Why This?:
For as long as I can remember I’ve been playing sports; whether I had a baseball bat in my hands, a lacrosse stick, a basketball, or now hockey skates that you can’t pull away from me. Although I want to keep playing hockey for as long as I can, my future career is unknown, even though playing minor professionally is well within the range of possibilities. With that being said, I want to stay involved in sports for as long as I can, which ultimately led me to exploring the “Sports and Recreation Management” majore here at UNE. Despite playing college hockey, my interest in the sports world extends well beyond just that sport. I actively follow baseball, look forward to watching football all day on Sundays, and thoroughly enjoy being on the golf course, so I’d love to be involved with those sports after college as well. Our location here in Biddeford is particularly appealing with the sports teams around us. It can hopefully provide me with the opportunity to get my foot in the door with minor league teams like the Maine Mariners and the Portland Sea Dogs, and that’s just the start. I’ve been a part of a team almost my whole life, and nothing beats that. This major really peaked my interest with hopes of being a part of a team beyond my college experience and beyond my hockey career.
Schoolwork and Real-World Work:
Out of the requirements for choosing this major path, a few really caught my attention. Both sports and recreation marketing and finance are subjects my friends from home actively talk about from their own experiences. Naturally, those topics in particular are already in my head. We’ve joked around about creating our sports agency, but I think being one at the very least is well within the realm of possibilities of something I can do with this degree. Who knows, creating our own could easily happen too if it’s something we love. I can see myself doing this after college because I really love helping others succeed. I also am a big fan of the journey, facing those inevitable bumps in the road on the road to success. Another requirement that caught my eye was leadership. I’ve always believed leadership is something that you naturally grow into; you either have it or you don’t. I didn’t think this is a skill that can be taught, because I think you can tell when it’s forced or not. However, I think this class will entail more building upon already established leadership skills rather than teaching the basic ones.
Looking at the potential landing spots for internships has given me even more interest in this program. There are many more connections than I originally thought. In addition to the teams I mentioned before, there are connections with numerous minor league teams, sports agencies, professional sports teams, and school athletics, Princeton University Men’s Basketball in particular considering that’s where I live. Regardless of the outcome, I think this degree offers many opportunities for me to stay involved in sports beyond college, which is ultimately what I’m looking for.
Project Reflection:
This project was exactly what I needed without actually knowing it. Before arriving on campus here, my parents and I had the forbidden chats about what majors they wanted me in. They were open to hearing what I had to say, but obviously had their own ideas. Through it all, uncertainty remained and loomed over my head. As a 21 year old freshman, it haunted me a bit that I still didn’t know what I wanted to study, I felt like there was pressure there that I had to pick a major. This project made me realize what I love to do and what gets me excited. It also opened my eyes that the major I explored is probably the best fit for me.
I think the most helpful and probably my favorite part of this project was the interviews we had to conduct. For the students, I interviewed a freshman and an upperclassman to get two pretty different perspectives. It was nice to see how the freshman was handling the first year classes related to the major, as it looks like I will be doing that next semester. As far as the upperclassman goes, he offered a point of view from someone who chose the major and stuck with it, and I gathered his thoughts from when he first started classes to now and what that journey kind of looks like.
My interview with Professor Gordon was particularly interesting because I was able to pick the brain of someone who is teaching material rather than learning it. This is something that I was very nervous for but an opportunity I had to take advantage of not only for the project requirement, but because it’s a chance you don’t get very often. I enjoyed my time talking to him and learned many things about the class, the sport world, and the opportunities that pursuing this major offers.
