Another Door Opened

This past summer I interned for the Maine Red Claws in Portland, ME. The Red Claws are an NBA Development League Team affiliated with the Boston Celtics, Charlotte Bobcats, and Philadelphia 76ers. My ultimate career goal is to work in the basketball operations department of an NBA team. Obviously, this is not any easy goal to achieve and will take time, hard work and dedication. I know that I am one step closer to my goal, however, through my internship with the Red Claws; the team's President / General Manager, Jon Jennings, was a former student manager under Hall of Fame Coach Bob Knight at Indiana University as well as a former assistant coach and scout for the Boston Celtics during the reign of Celtics legends such as Larry Bird, Robert Parrish, and John Havlicek.

As previously mentioned, working in an NBA basketball operations department is an extremely tough position to obtain for non-players, but having a former manager as president helps; former managers tend to know what is required to get to the next step on your career path and also understand that someone needs to allow you to "get your foot in the door". Luckily for me, Jon and his staff saw my determination to build my career and willingness to work hard during my interview and gave me an opportunity.

The Red Claws front office has a full-time staff of eight and simply cannot do everything on their own, so they rely heavily on interns. Interning for the Red Claws allowed me to get experience in every department - answering the telephones, helping with the communications strategy, marketing, assisting with the media strategy an operational plans, brainstorming the upcoming 2011-12 season, scouting and editing game film, aiding the business execution of the youth basketball camp, and even assisting in the community outreach programs. The main goal I had entering this internship was to gain more work skills, knowledge, and learn about the business operations necessary to run a professional sports organization.

Larry Bird (Left), Jon Jennings (Right)

Working for the Red Claws requires you to seek out perfection, whether it be going the extra mile in helping someone else out, or showing up early when you are responsible for something. If this team wants to continue having the high success rate they are currently having, beating certain NBA teams in categories such as merchandise sold, then everyone is expected to set their standards high as well as go beyond what is expected and always be on the cutting edge.

While I learned a great deal about basketball operations, business marketing, sales, and a lot more, after interning for a tremendous amount of time, the two life lessons that stuck with me the most are not basketball-related. First, I learned that one should not judge people too quickly, because sometimes they have a good reason for the way they act. Secondly, I learned, especially from overseeing Jon, that a "wealthy" person is one who is content with what he has. Jon's compassionate approach towards personal relationships, combined with his enthusiasm for life, makes him and his team a pleasure to work with.

As I moved back to school for my senior year as the head manager for the Marist men's basketball team, I am more confident in my abilities, have a clearer vision on how to build my career around basketball, and have become a stronger leader upon interning with the Red Claws. I am fortunate to have been given this opportunity and can honestly say I am proud of what I was able to accomplish and the relationships I made with others. I learned new skills and I grew as a person. All of these traits made me realize this was one of the best summers in my life!

I would highly recommend this internship to other students and managers across the country who are interested in getting involved with professional sports someday.