Alright folks, so by this time next week we will be right around 100 days until Opening Day here at the "Duck Pond”. It’s unbelievable how quick that day will sneak up us. Every year it seems like we prepare ourselves better, but no matter what we do there are always things we wish we could have done better. After all, he ballpark is old and needs a lot of "TLC." In order to make things “shine” the way they do each and every year we lean heavily on the group of new interns we hire each summer.
The internship position is by no means glamorous, but we look forward to giving each kid a summer experience they will never forget. One fun fact here is that most of us here know what it’s like to be an intern. In fact, five out of current eight full-time employees working in our office had an internship in the Northwoods League at one point in their career. The other three have worked as a part-time employee with the Mallards before they were brought as a full-timer.
The interns are expected to report immediately at the end of their spring semester of school, which is normally the middle of May. This gives us approximately two weeks to educate them on our organization and basically all the “ins and outs” of the ballpark. During this time they will spend the majority of their 9 AM to 5 PM day working in their respective area of concentration. After 5 o’clock everyone pitches in where they can and we work into the wee hours of the night. No one has ever been excused from painting duties. We go through a lot of Old Virginia green paint.
We hire interns in the following areas; marketing, ballpark operations, public relations (PR) and tickets/hospitality. Each spot is an extension of the front office and extremely important in helping to run and maintain a successful team during the summer. The hours we generally work during the summer can range from 60-90 hours on a given week. Although, if you make the most of this opportunity and can have some fun with it, the time really flies.
For me, I will never forget the summer of 2004. I was brought on as a Marketing/Operations Intern. During the day, I spent a lot of time moving beer and taking care of random maintenance tasks around the ballpark. When it was game- time, I was running the on-field promotions. I had a great superior/manager by the name of Eric Bjorling. He taught me all there was to know about the organization and for that, I am forever grateful. Good looking out Phil!
I ate ballpark food for just about every meal, although those meals were few and far between. One is just so busy that you are either to tired, stressed or busy to eat. Did I mention this was probably the best summer I ever had? Honestly, the friendships you make and the people you meet really do make this an unforgettable “career”. I do want to stress that this is a career and not a job. One final note, that I’m sure every intern (male, at least) can relate to is the interaction you have with the owner of the team. Steve is such a popular guy and knows so many people, that the first few times he meets you (or in my case, a month later), there is a good chance he will refer to you as being a “tough guy”. At this time I want to give you a little taste of what the internship experience was like through the eyes of a few former Mallard interns:
Vinnie Cholewa, PR Intern ’04 & PR Manager ’05: The summer internship with the Mallards was amazing, to say the least. There is one night that will forever stick out in my mind. It was the morning (2 AM) of Opening Day and we were trying to put the final touches on what was an 18 hour work day (mind you, we needed to be up and function less than six hours later). There was a load of bark that we had picked up earlier in the day that was sitting in the bed of my truck and we needed to dump it and spread it before the night was done. You can only imagine how thrilled everyone was to start this task at that time. I do know, however, that the mosquitoes loved every minute of it. These things were vicious to say the very least and almost put me over the edge. Following that daunting task was this humungous rolling Pepsi cooler that was at the bottom of a ramp by “needed” to be moved before we went home. There were probably five of us still left at the park at this time and we couldn’t budge the thing. This was the moment in my internship that sparked something in me that gave me a whole new perspective on life. I was so tired, frustrated, irritated that I took it into my own hands and just bust through this rolling cooler with all I had. I single-handedly moved it up the ramp and out of the fire lane. The look on everyone’s faces was priceless. This just proved to me that one can accomplish anything that is set in front of them. The internship in general taught me to overcome adversity and face challenges head on. I truly have the upmost respect for Vern and the organization as a whole.
Vinnie was probably the only intern ever to have a summer internship and not only one, but two jobs! He spent time working for State Street Brats & Verizon that summer as well. Not to mention, he was known to sleep at the ballpark. On more occasion than once, we would get into the office around 8 AM and sure enough Vinnie would be plugging away at his computer. He once a claimed that he had been there since 5 AM dumping garbage and on his fifth Redbull of the morning. If that doesn’t say dedication (or BS) I’m not sure what does! Anyway, Vinnie is currently living down in Arizona working for Careerbuilder.com and going to school for his MBA at ASU. Good luck pal!
Brian Dodge, Operations Intern ’05: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...
Being a die-hard baseball fan, nothing made me happier than getting to go to the ballpark every day for work. The long hours and other minor factors made the position incredibly draining mentally and physically, but in the end you tend to remember all the good things and very few of the bad things. I loved the guys that we worked with that summer and I always felt like we put a good product forward for our consumers.
Aaron Reinen, Tickets/Hospitality Intern ’08: To try and wrap the entire summer into 3-4 sentences is going to be difficult. It was such a great and enjoyable experience, that I really wouldn't know where to start. However, if there is one key skill that I learned and mastered this past summer was the ability to count. You wouldn't think that a skill learned so early in life would leave you, but after many years of using a calculator to do all your math you really do lose some of those skills. For this very reason I will always be in debit to the Mallards, it was this organization that allowed me to find my math self again through counting wristbands!
On a serious note, I do believe the internship is a great starting tool to find out if a job in sports is for you. If you are able to work 938 hours from May to Aug, and still be able to go into work with a smile on your face then you may have found the career path for you. I know it certainly was great for me as I pretty much did a 180 career wise and this past summer really allowed me to get on the right track. I still would like to find a position much like mine last summer, taking care of hospitality/suites and sales. Where and when I'll find something like this is up in the air. Retired (for now) Tarp Crew Member Out!
OK, I am going to wrap up this fairly lengthy blog. I would love to go on and on, because I could write a book with all the things that go on at this ballpark. In fact, I have always wanted to do a reality television series on the Mallards organization.
To be continued…
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