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Career Plan

Ethan Soto

Department of Recreation and Sport Management

RSM 396: Orientation to Internship

Dr. Chelsea Kaunert-Whiteman

September 8, 2023
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Industry Segment

Within the Sport and Recreation world there are hundreds of jobs that are available to a

ton of candidates coming out of college as well as candidates that have been in the field for

years. Within the industry the segment that appeals to me the most is Sport Performance, and

more specifically than that I would say team administration. I would enjoy working in this

segment of the sport and recreation industry because I prefer a very hands-on style of work and

the team administration field within recreation and sport offers me that opportunity.

Within the team administration part of recreation and sport there are a variety of jobs that

provide the opportunity for hands- on work. Some of these potential jobs include being a coach,

an instructor, a referee, an athletic director, and working with professional teams.

Dream Job

My personal dream job since I’ve started my study in college has been to become an

athletic director at either the high school or collegiate level, but preferably the collegiate level.

My former athletic director at my high school took the path of becoming an assistant coach for

our high school lacrosse team as well as a gym teacher. He ultimately climbed the ladder from

there until he reached the role of athletic director. I personally would like to take a similar route

as I too enjoy working with young athletes as I grew up an athlete my whole life.

The path to becoming an athletic director ultimately starts with having a degree in the

recreation and sport management field, which I am currently working towards. According to my

old high school athletic director you must also have a teaching certification, so I would need to

acquire that as well along my path to becoming an athletic director. I would lastly have to put

myself in a position where I could become a coach for a local high school team and hopefully
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acquire a job through the school as well, where I can work my way up to becoming the athletic

director of the school's athletic programs.

Where to Start

In order to start, I would need to be able to find myself an entry level position into the

high school or collegiate level athletics world. This can mean that I could start out as an assistant

coach for a high school or collegiate level program and attempt to work my way up as a coach of

a program and be able to network with other programs while doing so. Ultimately, I would have

to come out of college with my Recreation and Sport Management degree, and then attempt to

complete an internship with a school or other sports facility to try and gain basic understanding

of how athletic systems work as a whole. From there, I will have to try and gain actual work

experience as a coach as previously stated or try and work as an unpaid coaching assistant for a

short amount of time.

Professional Contacts

My first professional contact is Matt Munnelly. He is the Senior Associate Athletic

Director at the Naval academy and also the ticket operations and summer sports camps director.

My second professional contact is Matthew Skrenchuk. He is the head baseball coach of

Broadneck High school and is also currently employed there as a teacher.

My third professional contact is Matthew Johnson. He is currently an assistant coach and

recruiting coordinator for the University of Saint Joseph’s baseball team.

My fourth professional contact is Kevin Necessary. He is currently employed as the

athletic director of Broadneck High School.

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My fifth professional contact is John Poss. He is currently the head baseball coach at

Wilson College.

Timeline

Over the next four months, there are a multitude of things I will be doing in order to try to

set me on the path to become a full-time employee within the recreation and sport industry.

Firstly, I will manage to find a full-time internship for my next semester of college. This will be

the first step in me gaining experience within the field. Secondly, I will attempt to reach out to

my professional contacts to try and discuss potential opportunities for me to come and work for

them after I have completed my internship following the spring of 2024. I will also fully

complete my resume and attach all of my completed coursework/activities into my Eportfolio in

order to start applying for jobs and communicate with potential employers as well.