Suhel Karara

FMF Sports Inc.

Week 1 & 2 Journal

1st June- 15th June, 2019

Part 1

The first two weeks at FMF Sports Inc. was challenging for me. The reason being that

I had come in as a Sports Analytics Coach but the majority of the sports part is beginning in

July. We have a Summer Enrichment Camp going on right now in June, and will have the

tournaments go on the weekends while the camp goes on the weekdays in July. I wanted to

be an asset to the firm so I spoke to Coach Reese about diversifying my work detail. One of

the aspects which he was interested in was creating an online presence for the organization.

I had never built a website before so I took the initiative of learning how to build one. I

watched a lot of YouTube videos, after which I did an ample amount of research on the

platforms available online. I have a friend of who studies Computer Information Systems at

USC so I did a few informational calls with him. It took me a certain amount of time to grasp

the knowledge and after that I started working on it. The second important step in website

building for me was understanding the history of the organization as well as the present and

future goals so that I could build adequate information ( E.g. Mission Statements, About us

page, etc.). I had several meetings with Coach Reese in which I learnt a lot about what he

really wanted the website to look like. I realized it’s really important to understand what the

Coach wanted out of this website because I even after my internship gets over he could

keep getting the website edited and transforming it. His primary goal was to create a

platform which provided enough information to the parents to make them send their kids.

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His secondary goal was to make it attractive for sponsors ( e.g. the opportunities it provided

the businesses to advertise themselves through our firm ). I transitioned his needs by

improvising on new ideas which would meet our targets. I visited several websites whose

work was correlated to our firm’s and tried to get an idea what the industry professionals

are looking when it comes to sports and summer enrichment camp. One of the websites

which helped me a lot is the ‘I Promise School’ which is run by the Lebron James

Foundation. FMF Sports Inc.’s program is quite similar to that. There are various challenges

which I faced working on this new professional skill which I developed. One of them was

how to be patient when editing. Several elements in website building involves monotonous

and time consuming editing. To make a perfect outlook which we so easily just view on

various websites, it requires a lot of work on the backend. There are various loops which I

created so that when a consumer comes on a website he has a good experience. I feel that

this was a very unique exposure for me as I worked from the content end to the developing

end for the website. I then even started working on social media pages for the firm. It’s still

in progress but I am confident that I would be able to do similar work on it which I did on

the website. It will be easier than developing a website as I don’t have to work on the

backend. I was happy that Coach Reese was satisfied with the work on the website. Day by

Day I am building the galleries on the website through the photos I take daily of the camp.

The other aspect of work in the internship for me is to help out with the operations of the

camp which usually runs from 8am to 6pm on weekdays. As assistant coaches in the

internship our job also entails, creating and reinventing programs for kids which would be

beneficial for their overall development and growth. We also help in executing all the daily

tasks organized in the camp. Our schedule fluctuates daily. Although the morning element

of it remains same to a certain extent. Garret (my colleague) and I, arrive at a Public School

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in Blythewood where we wait for the kids to be dropped. We take them for a light breakfast

and then make them workout. I realized after a couple of days at work that it’s a general

knack in kids to want to always play games and have fun. So as a coach during the workout I

try to make sure to give them certain rewards so that they put in more effort in their

workout. I have been working with Peyton, a 5th grader on his running style lately. He is

extremely passionate about track running and also is really good at it. I have been

motivating him to join his School Athletics team when his school begins. To enhance my

knowledge about track running I used a few online platforms and have been helping Peyton

with the knowledge. As a kid, when I was around his age I had several mentors who helped

me to develop my skills and passion. They gave me the push and the motivation. Through

this internship experiences I have really learnt how to be a good mentor. There is a certain

way with which you have to help kids. It should be the perfect balance of friendliness,

understanding their emotions, and at the same time being a bit assertive about their work. I

feel that I have grown a knack to understand and deal with kids better overtime. I have been

trying to really know about them on a personal basis, like their hobbies, interests, etc. so

that I can be helpful in giving them insights as an adult. I also worked with Coach Reese to

build an analytical way to note the performances of the kids. This excel platform is beneficial

in understanding where the kids stand in different activities and also the level of their

improvement over time. Building something like this has helped me in understanding how

to be flexible with my analytical skills. I also assisted in the field trips to provide the kids with

exposure outside their activity time. On the field trip to Rice Athletic Centre I felt the kids

got an insight about working in a fitness/sports industry. On another field trip to Columbia

International School I felt the kids got an ample amount of exposure about how a college

works. In my opinion, organizing these field trips are like setting small stepping stones. It

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might not be helpful for all but there will definitely be a few of them who would use this

knowledge and real world experience to build on themselves and their goals.

Part 2

I work with two supervisors and three other interns at FMF Sports Inc. Over time, I

have gained a lot of exposure working under Coach Reese. As the organization is a smaller

firm in comparison to bigger camps such as ‘I Promise School’, I have gained more

responsibilities and first hand work experience. I can work across departments and my

feedback is always looked at. I also have the freedom to come with new and innovative

ways to work on the online portion of the work. This has taught me a tremendous amount

about how to grow the presence of a firm online. I feel that at this stage of my career having

an experience where I am learning so much about work across departments is beneficial for

my future endeavors in the industry.

I am staying in Columbia but the work usually entails a lot of travel. We have a public school

in Blythewood which is sort of our center. We take the kids for their breakfast and take care

of their workout in the sports fields there. The other aspects such as libraries, field trips,

social service, and other fitness and educational programs happen at different places.

During the day when we are travelling from one part of SC to another I usually have lunch in

between at any fast food place which is available nearby. It works out well for me as I can

come home at night and cook dinner for myself. The neighborhoods where we work

changes hour by hour. I keep myself busy with the work at hand so I haven’t really explored

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the area. The places we go for work has helped me explore various parts of SC which I

haven’t done it till now.

I am going through various types of mentorship experiences. First and the most

important of all is under Coach Reese. He has a very insightful vision to develop the kids in

the communities in SC to be successful in sports as well as build their personalities through

activities based on academics and ethics. I have been loving working with him to create new

elements in the program every day to make it more useful for the kids. Back in India, I had

worked with a NGO for foster kids in which I helped the kids out till the time there was a

foster family which was ready to take them in. I had worked on various programs with them

to help the kids to grow educationally. I feel that the mentorship which I got there from the

leaders of the NGO is something I can relate to when I work with Coach Reese. He is

extremely passionate about building the kids into the pivots of their community. The other

type of mentorship which I feel I get at my internship is from my co interns. They come from

a very strong sports background. Two of them are athletes in Allen University and one of

them from USC wants to be a Basketball Scout. I feel that working with them has really

helped me to develop my knowledge set about the sports background in US. They are

amazing people with a strong passion for Sports and I can definitely relate to them

extensively. The third type of mentorship I am getting is through the kids in the camp. It’s

given me an opportunity to build on my own mentorship skills which I feel is an extremely

important of an adult life.

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Part 3

I have been talking to Coach Reese about my passion for sports analytics and gaining

insightful knowledge from him regarding the basketball scenario in US. The most important

thing he told me was that making it somewhere in the sports industry requires one to treat

their stepping stones well and learn from it. He mentioned to me that there a lot of people

who dream to work in the sports industry but it’s not always possible to get that dream job

just straight out of college. He mentioned that it’s important to seek opportunities and go

and learn from it. It’s these opportunities which would keep making me grow. He also

taught me another very important element during our talks which is to take defeats in a

positive manner. For him starting this camp and helping out so many young kids with their

dreams didn’t happen overnight. There were a lot of hurdles in the way but he kept taking

them in a positive way and created this successful camp.