SAM 6260.01: Sport Event Management and Planning
Spring 2015
Dr. Peetz & Dr. Shin
This course was designed for students to gain knowledge of the principles and procedures necessary for planning, organizing, leading and evaluating events related to the sport industry. We also examined promotions, marketing, financing, contracts and risk management plans as they pertain to event management. Our main objectives in this course were to put on two events as a class, a Special Olympics basketball tournament hosted by Belmont University and a golf tournament, which is put on each year by the second year MSA class. Unfortunately, the Special Olympics tournament was cancelled and rescheduled at another facility, however, the entire class worked together to put on the golf tournament.
I came into this course with a strong background in the field as I have an undergraduate degree in recreation, parks and tourism with a specialization in event management. Further, I worked with the Nashville Predators as an events assistant and saw events from a professional sports and entertainment lens at Bridgestone Arena. I also worked as an event coordinator with the University of Florida Alumni Association although these events were more geared towards reaching higher education initiatives. I have also previously worked to put on events for non-profts. That said, I was excited to increase my knowledge of events in the sports world.
The class was divided into committees in order to disperse the responsibilities of putting on such a large scale event including marketing, operations, awards and appreciation, hospitality and signage. Each group was responsible for carrying out a number of tasks discussed as the class began and we would benchmark progress throughout the semester. As a member of the marketing team, we were responsible for all of the marketing and communications including reaching out to sponsors, updating the social media pages and general community outreach.
Prior to the day of the tournament, I reached out to the university and student marketing team regarding marketing and promotional initiatives for the event. I also coordinated with the directors and graphic designer in the Department of Fitness and Recreation regarding the creation of a digital marketing flyer. Along with these team contributions, I obtained one sponsor and two teams of four players each.
Our group worked together well and evenly divided responsibilities. We met consistently after class and kept in communication via text and e-mail regarding social media updates, university marketing and additional sponsorship objectives. I feel that Kt, Molly and I evenly carried the work load and although we evenly divided responsibilities with Ted as well, it took him quite a while to get our Facebook and Twitter running.
The best part of the event to me was the customer service provided throughout the event. That includes at check in, the hospitality group carrying the clubs to individuals’ carts and those classmates that drove around the course to deliver drinks and snacks. It’s great having Special Olympics athletes there and I heard that the participants enjoyed playing the hole with the athletes. I think that adds a special touch to the event as the participants can see those athletes that they are supporting. Not only were we able to use our work in this class to benefit a special cause, but also see a large group of people come together for a common goal.
SAM 6050: Legal Aspects of Sport
Spring 2015
Dr. Peetz
The purpose of this course was to help us understand the breadth and significance of the legal processes that affect sport. It incorporated aspects of legal processes affecting the sport profession including negligence law, property law, criminal law and institutional law. It is important to understand the foundations of the legal system and law as it pertains to cases in sport in order to apply the appropriate actions and risk management plans as sport managers ourselves.
The most important aspect of working in sport is to keep individuals safe. As managers whether we are working for a venue, planning an event, training athletes or managing professionals, proper risk management plans and planning must be in place. When working in sport, safety has to be on the mind of everyone involved. But ultimately it is the sport supervisor who needs to make sure the situation is safe. It’s important to know and check your surroundings before participating in physical activity. It’s also important to educate your participants. Quality instruction regarding sport rules and potential safety issues needs to be addressed with participants before they start the sport activity.
For this reason, I decided to complete my final brief on legal liability in campus recreation specifically as an area that I plan to pursue. It is important for campus recreation managers specifically to know what actions they can be taking in order to eliminate their risk. Although cases have been examined in which universities have been held liable and those that have not, the circumstances in which each case falls under seems fair according to the court’s ruling. It is best to have a lawyer or legal professional review any risk management procedures and documents when creating a plan to handle these scenarios.
As always, it is better to be prepared for scenarios that have a small chance of happening rather than being unprepared if the situation were to arise. Additional means of protection include “…guidelines, plans, forms, insurance, responsibilities of directors to prevent risks, health prescreening procedures, CPR and first aid certifications, automatic external defibrillator (AED) training, methods of communication, security, and employee matters related to the facility. This complements the risk management procedures that we talked about in the event planning course.
Spring 2015
Dr. Peetz & Dr. Shin
This course was designed for students to gain knowledge of the principles and procedures necessary for planning, organizing, leading and evaluating events related to the sport industry. We also examined promotions, marketing, financing, contracts and risk management plans as they pertain to event management. Our main objectives in this course were to put on two events as a class, a Special Olympics basketball tournament hosted by Belmont University and a golf tournament, which is put on each year by the second year MSA class. Unfortunately, the Special Olympics tournament was cancelled and rescheduled at another facility, however, the entire class worked together to put on the golf tournament.
I came into this course with a strong background in the field as I have an undergraduate degree in recreation, parks and tourism with a specialization in event management. Further, I worked with the Nashville Predators as an events assistant and saw events from a professional sports and entertainment lens at Bridgestone Arena. I also worked as an event coordinator with the University of Florida Alumni Association although these events were more geared towards reaching higher education initiatives. I have also previously worked to put on events for non-profts. That said, I was excited to increase my knowledge of events in the sports world.
The class was divided into committees in order to disperse the responsibilities of putting on such a large scale event including marketing, operations, awards and appreciation, hospitality and signage. Each group was responsible for carrying out a number of tasks discussed as the class began and we would benchmark progress throughout the semester. As a member of the marketing team, we were responsible for all of the marketing and communications including reaching out to sponsors, updating the social media pages and general community outreach.
Prior to the day of the tournament, I reached out to the university and student marketing team regarding marketing and promotional initiatives for the event. I also coordinated with the directors and graphic designer in the Department of Fitness and Recreation regarding the creation of a digital marketing flyer. Along with these team contributions, I obtained one sponsor and two teams of four players each.
Our group worked together well and evenly divided responsibilities. We met consistently after class and kept in communication via text and e-mail regarding social media updates, university marketing and additional sponsorship objectives. I feel that Kt, Molly and I evenly carried the work load and although we evenly divided responsibilities with Ted as well, it took him quite a while to get our Facebook and Twitter running.
The best part of the event to me was the customer service provided throughout the event. That includes at check in, the hospitality group carrying the clubs to individuals’ carts and those classmates that drove around the course to deliver drinks and snacks. It’s great having Special Olympics athletes there and I heard that the participants enjoyed playing the hole with the athletes. I think that adds a special touch to the event as the participants can see those athletes that they are supporting. Not only were we able to use our work in this class to benefit a special cause, but also see a large group of people come together for a common goal.
SAM 6050: Legal Aspects of Sport
Spring 2015
Dr. Peetz
The purpose of this course was to help us understand the breadth and significance of the legal processes that affect sport. It incorporated aspects of legal processes affecting the sport profession including negligence law, property law, criminal law and institutional law. It is important to understand the foundations of the legal system and law as it pertains to cases in sport in order to apply the appropriate actions and risk management plans as sport managers ourselves.
The most important aspect of working in sport is to keep individuals safe. As managers whether we are working for a venue, planning an event, training athletes or managing professionals, proper risk management plans and planning must be in place. When working in sport, safety has to be on the mind of everyone involved. But ultimately it is the sport supervisor who needs to make sure the situation is safe. It’s important to know and check your surroundings before participating in physical activity. It’s also important to educate your participants. Quality instruction regarding sport rules and potential safety issues needs to be addressed with participants before they start the sport activity.
For this reason, I decided to complete my final brief on legal liability in campus recreation specifically as an area that I plan to pursue. It is important for campus recreation managers specifically to know what actions they can be taking in order to eliminate their risk. Although cases have been examined in which universities have been held liable and those that have not, the circumstances in which each case falls under seems fair according to the court’s ruling. It is best to have a lawyer or legal professional review any risk management procedures and documents when creating a plan to handle these scenarios.
As always, it is better to be prepared for scenarios that have a small chance of happening rather than being unprepared if the situation were to arise. Additional means of protection include “…guidelines, plans, forms, insurance, responsibilities of directors to prevent risks, health prescreening procedures, CPR and first aid certifications, automatic external defibrillator (AED) training, methods of communication, security, and employee matters related to the facility. This complements the risk management procedures that we talked about in the event planning course.