Saturday, August 11th:
Due to a Navy football scrimmage, we had to set up the stadium the morning of our game instead of the day before. When we arrived at the stadium, we set up the Lexus Tailgate area. When the field was clear of football players and coaches, we began setting up the stadium. At first, I helped set up the merchandise store because I had done so for previous games. After setting up the store, I went down to the field to help set up the field boards. After the field boards, I helped a few other interns set up the large sponsor banners that cover entire sections of stands in the end zone. These banners are located below the end zone suites. Next, I helped set up chairs and place seat back covers on them in club section. In the middle of placing seat back covers on my first section, I was told to report to the ticket booth because the gates were about to open. For this game, I was once again placed at the first Will Call window. I enjoy interacting with fans and helping them find their seats by using the stadium map when necessary. We had two big rushes for this game. The first rush was from about 4:30 to 6:00pm. The playoff game was set to start at 5:30pm but due to weather conditions was pushed back to 6:00pm. At around 6:00pm, the rain started and the game was delayed again. Once the rain stopped and the face off occurred, we had another influx of fans. I have become good at problem solving at the Will Call window and only call Eric over when absolutely necessary. For instance, there was a special for US Lacrosse members that I was unaware of and needed to know where to find the discount in the computer. My computer was extra slow for some reason. For instance, after hitting the "print" button, it took 30 seconds to one minute for the tickets to actually print out. For the most part, however, my Will Call window did not experience any major issues. After the ticket booth, I helped Taylor set up the area for season ticket holders to pick up their gifts. Then it was the end of the game. The Bayhawks lost 13 to 12 to the Denver Outlaws. After the game, the interns got right to work breaking down the stadium. Since this is the last game of the season, everything that we put this morning had to come right back down. I started with two other interns removing the field boards from the field and placing them under the stands in their usual spot. Next, I helped another two interns remove the metal poles used for the safety nets the surround the field under the stands as well. Next, we helped remove the field suites from the field. That was the last task of the evening. After checking back in with our supervisors, we were free to leave.
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Friday, August 10th:
When I arrived at the office, Taylor had Anastasia and I run some errands for them before heading down to the Pep Rally. First, we headed to Home Depot for collapsible trash bags, zip ties, scissors, and white duct tape. Then we picked up the radios for game day, and finally we purchased tablecloths from Party City. When we arrived at the Pep Rally, in downtown Annapolis, we helped hang the remaining banners and set up tablecloths. Once the Pep Rally started, each intern had different roles. My first role was working the merchandise store. I sold about 6 items to various customers and learned how to use the Bayhawks online store, Shopify, to complete each transaction. After the merchandise store, I helped the interns serving pizza to guests and finally relieved another intern from his post selling tickets. At the Pep Rally, the radio DJ from the local country station was the MC and introduced each player to the fans. Afterwards, the players posed for pictures and signed autographs. When the Pep Rally came to a close, we took down all the field boards, banners, the merchandise store, and all bike racks enclosing the event. Thursday, August 9th:
Today we spent an hour stuffing boxes for the season ticket holder's gifts. As mentioned in a previous journal, the gifts include a crab mallet/bottle opener and a crab knife for club ticket holders. We had to get creative with some of the boxes as some boxes needed three mallets and three knives. Although, the largest boxes we stuffed had six mallets and six knives. Next we went to the stadium. The first task was to take out specific field boards that would be on display at the pep rally. These field boards included Bud Light, Lexus, Main & Market, Driven, and Ledo Pizza. The second task was to take merchandise out of the Goat Locker and bring it back to the office. For each merchandise item, we grabbed four of each size. The merchandise will be sold at the pep rally on Friday. Today we went downtown Annapolis to hand out flyers for the upcoming pep rally and playoff game this weekend. The pep rally is on Friday in downtown Annapolis. For $10, fans can enjoy unlimited Bud Light as well as the option to purchase pizza slices from Ledo Pizza. People can partake in the event for free, but will not have access to the food or beer. The DJ from the local country station is going to MC the event.
After street teaming, we picked up the players' jerseys from Zips Dry Cleaning and picked up colorful paper from Staples to print more flyers that will catch people's attention as they walk by. Friday
We counted the number of shirts left for the t-shirt toss for the playoff game next weekend. We prepared and counted merchandise for a large group coming to the Bayhawks game next weekend. The front office staff discussed the plan for the pep rally next Friday and the expectations of each group member and intern. Today I worked on updating the look and feel of the Chesapeake Park PowerPoint Presentation. The front office staff updated the logo for Chesapeake Park with new colors and wanted the PowerPoint Presentation to represent the changes. They also had a new font choice as well. I created two PowerPoint Presentations. Each used the same color scheme just with different slide designs. Take a look at the side-by-side comparison of all three presentations:
Wednesday
We spent all day at the stadium cleaning out the Goat Locker. For the next two weeks, Navy football is using the stadium with a preseason scrimmage on August 11th. As such, Navy will be using the Goat Locker to sell their merchandise during the scrimmage. Thus, Navy needs half of the Goat Locker for this purpose. To accommodate the Navy's request, we spent the day performing Spring cleaning on the Bayhawks merchandise and other stuff located in the Goat Locker. First, we had to remove all Chesapeake Bayhawks stuff including banners, boxes, tables, and merchandise. Then, half of us spent time counting and preparing merchandise while the other half cleaned out the rest of Goat Locker and recycled old cardboard boxes. The process for counting and preparing merchandise took a large chunk of time. Many of the items on the merchandise carts were not rolled correctly or were missing the yarn that indicates the size of the item. Individually, we each took one merchandise cart. Working with one merchandise item at a time, we had to re-roll and tie with the correct color yarn for each item that needed it. Each row of merchandise was reorganized by size starting with kid sizes on the left and adult sizes on the right. Each row of merchandise also had to have six of each size on the shelf. This required looking through many different bins to find the correct item and determine the total amount of merchandise (the amount of the merchandise carts and the amount in the bin). Many times, we condensed boxes by placing all items from the bins onto the merchandise carts. Once all the carts were stocked and ready to go, we placed them back into the Goat Locker. Since we could only use half of the space we normally use, we had to take many boxes and other miscellaneous items back to the office. Today I finished finding email addresses of high school athletic directors and coaches in Howard County, Prince George's County, and Queen Anne's County in Maryland. Howard County has 12 high schools and I found information for all schools except for one. Prince George's County has over 20 high schools, however, only 10 schools provided information for both athletic directors and coaches. Nine of the high schools only provided information for athletic directors.
You can see the finished Excel sheet for the email addresses here. Saturday To finish setting up the stadium, we hung the sponsorship banners in the end zone. Next, I set up the tables in the Bud Light Zone and put a table cloth and runner on each. Then I set up the merchandise store by displaying t-shirts on hangers and tables for fans to view while waiting in line. Field Operations
Before the game started, we had many tasks to accomplish. First, we went up to the press box to give out game notes and the PA script. Then we went down to the field to complete a sound check and met with the National Anthem singer. Next, we went back up to the press box to run through the script together. There are various times throughout the game where we must find fans in the stands to perform activities on the field during the media time outs. I am responsible for the National Anthem singer and two other tasks while the other intern was assigned to different tasks. Around 6:00 pm, we made our way back down to the field. At this time, both teams were warming up and a youth lacrosse team came down to the sidelines to watch. After the youth lacrosse team left, we escorted two high school teams, Severna Park boys' lacrosse and South River girls' lacrosse, for being the teams of the year after winning states. They were recognized on the field for their achievements. At 6:50, I walked the National Anthem singer down the sideline to wait for her time to sing. During the first quarter, I was responsible for finding a family in the stands to upgrade their seats to the club level for the rest of the game. The first family I found declined the offer because they were at the game with a group. The second family agreed after I mentioned all the perks of the club level including free food, beverages, and alcoholic beverages for the rest of the game. I took the family to the sideline where they were recognized on camera at the 5-minute media timeout. During the media timeout in the second quarter, two moms had to do dizzy bat with a lacrosse stick, scoop, and shoot the ball. The mom who scored first, won a necklace engraved with the Bayhawks' logo. We didn't have too much to do for the rest of the second quarter. During halftime, Tristan and I went in the stands to find two boys to participate in the Naval Bagels Shootout for the 10-minute media timeout in the third quarter. For this activity, there was a banner with holes cut out strapped to the front of a goal. Each kid had three chances to score. Whoever scored the most goals, won a $25 gift card to Naval Bagels. At first, we found two brothers who seemed very interested in competing. However, when they got closer to the field, the younger brother started crying and refused to compete. Tristan and I went back in the stands and found another kid to compete. The requirement for finding kids was they had to be between 5th to 10th grade and have their own sticks. During the fourth quarter, we had to get the names of the defensive player of the game and the overall player of the game and radio it up to the press box to be announced. We watched the last five minutes of the game. The Bayhawks won 13 to 11 clinching a home playoff game on August 11th. Stadium Breakdown Immediately after the game we began breaking down the field. Since this was our last game of the regular season, everything on the field had to go. First, we removed the field boards from the metal frames. Then I helped take down and stack chairs in the club section. Next, we had to clean up all the trash in the club section. Then I helped remove the metal frames from the field. After the metal frames were gone, half of the interns helped take down the nets surrounding the field and the other half took down the field suite sections. Finally, there were massive sponsor banners covering sections of the stands that we also had to take down. Since we had more tasks to complete, breakdown took a lot longer today than for other games. Friday Stadium Setup We set up the chairs and tables in the club section and the Bud Light Zone. Then we set up the field suites with 18 chairs each and banners to indicate each suite. Next, I helped set up the field boards and secure them to the metal frames using zip ties. Gift Packing I helped a few front office staff members to stuff the season ticket holder gift boxes. The club level boxes contained a thank you note, a crab mallet, and a crab knife. The Hawk's Nest boxes contained a thank you note and a crab mallet. The crab mallets are engraved with the Bayhawks' logo. The crab knives are engraved with "Chesapeake Bayhawks". |
AuthorRenee Badger is an intern with the Chesapeake Bayhawks. Archives |