I had my interview for the Full-Time Team Coordinator position with the Park today. It was a little nerve racking in the sense that I've never interviewed for a full-time position yet and wasn't prepared because I didn't necessarily know how to prepare. Between the interns we knew who the position would be offered to anyways so that wasn't a positive mind set for me to have going in the there but what can you do? Anyways, other than the interview, the day was pretty normal. We had coaches and teams coming to check in for the Flag Football tournament we were hosting that weekend. It is the Flag Football Championship tour and they had been in major cities all around the world hosting tournaments. They had their own directors and team who were running the actual tournament, we were just supplying the fields, facility, and some employees to assist as needed and make sure everyone was upholding and respecting park policies. We also had our Golden Glove Weeklong tournament beginning on Sunday with the Opening Ceremonies and Skills Competition so we were putting the finishing touches on that tournament and making sure the schedule for the interns was set, T-Shirts were put into the trailer and we had all of the supplies ready to go for the competition.
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It was a normal Tuesday at the Park. We finished more tournament prep and then we went and organized the supply room located in the maintenance shed. This is where all of the extra supply is kept such as all of the baseballs, softballs, lacrosse, and soccer balls. The inventory for Custom Threads and the Locker Room are also kept out there such as sweatshirts, t-shirts, hats, etc. and then the trophies, trophy heads, and other little items that are sold in the Locker Room. We spent a couple of hours doing that while also inventorying all of the Custom Threads clothing stuff so that we could see what we had and what we didn't have so that Courtney, the Amenities Coordinator could put in an order if need be.
That was pretty much all we did today. We went through our regular Monday schedule. Staff meeting to discuss the previous tournament and the future tournaments. We noticed this past tournament that we have been having difficulties with our front gate. The workers, who are usually the same employees who have been working the front gate are getting very frustrated with our policy of no outside food and beverages. Many guests, especially in the early morning, have been known to give attitude, be very rude, and occasionally have spilled things on the staff by throwing their drinks vigorously into the trashcans that would cause them to smash up and onto the employees and they are fed up with it. The issue is that its not our policy, our food stands are contracted through Cedar Point and the admittance of outside food and beverage is prohibited through our contract with them. So, we are in the process of trying to figure out ways in which we can alleviate our employees stress and irritation while also upholding our contract with Cedar Point. We will see later in the week what can be negotiated. It will be tough, Cedar Point is nervous about loosing out on sales, especially on beverages since that is the most common thing being stopped at the gates. As interns we have also seen this issue and have talked with employees about it and expressed our concerns and our own experiences working the front gate since we are kind of placed everyone throughout different tournaments.
Other than that, we did tournament prep for the day and various other little tasks. It was pretty much a regular day at the park again. I was a field marshal and nothing much happened. I ran the scoreboard and reported scorecards. At one point I helped break people which meant we determined who was a minor and therefore, by law, required a 30 minute break. We usually broke people in the middle of their shifts, around lunch time, so that they could eat, get cooled down, and rest for a little bit before getting back to their fields. We also give breaks to the older kids but most of them just chose to stay and snack at the fields even though we don't really allow it because it is unprofessional, but we also understand that these kids are out there for 8-12 hours and get hungry. There wasn't really anything interesting to report today.
Today began our Midsummer Classic tournament. The whole two jobs things is getting a little hard to handle because this week I was absent for most of it since I work Wednesdays and Thursdays and this was s short week on top of it. The tournament started out fine. We had a couple incidences that were quickly and quietly resolved! I can't remember if I've included this before in previous journals but the early shift is the set up shift. So we arrive at 6am and begin setting up the park. The clipboards, scoreboards, and ball bins all have to go out to the fields. After that is complete, the lawn games of Volleyball, Kan Jam, Giant Janga, and corn hole are set up on the Great Lawn which is was we call the long patch of grass located in the middle of the park by the food and Locker Room. We also set up the wooden rocking chairs that we were donated by Cracker Barrel up looking over the Great Lawn. After that we set up Tournament Central, take out the rest of the coaches packet, set out all of the copies of the Tournament Rules, Schedule, Park Policies, etc. as well as the walkie talkies taken by field marshals and amenities for communication purposes. We set the food signs out as well as the signs at the front gate stating no food or drink is allowed in, our ticket prices, and park policies. Then we set up the blow-up games, the Giant Soccer Darts and Fast Pitch. For the rest of the day I was in Custom Threads and then floated between fields to help out until I was relieved by the later shift.
I wasn’t present for most of the Fireworks Classic due to my mom’s wedding being this weekend. I decided to come back and work this day though since they said they would need the extra hands. This tournament was especially busy since many of the players had family who traveled for the holidays and also to watch them play so the park was extra busy with so many people. Everyone said the tournament had been going really well with many people attending the park with no real issues. I worked the early shift and some of the interns got to leave early because they had worked so much during the weekend. I ended up being one of the only interns working later because since we have the 4th off and our next tournament is the on the 7th so we don’t have as much time as we usually do to prep for it. So while we had down time we worked hard to get as much prepping as we could so we weren't rushing throughout the week to get it all done. I was once again in Custom Threads once again but I didn't mind it. There surprising weren't that many orders and it was a bit slow though the park was packed with people. I guess they just didn't want shirts.
Today we began our Windmill Weeklong tournament. This is the second weeklong tournament we’ve held so we kind of already had an idea of how it was going to go. It was practically the same size as this baseball one earlier in the summer only this one was softball and not baseball, so boys instead of girls. I was in the custom threads trailer since each athlete got a free t-shirt for being in the tournament and they could get them customized. We didn’t get many orders for customization and some parents were disappointed we didn’t have an actual logo to put on other shirts if parents wanted one, which was kind of a bummer but it would have been a waste to design and purchase logos for only five parents who wanted a shirt. It was a kind of slow start for the tournament, not many families were there as it was during the week. I stayed in custom threads for the most part and then helped around tournament central when needed. We did tournament prep for the upcoming baseball tournament that weekend as we would only have Friday to complete everything and that was when teams were checking in for the weekend tournament so things had to be done already. But, since all the other interns were tied up that day since we scheduled ourselves too, the other were either working the amenities, being field marshal, or leading point of everyone so since custom threads was closed early since there was no real reason for it to be open, I sat in tournament central and helped with tournament prep like getting the coaches packets ready, player bags ready, meals and trophies, etc. All of the normal stuff so that’s what the rest of my shift was spent doing that day.
This tournament had a lot of ups and downs. I had been off for most of the week due to acquiring a second job and having to go through a week long training. Fortunately, the full-time staff understood and gave me the time off. During this tournament, the field I was on, the kids on this one team were the rudest and most obnoxious kids I have ever met in my life. They were taking the water cups and pretending to “shot gun” them like they were beers. They made extremely rude comments about women and one of the coach’s girlfriends. I had to step in a couple of times and tell them they were acting inappropriately and at one point I had to switch jobs with the other intern working the field because I had had enough. We had one of the full-time staff members step in and talk with their coaches as well. Their head coach was kind of nasty too so I could see where they had gotten their behavior from. There was this other team though that had really awesome coaches and their players were well behaved and really nice to interact with. They were so cute. They needed to give lessons to the other team, especially since these kids were in the 12-13 year-old division. But I survived the day and that was pretty much all I did during that shift.
I worked the last shift again today and was once again in Custom Threads. They either really like me being in there or don’t like me so they stick me in there so I’m out of the way or something. It was busy again today but not as bust as the past days. Especially since Sundays are tournament play and a lot of the teams leave and have already gotten their shirts the past couple of days. We didn’t have as many mess ups this time around which was a nice break. We don’t get new inventory until the week so we still had to deal with that headache but most people were nice and understanding about it. A couple of people we missed a name or something and had to quickly fix that. We usually close Custom Threads a little bit earlier on Sundays but we stayed open a little longer than usual just because the shirts had been in such popular demand. After we closed Custom Threads I went in tournament central and sat and helped in there for a little while and then just walked around the park to see if anyone needed anything and give the field marshals some company because it can get pretty lonely out there especially since most of them are out there all day. We had a couple of delays so games ran until about midnight tonight and then we all left shortly after that. The teams and players were really good about playing through the night and I know they were exhausted. But, the whole thing ran really smooth and was a great tournament, We got many compliments which is always nice to hear, especially when you’re a young place like we are.
I was in custom threads once again today. I had the late shift so I came in the middle of everything. Custom threads was swamped once again so I immediately jumped in there to help them and relieve Gabby since we are usually the only ones that work in the trailer. People were still coming to pick up their t-shirts and we were having issues because the way they were bagged yesterday, combined with the heat in the trailer, caused a lot of the transfer to stick to themselves, ruining the shirts and causing us to have to remake them. This set us back a lot because we only had two heat presses so one was working on remaking orders and the other was working on new orders. But, then we kept getting back up and it was getting really difficult to keep up with it all and some of the customers were getting upset. We did our best to reassure them that we would get them their shirt and calm them down but with the heat and the long day, it wasn’t going very well. We ended up closing early once again and working on the shirts until we got them all finished. We also attempted to figure out a new way of folding the shirts and hanging them up in bags so we could avoid shirts getting ruined again because it was wreaking havoc on our inventory. Royal blue was the most popular and we didn’t have many in the stock so with all of the remakes, we ran out of not only that one but the tie-dye ones and several other colors by day two of the tournament. So that was a big struggle of the day. The rest of the evening went pretty smooth though and we were out of there by 10 and I came in at 4.
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Madison W.Undergraduate Student at Tiffin University pursing a Bachelors of Business Administration in the field of Sports and Recreation Management. |