. Reason being, I had to inform him that after the end of the last day of this current semester I would no longer be able to further help him with a lot of the projects that him and I discussed on day 1. Due to family and personal reasons, I will be relocating in early September.
Even though things take place in life where relocation is necessary, I am super bummed that I will not be able to further help him in regards to the girls and boys youth league and the possible girl's state tournament next summer.
8.5.15
Youth League Work
Again today my main focus was on continuing to work on getting schools organized in order to begin reaching out to individual schools. Work such as this makes me really miss working long days at tournaments during the month of July.
It actually catches me off guard to think this way because I usually am one that enjoys "clerical" type of work but apparently not in a sports atmosphere, which is very good information to learn. I was beginning to look for any position that allowed for me to be in a sports setting but maybe being a secretary/assistant would not be an appropriate position for me to seek in regards to an entry-level position.
8.4.15
Youth League Work
Today I spent the majority of my time continuing to look up High Schools in the mid/southern part of Indiana. I definitely underestimated the amount of time that would go into this. Laying out the schools by county and then placing them into alphabetical order on a separate document, takes some serious time! I also am going to include each of the coaches names, along with a phone number and school color and mascot.
It takes some serious time to go to each individual school and get that information. After this sheet is completed, then next step will be to reach out to each school, in hopes that they want to participate in the league.
8.3.15
A New Month!
Today I met with Matt Seifers to discuss the plans for the month of August. I will begin to get the plans set in stone for the boys and girls youth basketball league that will begin mid-September.
The first step to this process is researching schools in mid/southern Indiana and contacting the boys and girls basketball coaches to see whether they would like to participate in this tournament. Time to get to work!
8.1.15 & 8.2.15
First Weekend Without a Tournament
I decided to just bundle both of these days together because I actually was unable to work due to my big sister coming into town. She lives in Salt Lake City, Utah and flew into town because her wedding is in one month and has to do the finishing touches. Being the Maid of Honor, she instated on me being there.
It definitely was a different change of pace. For the past month I have gotten very used to working tournaments all weekend. I previously journaled that I did not think working tournaments was something that I could see myself doing long term, but now I am starting to feel somewhat torn. Being away from the atmosphere and the people has really made me realize how much I truly enjoy working tournaments, even if it means being stuck in the back room!
July
7.31.15
July comes to an end.
What a month this has been. Full of new people, new responsibilities, and new experiences; I couldn't ask for anything better. The thing I have enjoyed the most thus far, is truly the time I have been able to spend with Coach Seifers. He continues to motivate me every day to be the best person and I can be. The amount of work he puts in on a daily basis is absolute incomparable and most of the work he does results in him not even reaping any of the benefits.
I have also really enjoyed getting to know the Indiana Elite staff, they are some funny men, hardworking that is! During the majority of the time spent at the tournaments I was closely positioned with Thomas Kline. He is extremely knowledgable in running tournaments and I took a lot of way from the time we spent getting to know each other.
In regards to duties the main responsibility I had was working the NCAA table at the tournaments, which has come in handy. There have very recently been NCAA employment opportunities that I now fully qualify for because of the experience I had getting to know many of the rules they have. Very exciting!
7.30.15
Delays
As we all know, things can change in a split second. With this being said, there was much confusion on this years layout in regards to basketball workouts and open gyms. Therefore, coach Seifers pushed back day 1 to next Monday.
Today I spent some time organizing what exactly I want the girls in my group to get better at. I have been assigned to a group with another Coach, Miss Parker. Her and I together are responsible for training and developing 7 girls, ranging from sophomore - senior. All these girls are guards, meaning that they will need exceptional ball handling, eye coordination, communication, leadership, and shooting skills.
Looking at the skills that I have listed above, there are hundreds of drills that Miss Parker and I will be able to utilize in our workout sessions starting next week!
7.29.15
First day of school!
Today marks the very first day of school for Southport High School, which means that basketball workouts will begin tomorrow! The first day is actually going to be a designated day for all players to attend to play open gym. With new girls, freshman, coming into the group it will take some time to get used to each others personalities along with style of play. Coaches and trainers use this day typically to observe and take a look at who are the standout players as well as those players that are natural leaders.
This is my favorite part, watching for players that atomically have a known presence on the floor, making everyone around them better. It always surprises me who these girls end up being because it is rarely who coaches think it is going to be.
Today I spent some time watching previous game film on the returning players and I also did a lot of research on new training tips and ideas. Coach Seifers has the best innovative ideas. Basically he is able to walk into any gym with or without basketball equipment and somehow make it work. His ability to do that shows everyone in the gym how truly passionate he is about developing individual's skills. He has an exceptional creative mind, especially when it comes to basketball.
7.28.15
Meetings and Budgets
Today I was asked to come to a meeting that including all of the "leaders" of Indiana and also learned how to do some budgeting.
The meeting basically covered all of the pros and cons of this year's tournament and improvements that need to take place in the future. With me being the guinea pig I was asked a lot of questions, being that it was my first time at these tournaments. The one suggestion I had, prior to looking at the budget, was to allow for score keepers to not have to pay a $10 fee. Throughout the course of the summer, working the various tournament, that was a major complaint that many people had and I felt that it could come back and reflect negatively on the Indiana Elite Association as a whole.
Also during the meeting we went over the summers budget. I definitely underestimated that magnitude of income and expenses that go into running tournaments. I also wanted to bit my tongue after suggesting that they incorporate score keepers into the initial fee instead of making them pay $10 everyday at the door. Basically I learned after looking over the budget that charging anyone $10 a day is huge amount of income, especially since the score keeps are usually a child's parent and therefore they are going to end up coming to the games regardless of the entry fee.
If tournaments are run properly, there is so much potential to be a very very successful business owner!
7.27.15
Another Monday.
Going into this week the dynamic of the internship as a whole is going to change into more of a mentorship. AAU tournaments for the Indiana Elite program are officially over. There are various Indiana Elite teams that are involved in a tournament down in Georgia right now at an AAU tournament that are representing the program.
This week, beginning on Wednesday is the first day of school for many students in Indianapolis; school in the city starts very early! Therefore, I am responsible for creating and putting into action a workout program for the month of August for a specific groups of girls that Matt Seifers has assigned for me. I am very excited about this, as I really love to help basketball players break down their strengths and weaknesses and continue get better.
7.26.15
Day Three (Final) of Hoosier Shootout
Today was so much better than yesterday! I first had to begin my day with once again inputting the information at the check-in table into the NCAA website but good news, I was able to train Kyle and he finished that up for me!
The rest of my day at the tournament I took over for a gentleman that works at the Best Choice Field House. His job for the weekend was to monitor every coach to make sure they indeed had a red bracelet on. These red bracelets signify that a coach is NCAA certified and is able to coach their team. If the coach does not have a their certification they are unable to sit on the bench with their team and must coach from the oppositie side of the court. This is actually quite humourous to witness because once again coaches feel that they can just not follow rules and come to tournaments unorganized and still get away with it. Well, not at Indiana Elite tournaments!
I really enjoyed being able to travel to both locations and walk around from court to court. Obviously, this allowed me to scout for other coaches and I was able to enjoy the game that I love!
Great last day of the Hoosier Shootout!
7.25.15
Day two of Hoosier Shootout
Today is the first time I have wanted to write in a negative tone. Today was awful. I knew a bad day was coming, there had been too many good ones strung together!
For the first time I came face to face with an actual NCAA representative. Very nerve racking experience. She was very nice but she asked to see my check-in book. Reminder: if I happen to do something wrong, I could cost Indiana Elite not only its reputation but also its' license to hold NCAA tournaments. Good news though, I passed with flying colors!! Very rewarding experience, especially since this was only my 3rd time doing this position. The first week I worked a tournament, I was working with people that had over 10 years experience with the NCAA rules.
Now here comes the bad part of today. I had a lot of people this time around that were extremely rude and inconsiderate, not just coaches but also parents and referees. This caught me off guard and I found myself getting very upset at one point but then I had to realize that I had a job to do and I couldn't let the emotions of rude people get in
the way of that.
One particular example I can share is from this team that came from Kentucky. One of the coaches, who happened to be a female, was very confident in her abilities to know the "proper" NCAA rules and was aware that I was a new member to the team, not having seen me before. She basically, in nice terms, told me to go home and let her run the show. Fortunately for me, this is the exact time that the NCAA representative came to my table and she handled the situation. Needless to say, the Kentucky team was taken out of the tournament. I found out that respect comes in front of the fee one pays to participate in Indiana Elite tournaments.
Another poor experience I had today was getting cussed out by a referee because there was not a changing room in this facility. First of all, I am not the person to complain to about this, as I am the "check-in" girl so I am not sure why he felt the need to yell at me, but oh boy did he let me know how he felt.
I also had a parent come to me and complain that in order for him to keep the book for his team he had to pay $10 to get into the door. Usually at a tournaments there is a waived fee for those who keep the book for the team but not at this specific tournament. This gentleman was absolutely livid and not only let me know how upset he was but also informed everyone in the stands and even went up to his son during warmups and told him that he had to pay $10. Silly if you ask me, but I can not make this stuff up!
I sure hope that tomorrow everyone that attends the tournament is in much better moods!
7.24.15
Day One of Hoosier Shootout
To my surprise Thomas Kline was there today when I pulled up to the Best Choice Field House in Fishers. I was able to breathe! I really was nervous making the drive up to the tournament. He said he was able to free up his day and would only be there today.
This tournament was nearly identical to the Best of MidWest. I once again worked the check-in table but this time I had the responsibility of training someone. I was very nervous because there are many rules that go into being able to be NCAA certified and if I forgot to educate him, Kyle, on a rule, then the tournaments well-being could be at stake.
I was stationed at the Best Choice Field House in Fishers, IN again; coaches and teams had to come to this location first before being able to play at the other location in Noblesville. Thankfully again I was not put into a room, I was out in the middle of all the commotion, which I really prefer. During the downtime this weekend I was able to watch a lot of games that were being played. As always this is a great time! Not only did I have the enjoyment of training someone today, I also was able to watch games and recruit high school basketball players for a few college coaches that I know around the state of Indiana and Illinois. Today I found the competition to be much better than last weekends.
Back at it again tomorrow!
7.23.15
Too many phone calls!
Well today was a very new and somewhat frustrating experience. I had the honor of calling every single team to double check if they were coming and if their traveling plans allowed them to get to Indiana on time. Now, you would think with the schedule, pool play, and game times being released nearly two weeks ahead of time coaches would have an itinerary made up to ensure they would arrive on time. Not the case. I found out very quickly that some coaches nerdy forgot there was tournament this weekend and knowing that I had to basically run the tournament by myself I became very frustrated today. I just really wanted it to go smoothly.
Fortunately by the end of the day I only had to call Thomas Kline once for him to make slight revisions to the schedule as some teams did not have enough players or they could not get to their assigned game time on time.
It really does surprise me however how unorganized some people are. I personally know that as a coach I would go crazy if I wasn't organized. Having to already deal with youth or teenage kids is a handful in itself. I could not imagine taking care of 10-15 basketball players while being unorganized!
Tomorrow is definitely going to be interesting!!
7.22.15
Reflection Day
With Coach Seifers being gone and Thomas Kline not reaching out to me yet I figured today would be a good day to reflect on my experience thus far with Coach Seifers and Indiana Elite.
I must say it is much different than I expected. I'm not sure what I truly expected but I am a lot more involved with the head men than I thought I would be. I figured from the beginning I wouldn't have any responsibility and would just shadow people the whole time. Yeah, not the case one bit. I really am enjoying my time learning new things and it is gratifying that Fox, Kline, and Seifers are so trusting with me.
I have however realized that AAU tournaments make a serious amount of money, if they are run right. I did not realize that this is all that Thomas Kline does. From April - late July he runs basketball tournaments every weekend and lives very very comfortably. It still continues to blow my mind. Even with this information, I have also come to learn that working behind the scenes at a young level is not something I can see myself doing as a career. I feel that it would be much different if it were for a collegiate and/or professional sports team but many coaches and parents at this level are extremely disrespectful.
A far as my favorite and least favorite aspects of my internship so far I would have to say my favorite part is just constantly being around people that truly love the game of basketball as much if not more than I do. I constantly am learning new aspects of the game on a daily basis and that is something that I enjoy very much. My least favorite thing would have to be being stuck in the back room during tournaments. I feel closed off from all of the action, and I love being right in the center of everything!
7.21.15
Website Work!
So today I realized how much I enjoy creating my own website. I guess because this website is for school I found it more of a stressor than anything because I get graded on it. But, today I began playing around with ideas on how to come up with a brand for Coach Seifers. He asked me to try out both Square Space and Dodster to see which one would make for a better website.
I found that I like to use Square Space over Dodster. There are more and better layouts as well as having more color, font, and professional options. If and when Coach purchases a domain name for his brand of 84feet, Square Space has better options in regards to the cost of the site monthly/yearly and also has a lot of options if he would want to sell his own brand on products/services.
I found that I really enjoy being able to be creative on a website building site, which is something I never thought I would be decently good at. I suppose we all learn something new about ourselves everyday!
7.20.15
Another New Week
So this week I have been informed that Coach Seifers is going to be in Vegas for 10 days. He is going out there to coach both of his AAU teams and also has the opportunity to watch his son play. So that is exciting for him. This week I will be working closely with Thomas Kline, as he informed me that he will not be able to attend the tournament this week. Therefore, with the majority of the staff being out in Vegas, I basically get to run this tournament on my own. Scary!!!
Today I am doing some serious intern duties, which are not always the most fun. Coach will not be returning to Indiana until the day before school begins so he has asked me to get his new office organized and also make practice plans for his basketball team. He is an extremely organized and meticulous person so it definitely caught me off guard that he asked me to help out with his personal space at school.
It was nice to take a little breather from working and/or thinking about basketball tournaments though. So far the tournaments have been very repetitive, not that that is a terrible thing. I am just ready for new responsibilities in regards to working tournaments.
7.19.15
Day Three (Final) of Best of Midwest
This morning I had to finish inputing the teams into the NCAA website. Only having roughly 250 teams attend the tournament I barely had any left, which was refreshing. After being on the computer for maybe a hour it took awhile for the boss man to find something for me to do. So while I waited for a job I was able to somewhat relax and watch a little bit of basketball. This weekend the competition was the greatest, it was a lot of younger local boys. Nothing against young players but at the Adidas Invitational the competition was unreal good!
Until I left and helped close up and clean up, I was able to just sit back and watch and meet a lot of people today. I made some really great connections which is always nice! I suppose sometimes the behind the scenes workers do not always have to work because today I got to watch basketball!
Excited for next weekend's tournament!
7.18.15
Day Two of Best of Midwest
Well the morning came way to soon and today actually was kinda of slow at first. I expected a lot of teams to be there right as the door opened around 7:45 - 8:00 because the first games began at 9:00 but that did not happen. I was getting a little worried that teams were forgetting to check in but then I realized that many of the teams that had not checked in yet did not have their first games until around 11:00 - 1:00. That realization eased my mind a lot!
Today the check-in table was scheduled to remain open until roughly 3:00 in order to ensure that every team checked in and also watched the NCAA certification video, which is a mandatory element to NCAA certified tournaments. The video is only 7-8 minutes long so it is not too bad, but I must say it is very boring!
After I closed down the check-in table today I was then sent to the back room. Needless to say I was not very happy because I don't like being locked up staring at a computer while I can hear basketball games being played. This time through, inputting the NCAA information onto the NCAA website went way more smoothly because I had done it the prior weekend.
Really there was nothing to exciting that happened today nor did anything bad happen. Just another day working tournaments. At it again tomorrow!
7.17.15
Day One of Best of Midwest
Today I found out that this tournament was going to be nothing like last weekend's. The set up, schedule, number of teams, and amount of workers were completely different.
First, the check-in process was in an awesome location! I was not stuck in a backroom this time, I was actually out in the middle of everyone and everything. I took a picture of my view of one of the courts which is located on the events page because this page would not let me post it right below for some reason.
This weekend the tournament will be played at two locations, the boys and girls club in Noblesville and also the Best Choice Field House in Fishers. I am going to be located at the Best Choice Field House, which means that every team (there were 250) have to come check in with me first before they are able to participate. We are lenient with some teams; we allow for them to go play their first game if time is an issue but DEMAND that they have to check in immediately after. At first I have to admit I was really nervous because this weekend I will be working the check-in table by myself after only doing it one time previously, but things went actually very smoothly. I was shadowed by Thomas Kline and if I had any major questions and/or issues he was usually pretty close by to help me. Good first day of the tournament!!
7.16.15
First Official Day Off!
I can not express how nice it is to take a day off from working and/or thinking about basketball. I never thought I would say those words but I am so exhausted and I know tomorrow I have to repeat the process.
Being behind the scenes has so far been a struggle for me. Yes, I have enjoyed learning new things and being apart of a realy great organization but the more I sit behind the scenes and check-in teams or watch teams, the more I want to lace up and get on the court again. Mentally it has started to become exhausting, so that is a battle that I am fighting right now.
I do have to say that I have really enjoyed the people I have been working with. Everyone that I am around are guys but that is almost for the best in a basketball setting. I have been having so much fun learning from everyone and am looking forward to being able to hang out and have fun with everyone again this weekend.
7.14.15
Creative Day
Today was basically a day off from the long long 5-day tournament process. I again went into Matt Seifers office for only a couple hours and him and I brainstormed over his personal website that he wants to create. His main goal is to one day be able to have a personal brand that does not necessarily tie him to any organization and/or team.
We came up with many ideas but then realized that they all were centered on being a "Hoosier" or being apart of something that had to do with Indiana. He did not like the idea of branding himself that way because of the possibility that one day he may relocate himself and his family. Finally at the end of our time together we came up with 84 feet. 84 feet is the length of a high school basketball court. I thought it was pretty clever!
7.13.15
A New Week!
Today I went to Matt Seifers office and him and I went over the pros and cons of this past weekend tournament. Apparently this year many things were different and it was not as organized as it has been in the past. Also, this year the tournament did not give away as much apparel to guest and also cost more. Charging teams more this year did not affect the number of teams that showed up, which was good for the overall tournament because we brought in more revenue but the team fears that teams may not come back next year because they did not film any games and they also did not provide score keepers for any of the game. Not providing score keepers means that it is each teams responsibility to provide their own.
Reflecting back on the Adidas Invitational I would have to say that I really enjoyed working my very first NCAA basketball tournament. It was much different than what I am used to. In the past I was on the court playing throughout the five days and even more recently I have been a coach, coaching the many games. The behind the scenes action is much more complicated and people that run tournaments definitely do not get anywhere near enough credit. Tournaments, especially one to this magnitude, consists of very long tedious hours.
I must say that I was honored to have such an integral part of making the tournament actually be a NCAA certified tournament. Without the NCAA check-in table and then the transferring of the information on their database, the tournament does not function.
During the week (Monday - Thursday) this week, the majority of my time will be spent doing research on how to put together future youth leagues and tournaments as well as updating the organizations website.
7.12.15
Day Five (Final) of Adidas Invitational
I will be honest, today I wanted no part of working this tournament. Yes, it was the final day but I am exhausted! I went into this morning having the biggest cup of coffee; I am not a coffee drinker by any means. I was praying the whole drive to Noblesville that I would not have to sit in a room staring at a couple all day but that is what my morning consisted of. I only had a few more entries to input into the computer and then I was able to watch the final games!!
This was a blast! I absolutely loved watching the high levels of play and even better the best teams were at North Central High School, meaning that all of the coaches were flocking to the courts. It was a really cool experience to be apart of. Technically I had to work but because it was the last day there was not much to do other than keep an eye out for any parents, players, and/or coaches that got out of hand. Thankfully everyone behaved!
7.11. 15
Day Four of Adidas Invitational
I was hoping that today that I would be able to watch some of the games that were being played at one of the 14 locations but I was wrong. The worst part about running these tournaments, especially being the intern, is that I am stuck behind the scenes for the majority of the time. When I am able to take a break from the check-in room I am able to wander off for a few minutes to watch a little bit of basketball but not much. There is some really high quality competition here. By high quality I mean there are many D1 coaches from all over the country here. Some of the boys playing on these courts could end up playing the NBA one day. Now that is crazy to think about!
Today I spent the majority of the time transferring all of the NCAA check-in information into the NCAA database. What this consists of is manually checking off every single team, coach and players that attended and participated in the tournament. This has to be done in order to ensure that players are only participating in one NCAA tournament at the same time. Rules are rules! The process is extremely tedious and staring at a computer screen for hours at a time is not the best thing in the world but it was interesting to see how much goes into running a NCAA certified tournament.
7.10.15
Day Three of Adidas Invitational
Reporting at 9 am today, it has been confirmed that there are only a few teams left to check in and by few I mean less than 10-15. Even though the check-in room is technically open until 9pm tonight, my partner and I are going to look up the head coaches phone numbers for all of the remaining teams in hopes of contacting them so they can come check their teams in prior to lunch time. If we are able to get everyone checked in, we will be reassigned to random positions that need to be filled for the day and/or maybe even the possibility of getting to go home very very early today!! Also, so far the highlight of my day is once again the complimentary sprinkled donut along with a free t-shirt! Can't beat a free t-shirt!
7.9.15
Day Two of Adidas Invitational
Today was not much different than yesterday. I remained at the NCAA check-in table but yesterday (Wednesday) my partner and I were able to check in over half of the teams, meaning today was much slower. This sounds as if it would be a nice change but it did make the 15 hour day , yes I did say 15 hour day, go by much slower. There were some points where no teams came for a hour or two and for that time one of us always has to be at the check-in table just in case teams randomly show up.
The bright side of the day though was not only the complimentary breakfast, lunch, and dinner that North Central provided for all of the employees, but I was able to take a little break and watch a very good competitive game! Lets just say it was really nice to get away from the check-in table for a bit.
7.8.15
Day One of Adidas Invitational
Today was full of new experiences. I had the privilege of meeting some very neat people within the organization and also that work for North Central High School ( where the central offices of the Adidas Invitational are being held). When I arrived at North Central around 2:00 it was a mad house. There were a large amount of workers that were in the process of being assigned to the 14 different locations, due to the large amount of teams that had signed up for the tournament. I believe in total there are about 375 teams playing throughout the 5 days. The whole dynamic of this tournament is way more than I could have ever imagined but I am happy that I am able to be apart of such a big country-wide tournament.
There are tons of college coaches that arrived today to scout individual players and also many employees of the NCAA have also come in to check out the tournament since it is an NCAA certified event. Speaking of the NCAA that is my role for today, Thursday, and Friday. I am working the NCAA check in table where coaches come to officially check-in their teams, either before their first game or immediately after their first game. It is a process!! I have to check their I.D., run it through the NCAA system, in order to check if they are actually an NCAA certified coach, which means the NCAA does a background check on them, then we have to individually go through every single roster and double check to make sure all of the players and coaches are accounted for as well as to verify that their address, phone numbers, and states they reside in are accurate and up to date. Let me tell you what, some coaches that came through today were not very nice in regards to having to log in to the NCAA website to update and/or fix their rosters. There are many coaches that came to the tournament very organized, thus making it a very stressful process but all-in-all day one went very well. As I said earlier, I learned new things today that I had never had the privilege of learning prior to working the Adidas Invitational.
July comes to an end.
What a month this has been. Full of new people, new responsibilities, and new experiences; I couldn't ask for anything better. The thing I have enjoyed the most thus far, is truly the time I have been able to spend with Coach Seifers. He continues to motivate me every day to be the best person and I can be. The amount of work he puts in on a daily basis is absolute incomparable and most of the work he does results in him not even reaping any of the benefits.
I have also really enjoyed getting to know the Indiana Elite staff, they are some funny men, hardworking that is! During the majority of the time spent at the tournaments I was closely positioned with Thomas Kline. He is extremely knowledgable in running tournaments and I took a lot of way from the time we spent getting to know each other.
In regards to duties the main responsibility I had was working the NCAA table at the tournaments, which has come in handy. There have very recently been NCAA employment opportunities that I now fully qualify for because of the experience I had getting to know many of the rules they have. Very exciting!
7.30.15
Delays
As we all know, things can change in a split second. With this being said, there was much confusion on this years layout in regards to basketball workouts and open gyms. Therefore, coach Seifers pushed back day 1 to next Monday.
Today I spent some time organizing what exactly I want the girls in my group to get better at. I have been assigned to a group with another Coach, Miss Parker. Her and I together are responsible for training and developing 7 girls, ranging from sophomore - senior. All these girls are guards, meaning that they will need exceptional ball handling, eye coordination, communication, leadership, and shooting skills.
Looking at the skills that I have listed above, there are hundreds of drills that Miss Parker and I will be able to utilize in our workout sessions starting next week!
7.29.15
First day of school!
Today marks the very first day of school for Southport High School, which means that basketball workouts will begin tomorrow! The first day is actually going to be a designated day for all players to attend to play open gym. With new girls, freshman, coming into the group it will take some time to get used to each others personalities along with style of play. Coaches and trainers use this day typically to observe and take a look at who are the standout players as well as those players that are natural leaders.
This is my favorite part, watching for players that atomically have a known presence on the floor, making everyone around them better. It always surprises me who these girls end up being because it is rarely who coaches think it is going to be.
Today I spent some time watching previous game film on the returning players and I also did a lot of research on new training tips and ideas. Coach Seifers has the best innovative ideas. Basically he is able to walk into any gym with or without basketball equipment and somehow make it work. His ability to do that shows everyone in the gym how truly passionate he is about developing individual's skills. He has an exceptional creative mind, especially when it comes to basketball.
7.28.15
Meetings and Budgets
Today I was asked to come to a meeting that including all of the "leaders" of Indiana and also learned how to do some budgeting.
The meeting basically covered all of the pros and cons of this year's tournament and improvements that need to take place in the future. With me being the guinea pig I was asked a lot of questions, being that it was my first time at these tournaments. The one suggestion I had, prior to looking at the budget, was to allow for score keepers to not have to pay a $10 fee. Throughout the course of the summer, working the various tournament, that was a major complaint that many people had and I felt that it could come back and reflect negatively on the Indiana Elite Association as a whole.
Also during the meeting we went over the summers budget. I definitely underestimated that magnitude of income and expenses that go into running tournaments. I also wanted to bit my tongue after suggesting that they incorporate score keepers into the initial fee instead of making them pay $10 everyday at the door. Basically I learned after looking over the budget that charging anyone $10 a day is huge amount of income, especially since the score keeps are usually a child's parent and therefore they are going to end up coming to the games regardless of the entry fee.
If tournaments are run properly, there is so much potential to be a very very successful business owner!
7.27.15
Another Monday.
Going into this week the dynamic of the internship as a whole is going to change into more of a mentorship. AAU tournaments for the Indiana Elite program are officially over. There are various Indiana Elite teams that are involved in a tournament down in Georgia right now at an AAU tournament that are representing the program.
This week, beginning on Wednesday is the first day of school for many students in Indianapolis; school in the city starts very early! Therefore, I am responsible for creating and putting into action a workout program for the month of August for a specific groups of girls that Matt Seifers has assigned for me. I am very excited about this, as I really love to help basketball players break down their strengths and weaknesses and continue get better.
7.26.15
Day Three (Final) of Hoosier Shootout
Today was so much better than yesterday! I first had to begin my day with once again inputting the information at the check-in table into the NCAA website but good news, I was able to train Kyle and he finished that up for me!
The rest of my day at the tournament I took over for a gentleman that works at the Best Choice Field House. His job for the weekend was to monitor every coach to make sure they indeed had a red bracelet on. These red bracelets signify that a coach is NCAA certified and is able to coach their team. If the coach does not have a their certification they are unable to sit on the bench with their team and must coach from the oppositie side of the court. This is actually quite humourous to witness because once again coaches feel that they can just not follow rules and come to tournaments unorganized and still get away with it. Well, not at Indiana Elite tournaments!
I really enjoyed being able to travel to both locations and walk around from court to court. Obviously, this allowed me to scout for other coaches and I was able to enjoy the game that I love!
Great last day of the Hoosier Shootout!
7.25.15
Day two of Hoosier Shootout
Today is the first time I have wanted to write in a negative tone. Today was awful. I knew a bad day was coming, there had been too many good ones strung together!
For the first time I came face to face with an actual NCAA representative. Very nerve racking experience. She was very nice but she asked to see my check-in book. Reminder: if I happen to do something wrong, I could cost Indiana Elite not only its reputation but also its' license to hold NCAA tournaments. Good news though, I passed with flying colors!! Very rewarding experience, especially since this was only my 3rd time doing this position. The first week I worked a tournament, I was working with people that had over 10 years experience with the NCAA rules.
Now here comes the bad part of today. I had a lot of people this time around that were extremely rude and inconsiderate, not just coaches but also parents and referees. This caught me off guard and I found myself getting very upset at one point but then I had to realize that I had a job to do and I couldn't let the emotions of rude people get in
the way of that.
One particular example I can share is from this team that came from Kentucky. One of the coaches, who happened to be a female, was very confident in her abilities to know the "proper" NCAA rules and was aware that I was a new member to the team, not having seen me before. She basically, in nice terms, told me to go home and let her run the show. Fortunately for me, this is the exact time that the NCAA representative came to my table and she handled the situation. Needless to say, the Kentucky team was taken out of the tournament. I found out that respect comes in front of the fee one pays to participate in Indiana Elite tournaments.
Another poor experience I had today was getting cussed out by a referee because there was not a changing room in this facility. First of all, I am not the person to complain to about this, as I am the "check-in" girl so I am not sure why he felt the need to yell at me, but oh boy did he let me know how he felt.
I also had a parent come to me and complain that in order for him to keep the book for his team he had to pay $10 to get into the door. Usually at a tournaments there is a waived fee for those who keep the book for the team but not at this specific tournament. This gentleman was absolutely livid and not only let me know how upset he was but also informed everyone in the stands and even went up to his son during warmups and told him that he had to pay $10. Silly if you ask me, but I can not make this stuff up!
I sure hope that tomorrow everyone that attends the tournament is in much better moods!
7.24.15
Day One of Hoosier Shootout
To my surprise Thomas Kline was there today when I pulled up to the Best Choice Field House in Fishers. I was able to breathe! I really was nervous making the drive up to the tournament. He said he was able to free up his day and would only be there today.
This tournament was nearly identical to the Best of MidWest. I once again worked the check-in table but this time I had the responsibility of training someone. I was very nervous because there are many rules that go into being able to be NCAA certified and if I forgot to educate him, Kyle, on a rule, then the tournaments well-being could be at stake.
I was stationed at the Best Choice Field House in Fishers, IN again; coaches and teams had to come to this location first before being able to play at the other location in Noblesville. Thankfully again I was not put into a room, I was out in the middle of all the commotion, which I really prefer. During the downtime this weekend I was able to watch a lot of games that were being played. As always this is a great time! Not only did I have the enjoyment of training someone today, I also was able to watch games and recruit high school basketball players for a few college coaches that I know around the state of Indiana and Illinois. Today I found the competition to be much better than last weekends.
Back at it again tomorrow!
7.23.15
Too many phone calls!
Well today was a very new and somewhat frustrating experience. I had the honor of calling every single team to double check if they were coming and if their traveling plans allowed them to get to Indiana on time. Now, you would think with the schedule, pool play, and game times being released nearly two weeks ahead of time coaches would have an itinerary made up to ensure they would arrive on time. Not the case. I found out very quickly that some coaches nerdy forgot there was tournament this weekend and knowing that I had to basically run the tournament by myself I became very frustrated today. I just really wanted it to go smoothly.
Fortunately by the end of the day I only had to call Thomas Kline once for him to make slight revisions to the schedule as some teams did not have enough players or they could not get to their assigned game time on time.
It really does surprise me however how unorganized some people are. I personally know that as a coach I would go crazy if I wasn't organized. Having to already deal with youth or teenage kids is a handful in itself. I could not imagine taking care of 10-15 basketball players while being unorganized!
Tomorrow is definitely going to be interesting!!
7.22.15
Reflection Day
With Coach Seifers being gone and Thomas Kline not reaching out to me yet I figured today would be a good day to reflect on my experience thus far with Coach Seifers and Indiana Elite.
I must say it is much different than I expected. I'm not sure what I truly expected but I am a lot more involved with the head men than I thought I would be. I figured from the beginning I wouldn't have any responsibility and would just shadow people the whole time. Yeah, not the case one bit. I really am enjoying my time learning new things and it is gratifying that Fox, Kline, and Seifers are so trusting with me.
I have however realized that AAU tournaments make a serious amount of money, if they are run right. I did not realize that this is all that Thomas Kline does. From April - late July he runs basketball tournaments every weekend and lives very very comfortably. It still continues to blow my mind. Even with this information, I have also come to learn that working behind the scenes at a young level is not something I can see myself doing as a career. I feel that it would be much different if it were for a collegiate and/or professional sports team but many coaches and parents at this level are extremely disrespectful.
A far as my favorite and least favorite aspects of my internship so far I would have to say my favorite part is just constantly being around people that truly love the game of basketball as much if not more than I do. I constantly am learning new aspects of the game on a daily basis and that is something that I enjoy very much. My least favorite thing would have to be being stuck in the back room during tournaments. I feel closed off from all of the action, and I love being right in the center of everything!
7.21.15
Website Work!
So today I realized how much I enjoy creating my own website. I guess because this website is for school I found it more of a stressor than anything because I get graded on it. But, today I began playing around with ideas on how to come up with a brand for Coach Seifers. He asked me to try out both Square Space and Dodster to see which one would make for a better website.
I found that I like to use Square Space over Dodster. There are more and better layouts as well as having more color, font, and professional options. If and when Coach purchases a domain name for his brand of 84feet, Square Space has better options in regards to the cost of the site monthly/yearly and also has a lot of options if he would want to sell his own brand on products/services.
I found that I really enjoy being able to be creative on a website building site, which is something I never thought I would be decently good at. I suppose we all learn something new about ourselves everyday!
7.20.15
Another New Week
So this week I have been informed that Coach Seifers is going to be in Vegas for 10 days. He is going out there to coach both of his AAU teams and also has the opportunity to watch his son play. So that is exciting for him. This week I will be working closely with Thomas Kline, as he informed me that he will not be able to attend the tournament this week. Therefore, with the majority of the staff being out in Vegas, I basically get to run this tournament on my own. Scary!!!
Today I am doing some serious intern duties, which are not always the most fun. Coach will not be returning to Indiana until the day before school begins so he has asked me to get his new office organized and also make practice plans for his basketball team. He is an extremely organized and meticulous person so it definitely caught me off guard that he asked me to help out with his personal space at school.
It was nice to take a little breather from working and/or thinking about basketball tournaments though. So far the tournaments have been very repetitive, not that that is a terrible thing. I am just ready for new responsibilities in regards to working tournaments.
7.19.15
Day Three (Final) of Best of Midwest
This morning I had to finish inputing the teams into the NCAA website. Only having roughly 250 teams attend the tournament I barely had any left, which was refreshing. After being on the computer for maybe a hour it took awhile for the boss man to find something for me to do. So while I waited for a job I was able to somewhat relax and watch a little bit of basketball. This weekend the competition was the greatest, it was a lot of younger local boys. Nothing against young players but at the Adidas Invitational the competition was unreal good!
Until I left and helped close up and clean up, I was able to just sit back and watch and meet a lot of people today. I made some really great connections which is always nice! I suppose sometimes the behind the scenes workers do not always have to work because today I got to watch basketball!
Excited for next weekend's tournament!
7.18.15
Day Two of Best of Midwest
Well the morning came way to soon and today actually was kinda of slow at first. I expected a lot of teams to be there right as the door opened around 7:45 - 8:00 because the first games began at 9:00 but that did not happen. I was getting a little worried that teams were forgetting to check in but then I realized that many of the teams that had not checked in yet did not have their first games until around 11:00 - 1:00. That realization eased my mind a lot!
Today the check-in table was scheduled to remain open until roughly 3:00 in order to ensure that every team checked in and also watched the NCAA certification video, which is a mandatory element to NCAA certified tournaments. The video is only 7-8 minutes long so it is not too bad, but I must say it is very boring!
After I closed down the check-in table today I was then sent to the back room. Needless to say I was not very happy because I don't like being locked up staring at a computer while I can hear basketball games being played. This time through, inputting the NCAA information onto the NCAA website went way more smoothly because I had done it the prior weekend.
Really there was nothing to exciting that happened today nor did anything bad happen. Just another day working tournaments. At it again tomorrow!
7.17.15
Day One of Best of Midwest
Today I found out that this tournament was going to be nothing like last weekend's. The set up, schedule, number of teams, and amount of workers were completely different.
First, the check-in process was in an awesome location! I was not stuck in a backroom this time, I was actually out in the middle of everyone and everything. I took a picture of my view of one of the courts which is located on the events page because this page would not let me post it right below for some reason.
This weekend the tournament will be played at two locations, the boys and girls club in Noblesville and also the Best Choice Field House in Fishers. I am going to be located at the Best Choice Field House, which means that every team (there were 250) have to come check in with me first before they are able to participate. We are lenient with some teams; we allow for them to go play their first game if time is an issue but DEMAND that they have to check in immediately after. At first I have to admit I was really nervous because this weekend I will be working the check-in table by myself after only doing it one time previously, but things went actually very smoothly. I was shadowed by Thomas Kline and if I had any major questions and/or issues he was usually pretty close by to help me. Good first day of the tournament!!
7.16.15
First Official Day Off!
I can not express how nice it is to take a day off from working and/or thinking about basketball. I never thought I would say those words but I am so exhausted and I know tomorrow I have to repeat the process.
Being behind the scenes has so far been a struggle for me. Yes, I have enjoyed learning new things and being apart of a realy great organization but the more I sit behind the scenes and check-in teams or watch teams, the more I want to lace up and get on the court again. Mentally it has started to become exhausting, so that is a battle that I am fighting right now.
I do have to say that I have really enjoyed the people I have been working with. Everyone that I am around are guys but that is almost for the best in a basketball setting. I have been having so much fun learning from everyone and am looking forward to being able to hang out and have fun with everyone again this weekend.
7.14.15
Creative Day
Today was basically a day off from the long long 5-day tournament process. I again went into Matt Seifers office for only a couple hours and him and I brainstormed over his personal website that he wants to create. His main goal is to one day be able to have a personal brand that does not necessarily tie him to any organization and/or team.
We came up with many ideas but then realized that they all were centered on being a "Hoosier" or being apart of something that had to do with Indiana. He did not like the idea of branding himself that way because of the possibility that one day he may relocate himself and his family. Finally at the end of our time together we came up with 84 feet. 84 feet is the length of a high school basketball court. I thought it was pretty clever!
7.13.15
A New Week!
Today I went to Matt Seifers office and him and I went over the pros and cons of this past weekend tournament. Apparently this year many things were different and it was not as organized as it has been in the past. Also, this year the tournament did not give away as much apparel to guest and also cost more. Charging teams more this year did not affect the number of teams that showed up, which was good for the overall tournament because we brought in more revenue but the team fears that teams may not come back next year because they did not film any games and they also did not provide score keepers for any of the game. Not providing score keepers means that it is each teams responsibility to provide their own.
Reflecting back on the Adidas Invitational I would have to say that I really enjoyed working my very first NCAA basketball tournament. It was much different than what I am used to. In the past I was on the court playing throughout the five days and even more recently I have been a coach, coaching the many games. The behind the scenes action is much more complicated and people that run tournaments definitely do not get anywhere near enough credit. Tournaments, especially one to this magnitude, consists of very long tedious hours.
I must say that I was honored to have such an integral part of making the tournament actually be a NCAA certified tournament. Without the NCAA check-in table and then the transferring of the information on their database, the tournament does not function.
During the week (Monday - Thursday) this week, the majority of my time will be spent doing research on how to put together future youth leagues and tournaments as well as updating the organizations website.
7.12.15
Day Five (Final) of Adidas Invitational
I will be honest, today I wanted no part of working this tournament. Yes, it was the final day but I am exhausted! I went into this morning having the biggest cup of coffee; I am not a coffee drinker by any means. I was praying the whole drive to Noblesville that I would not have to sit in a room staring at a couple all day but that is what my morning consisted of. I only had a few more entries to input into the computer and then I was able to watch the final games!!
This was a blast! I absolutely loved watching the high levels of play and even better the best teams were at North Central High School, meaning that all of the coaches were flocking to the courts. It was a really cool experience to be apart of. Technically I had to work but because it was the last day there was not much to do other than keep an eye out for any parents, players, and/or coaches that got out of hand. Thankfully everyone behaved!
7.11. 15
Day Four of Adidas Invitational
I was hoping that today that I would be able to watch some of the games that were being played at one of the 14 locations but I was wrong. The worst part about running these tournaments, especially being the intern, is that I am stuck behind the scenes for the majority of the time. When I am able to take a break from the check-in room I am able to wander off for a few minutes to watch a little bit of basketball but not much. There is some really high quality competition here. By high quality I mean there are many D1 coaches from all over the country here. Some of the boys playing on these courts could end up playing the NBA one day. Now that is crazy to think about!
Today I spent the majority of the time transferring all of the NCAA check-in information into the NCAA database. What this consists of is manually checking off every single team, coach and players that attended and participated in the tournament. This has to be done in order to ensure that players are only participating in one NCAA tournament at the same time. Rules are rules! The process is extremely tedious and staring at a computer screen for hours at a time is not the best thing in the world but it was interesting to see how much goes into running a NCAA certified tournament.
7.10.15
Day Three of Adidas Invitational
Reporting at 9 am today, it has been confirmed that there are only a few teams left to check in and by few I mean less than 10-15. Even though the check-in room is technically open until 9pm tonight, my partner and I are going to look up the head coaches phone numbers for all of the remaining teams in hopes of contacting them so they can come check their teams in prior to lunch time. If we are able to get everyone checked in, we will be reassigned to random positions that need to be filled for the day and/or maybe even the possibility of getting to go home very very early today!! Also, so far the highlight of my day is once again the complimentary sprinkled donut along with a free t-shirt! Can't beat a free t-shirt!
7.9.15
Day Two of Adidas Invitational
Today was not much different than yesterday. I remained at the NCAA check-in table but yesterday (Wednesday) my partner and I were able to check in over half of the teams, meaning today was much slower. This sounds as if it would be a nice change but it did make the 15 hour day , yes I did say 15 hour day, go by much slower. There were some points where no teams came for a hour or two and for that time one of us always has to be at the check-in table just in case teams randomly show up.
The bright side of the day though was not only the complimentary breakfast, lunch, and dinner that North Central provided for all of the employees, but I was able to take a little break and watch a very good competitive game! Lets just say it was really nice to get away from the check-in table for a bit.
7.8.15
Day One of Adidas Invitational
Today was full of new experiences. I had the privilege of meeting some very neat people within the organization and also that work for North Central High School ( where the central offices of the Adidas Invitational are being held). When I arrived at North Central around 2:00 it was a mad house. There were a large amount of workers that were in the process of being assigned to the 14 different locations, due to the large amount of teams that had signed up for the tournament. I believe in total there are about 375 teams playing throughout the 5 days. The whole dynamic of this tournament is way more than I could have ever imagined but I am happy that I am able to be apart of such a big country-wide tournament.
There are tons of college coaches that arrived today to scout individual players and also many employees of the NCAA have also come in to check out the tournament since it is an NCAA certified event. Speaking of the NCAA that is my role for today, Thursday, and Friday. I am working the NCAA check in table where coaches come to officially check-in their teams, either before their first game or immediately after their first game. It is a process!! I have to check their I.D., run it through the NCAA system, in order to check if they are actually an NCAA certified coach, which means the NCAA does a background check on them, then we have to individually go through every single roster and double check to make sure all of the players and coaches are accounted for as well as to verify that their address, phone numbers, and states they reside in are accurate and up to date. Let me tell you what, some coaches that came through today were not very nice in regards to having to log in to the NCAA website to update and/or fix their rosters. There are many coaches that came to the tournament very organized, thus making it a very stressful process but all-in-all day one went very well. As I said earlier, I learned new things today that I had never had the privilege of learning prior to working the Adidas Invitational.
7.8.15
Start to the first day of the Adidas Invitational
This morning before I head off to work my first tournament with Indiana Elite, I began working on a project, which is to create a new website for Matt Seifers. This website will include information on all of the new boys and girls basketball leagues as well as youth leagues that will begin in the Fall of 2015. This website will also include information on a very big statewide girl's tournament in the summer of 2016 that I will begin researching and starting towards the end of the AAU season.
7.7.15
The Most Intimidating Meeting I've Ever Been In!
Today marked the first official day of sitting down with Matt Seifers and outlining what exactly I will be doing. I must say, after leaving his office after a two hour meeting I was quite overwhelmed with the tasks I have ahead of me. We first spoke of the actual Indiana Elite organization and I became educated on many things I had not previously known in regards to the breakdown of which director is in charge of what (this information is listed in the Indiana Elite tab above). We then touched on how Indiana Elite makes their money which includes money from sponsors, tournaments, and teams. Then, came the big chunk of my next couple of months with the organization, as I am also going to be working on many things that will not even take place during the time of this course. I will be creating websites for many different people and projects. I also will be working three tournaments that can be found in the project tab and along with working these tournaments I will learn and begin completing many budgets. I not only will be undertaking all of these responsibilities but I also will further my knowledge into the AAU organization by building from scratch three tournaments that will take place in the fall of 2015 and one that will take place in the summer of 2016. Even though this appears to be a lot of responsibility I have overwhelmed with excitement to finally get my feet wet and learn more about what really goes on behind the scenes during an AAU tournament!
Start to the first day of the Adidas Invitational
This morning before I head off to work my first tournament with Indiana Elite, I began working on a project, which is to create a new website for Matt Seifers. This website will include information on all of the new boys and girls basketball leagues as well as youth leagues that will begin in the Fall of 2015. This website will also include information on a very big statewide girl's tournament in the summer of 2016 that I will begin researching and starting towards the end of the AAU season.
7.7.15
The Most Intimidating Meeting I've Ever Been In!
Today marked the first official day of sitting down with Matt Seifers and outlining what exactly I will be doing. I must say, after leaving his office after a two hour meeting I was quite overwhelmed with the tasks I have ahead of me. We first spoke of the actual Indiana Elite organization and I became educated on many things I had not previously known in regards to the breakdown of which director is in charge of what (this information is listed in the Indiana Elite tab above). We then touched on how Indiana Elite makes their money which includes money from sponsors, tournaments, and teams. Then, came the big chunk of my next couple of months with the organization, as I am also going to be working on many things that will not even take place during the time of this course. I will be creating websites for many different people and projects. I also will be working three tournaments that can be found in the project tab and along with working these tournaments I will learn and begin completing many budgets. I not only will be undertaking all of these responsibilities but I also will further my knowledge into the AAU organization by building from scratch three tournaments that will take place in the fall of 2015 and one that will take place in the summer of 2016. Even though this appears to be a lot of responsibility I have overwhelmed with excitement to finally get my feet wet and learn more about what really goes on behind the scenes during an AAU tournament!
time_sheet.doc | |
File Size: | 93 kb |
File Type: | doc |