The End: 4/14/13 - 4/20/13

The only thing on the agenda for my last week with the Sharks was just one game on Wednesday against Springfield. It is Worcester Sharks tradition to not hold office hours the day before or after the game. I was not complaining. Everyone was tired and could not wait for this final game. Luckily for me, I was able to hang out with Finz as I was put on Finz Handler. Being a Wednesday, it usually is not that busy, but it is the last home game of the season, so we were doing a lot of Fan Appreciation promotions. We had to follow the regular itinerary with promotions and birthday visits, as well as special promotions and special visits. We delivered flowers to a season ticket holder battling cancer, and helped a man propose to his wife
in the second period. It was a long, eventful, but fun night and a perfect way to end it.

Looking back on the internship, all the office hours, game days, lessons learned, projects and overall experience, I am very satisfied. I wanted a position that would allow me to utilize my education and desire to be in business communications and sport management. The sport industry is a unique field to work in, and definitely requires experience in order to land a job in it. Now that I have worked for a professional team, my career objective to work for a professional sport team has not changed, and has only grown bigger. I am very thankful for the opportunity the Worcester Sharks and all of the front office staff have given me, and I look forward to staying in touch with them and using them as a reference in my search for another job after graduation.

4/7/13 - 4/13/13

My time with the Sharks is starting to wind down as it appears as though our chances of making the playoffs are almost impossible. Now is the point in the season where we start looking forward to next season and seeing what we can improve upon in the next few months. On Sunday we lost to Manchester in overtime. I was on Credentials and it was another very busy night. Before the game there was a lot of youth hockey games being played, and I was in charge of making sure all the players were in the right rooms, got on the ice at the right time, got off the ice quickly, and after the game, make sure all equipment is gone and that they exit through the correct doors. Besides the youth hockey, it was a relatively slow night. It was the last youth hockey event of the season and they went out with a bang.

On Friday, the Sharks played host to Norfolk. They lost the game 3-0 in a game that pretty much ended all playoff hopes the team had. My job tonight was Tank Team. Tank Team is still my favorite job, however this game I learned some of the negatives that go along with it. The first time I was on Tank Team, it was really fun and easy because the Sharks were dominating the opponent and the fans were engaged in the game and willing to be loud and proud with us. Tonight was a slow and frustrating game, which made it so much harder to get the crowd pumped up. People were even starting to leave early. This brings up a debate that has been discussed over the history of professional sports: What do you do to make your fans happy, when your team is not good? You can only do so many promotions, giveaways, and cheers until the fans realize it isn't worth it for what the product is on the ice.

Saturday night was another loss to Norfolk and it was another busy night on the concourse. I was on Kids Club. I was a little rusty as I had not done Kids Club since the second game of the semester. I was forced to quickly catch on as the gates opened early for a Bruins alumni game before the Sharks took the ice. As it is almost the end of the season, it is time to start trying to sell Kids Club Memberships for next season. This is a little harder than selling memberships for the current season because telling people that they will receive something instead of actually giving it to them can be a huge difference. It was a very long line all night at the prize wheel as I was spinning the wheel getting people walking by to come give it a spin!