This week’s post is courtesy of Matt Blaszka (’07).  He has some interesting insight on why it is so important to get involved in the Sport Management Student Association.
The Sport Management Student Association might be one of the more important things to do while you are at York College. The SMSA provides opportunity to go out in the field, meet people, learn professionals, and most importantly being a part of the SMSA Golf Tournament.

During the 2005-06, I was the president of the SMSA. We were operating in the red but through small fundraisers during the fall and spring we were able to get ourselves in the black. During the spring of 2006 we wanted to do something big that would help the SMSA for years to come and provide opportunities to attend conferences and bring in professionals for cheaper cost. The SMSA at this point was 12-15 students and was trying to find a way to get involved. Enter the SMSA Golf Tournament. The committee of Dan Stahl, Scott Fitzgerald, Megan Eckenrode, Chris White and I began to explore and conquer putting on a golf tournament. Needless to say we struggled to put it together but we pulled it off with 10 foursomes, a professor who got sick the day of the tournament, and a building block for the SMSA for years to come. Now entering the fourth edition of SMSA Golf Tournament it is arguably the biggest event of the SMSA year and provides students with great experience.

I tell you this story not because of the struggles we went through but the experience of putting on a major event provides your resume with that little extra. When I did my work experience at Lehigh University, they saw that I put on a golf tournament and asked me to put together one for the alumni in the program. Again, it was 2ndgolf tournament that I was part of starting and now it sells out routinely.

The SMSA provides you the opportunity to get to know people that are in your classes. The Sport Management program provides you with students who are typically in all your classes. The classes provide a forum to meet people but the SMSA takes that to the next level. Joining SMSA puts you in touch with all the people in the program from seniors to freshman. For freshman it is crucial to get involved because you will not have the opportunity to have seniors in your classes and this is a way to network for yourself. Remember that networking is not limited to just professionals, it is fellow students and professors. SMSA provides these opportunities.

I am currently enrolled to get my Masters in Sport Administration at Georgia State. Students in my class have a ton of experience and volunteer work because they did the little things through their school. Those opportunities give your resume that boost when you do go for a job interview. Interviewers will see that you did a lot of work and were a part of a club at school. Whether it’s helping on game day with the Ravens as a greeter or having events with the York Revolution it all can help you further yourself in the field of Sport Management.

Here are my suggestions

With graduation less than a week away, I have been thinking about the current graduating seniors and what they will be doing in the upcoming years.  They will face many challenges and changes in the industry and I am sure they will be resilient and successful.  This got me thinking about some alumni and what they are doing specifically in terms of new media. Below are three examples of individuals with a vision satisfying a need on the internet.

Steve Masterson started the Sports Business Education Network while he was a student at York. Steve does a wonderful job of revising and updating the site to meet the needs of the members. The Sport Business Education Network (www.sben.org) is a FREE resource dedicated to providing sport-specific resources and information and a central point for job seekers, professors, students, and employers to network — potentially leading to employment.

Matt Blaszka and some friends started SnatchSports (http://snatchsports.com/) in October 2008 due to friends never being able to agree.  Blaszka says “Our writers may not always agree on the issues, but we will always provide a non-biased look into the world of sports. Our goal is to give our opinions, good and bad, on the topic we are most passionate about…sports. If nothing else, we hope to stir some discussion (or debate). We also value outside views (they’re what keep this site going), so feel free to join into any one of the discussions.”

Brendan Wilhide also saw a void and filled it rather quickly.  Brendan created sportsin140.com, a website that covers athletes and sports on Twitter.  The site has been featured on New England Cable News and in the Toronto Globe and Mail and Seattle Times newspapers. It contains the only list of validated athlete Twitter accounts on the Internet. You can follow @sportslist on Twitter for the latest updates.

You can follow all three individuals on Twitter at @Steve_Masterson @blask22 @beingthere