As partial fulfillment of the requirements of my sports management course, I took an internship program at Jefferson County High School in Georgia. The motivation to conduct this experience was influenced by my internal quest for the opportunity to learn, think, and grow in my field of the profession (Coates, 1986). Further, the experience was deemed to accord me the opportunity to implement the theory learned in class as well as the newly assimilated taxonomies in the course as a sports training master (Coates, 1986). This is a journal entry concerning the Athletic Directors meeting via ZOOM video to discuss various topics during my intern project. It particularly narrows down on Jefferson County High School athletic and how COVID-19 has impacted decisions to move forward with Fall Sports. The journal entry reports for a single week's activities, including specific responsibilities related to my intern project.
MONDAY
Policy Setting
The discussions of the one-week athletic directors meeting via ZOOM video saw various changes in the department of fall games at Jefferson County High School. The meeting began on Monday with a clarification of the roles of a school's athletic director (AD). The athletic director is charged with the administrative function of overseeing all the school's sports activities (Barbara 2020). Though the ADs may have past athletic experiences and may undoubtedly have a deep interest in sport, their job might not involve a typical direct interaction with the athletes, a fact that has even worsened with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic (Clemens & Heinemann, 2020). The entire Monday involved setting the policies and making the necessary adjustments to fit the dictates of health departments on COVID-19, much of which related to social distancing and other safety precautions. We were to see to it that the set rules are adopted and adhered to by the school as much as it followed the policies set by other governing agencies for high school sports.
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TUESDAY
Hiring and Supervision
The role of the athletic director is to hire, supervise and fire coaches and other employees in the athletic department, including the office personnel (Barbara 2020). Tuesday meeting saw significant changes in the athletic department task force in Jefferson County High School. The exercise was majorly motivated by the harmful economic implications of the COVID-19 pandemic. Jefferson County High School being a large institution, it was comfortable to have more than two assistant athletic directors and even coaches, especially for the big sports. Nevertheless, the school was incapable of hiring more personnel owing to the closure directives about the COVID-19 pandemic. Further, sports were not actively in progress following the same COVID-19 reasons, which led to the termination of numerous people in the athletic department task force. However, the terminated workers were legally compensated as the laws on hiring dictates.
On the same note, new personnel was hired to fill the gaps in the athletic department's various adjustments to meet the public health requirements on the COVID-19 pandemic. The athletic director set and approved the job descriptions each new position created (Barbara 2020). Our role was to ensure that the job conditions are met even as we tried to solve the new employees' problems and concerns. A significant portion of the meeting laid focus on urging the coaches to revise on the needs of their plan for the season, especially on the prompted changes associated with the COVID-19 pandemic (Clemens & Heinemann, 2020). They were assured of support from the AD's office to improve their teams' performance even as the athletic department struggled to come to terms with the new ultimatums regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.
WEDNESDAY
Budgeting and Fund Raising
The entire Wednesday meeting concentrated on the creation of the athletic department's budget and allocation of funds for all sports. Budgeting exercise proved to be the most challenging part of the meeting as many changes had to be implemented to meet the financial constraints brought by the invent of the COVID-19 pandemic (Clemens & Heinemann, 2020). The budget was to include purchases for new equipment, much of which were related to the COVID-19 personal protective equipment, which includes but not limited to the diagnosis machines, protective gear, and establishment of separate isolation facilities for handling affected athletes and related personnel. Following the experienced economic hardship, the AD office had to organize for online fundraising events through donations (Barbara 2020). The fundraising event plan was to involve the alumni of Jefferson County High School, families, community members, and well-wishers' contributions. Events promotion written materials were to be designed and approved by the AD's office in advance.
THURSDAY
Games and Events Scheduling
Scheduling of all sports and matches in each season is the responsibility of the AD's office, which is difficult, especially when the fields and gyms must be shared (Barbara 2020). The entire Thursday meeting concentrated on the scheduling of Jefferson County High School's events and games. The exercise became even more complicated owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, let alone weather and other factors that led to rescheduling and postponement of games and events. In consideration of all teams of Jefferson County High School, the meeting had to coordinate schedules with the athletic directors of other participating schools (Young, 2012). We had to factor in flexibility during games playoff concerning the extent of each team's advances in championships and playoffs (Young, 2012). Similarly, all events throughout the season were laid down in the schedule, which had to observe the social distancing regulations following the outbreak of the COVI-19 pandemic.
FRIDAY
Monitoring Teams and Players
Another challenging obligation of the athletic director's role is to ensure that each school team complied with the rules and regulations set by the school and other national athletics governing bodies such as the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) (Barbara 2020). This is even made more complicated by the newly introduced social distancing rules and regulations with an effort to curb the COVID-19 pandemic (Clemens & Heinemann, 2020). Since most students learn from home, it is not easy to convene at a common point to monitor the athletes' code of conduct. This process required exceptional abilities to multitask, solve problems, work under pressure, and make tough decisions in the athletics director position.
Learning and Experiences
The entire week's program reinstated and even added value to my prior knowledge in sports management. The training process exposed me to divergent sources of information as I had to do thorough research before embarking on the actual training processes. Being an intern coach and assistant athletic director in Jefferson County High School, I was got enough exposure on scouting, statistics analysis, and legal procedures of in athletics department, which to me, was personal development (Coates, 1986). Moreover, I had no prior experience in what goes on in the professional field, and this internship program gave me that opportunity. Additionally, the internship program gave me a chance to make new friendship ties the personnel in Jefferson County High School, which provides me with an advantage in terms of job seeking.
References
Barbara Bean-Mellinger. (2020). An Athletic Director's Duties. Work - Chron.com. Retrieved 4 July 2020, from https://work.chron.com/athletic-directors-duties-15807.html .
Clemens, M., & Heinemann, M. (2020). Distributional Effects of the COVID-19 Lockdown. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3628119
Coates, J. (1986). An Action Learning Approach to Performance Review and Development. Industrial And Commercial Training, 18(4), 23-28. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb004042
Young Shin Won. (2012). The Practical Process of Making Student-athletes Study by High School Athletic Club Director. Korean Society For The Sociology Of Sport, 25(3), 115-135. https://doi.org/10.22173/jksss.2012.25.3.115
