Internship Comprehensive Report Outline

Hagerstown Suns
Megan Gatsos
January 12th April 30th 2015

Acknowledgements
This internship has been an amazing opportunity that I am proud to have been a part of for
this semester. I have learned a lot over the course of the internship and I am still learning every
day. It has really made a difference going into the field to make me realize what I would really
like to pursue in the world of sports. I have gotten a lot of hands on experience that I never
thought I would get to have when I first came into this. I have a better understanding of what
goes into the sports field and I hope to take that with me into the future.
I want to thank the Hagerstown Suns for providing me with the internship. It has been a
great opportunity and I am glad I got to be a part of it this year. The staff was very welcoming
from the start and made me feel a part of the team since day one. They have liked my ideas and
have always encouraged me to keep coming up with different ways to help out with every aspect
of the company. I have helped in assisting with projects throughout the semester and they have
also put me in charge of a couple of different projects as well which has helped me to grow and
to realize what I am capable of.
Lastly, I want to thank Dr. Kendig for being my support system not just through the
internship, but throughout my whole college career. She has helped me out in so many ways and
has always been there to answer every question I may have. She has helped guide me into the
college student I liked to be and has made my four years special.

Table of Contents
Student Objectives.4
Community Description5
Agency Description6
Special Project: Suns Kids Club7&8
Recommendations..9

Student Objectives
1. Get experience working in the sports marketing field. Learn about planning, implantation,
and evaluations of different events.
2. To become successful in the sports marketing, communications, management field.
3. To uphold the values of the company and self-values for my future career.
4. Learn about the daily routines of what goes on in the sports reporting field and the
processes.
5. Keep being involved in assisting or planning of events.
6. Work on leadership skills while part of the company.

Description of Hagerstown, MD
The Hagerstown Suns are a Minor League Baseball team based in Hagerstown, Maryland.
The team plays in the South Atlantic League and is a Class A affiliate of the Washington
Nationals. The Suns play at Municipal Stadium, which opened in 1930 and seats about 4,600
fans. Municipal Stadium is one of the three oldest Minor League baseball stadiums in the
country.
In 1995, improvements to the stadium were made such as the installation of new seats,
upgrading the VIP section to include cup holders, the sunset grille where fans and sit and eat
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while watching the game, and a bar area. During the 2010 season, the playing surface was
renovated. An updated video board was installed in 2011. As of this season it has been
confirmed that the Suns will stay in Hagerstown through the 2016 season.
Other attractions besides the baseball stadium in Hagerstown includes the Outlet Mall
located about two miles from the baseball field. They have many different outlet stores
including womans clothing, mens clothing, childrens clothing, and a food court. There are also
different restaurants around the area such as Jimmy Johns, Cancun Cantina, and Rockys Pizza.

Agency Description
Although the Suns is a small baseball affiliate of the Nationals, they do have a full time
staff that works every day to make sure that everything is ready for the players when they return
for the next season. We have a staff of eight full time employees that each have a different role
in working for the Suns. Chris Easom is the General Manager for the team and he overlooks
everyones role in working for the Suns. He is also in charge of communicating with the
Nationals about any player moves going on throughout the season. Bob Bruchey is the assistant
General Manager and assists Chris being in charge of directing of sales. Ashley Bowling is the
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game day promotions manager and overlooks any game day events and promotions taking place
throughout the season.
Andrew Houston is the director of food and beverage at the stadium and making deals
with different restaurants around the area to see if they would like to have their food sold at the
stadium. Brian Saddler is the head groundskeeper who has interned with the Nationals and he is
in charge of taking care of the field before and after games. Eli Pearlstein is the director of
broadcasting and media relations throughout the season and reporting on different stories of
players such as trades or injuries. Brice Ballentine is the box office manager and ticket
operations and overlooking sales of tickets for season ticket holders, general public, and local
companies. Shane Ganley is the group sales coordinator who overlooks the booking of events
such as a local outing for businesses or birthday parties.

Special Project: Suns Kids Club

For my special project this semester, I was in charge of the planning and creating of the
Kids Club events going on this season. The Suns Kids Club is a program for children thirteen
years or younger around the Hagerstown area where they can be an official member of the Kids
Club. In the past the club has usually had about 40 members, but this year our goal is to reach
around 60-70 members. With being part of the Kids Club, kids get free admission to all home
games, discount at the team store, free t-shirt and membership card, and they get to play catch on
the field on Sundays.

At the beginning of the year, I was in charge of getting in contact with past members and
renewing their membership for the kids club. To register parents fill out a form that I created that
has the childs information such as birthdate, shirt size, age...etc. On the bottom of the form is an
area for the parents to put down their credit card information since it is $15.00 to register. They
give me back the filled out form and I will get that processed into our system with our ticket
manager, Brice to make sure they are set with their membership cards.
There are two Kids Club mini clinics that I have been in charge of planning. A mini clinic is
where Kids Club members will get to come to the stadium and learn baseball techniques with the
Suns players. We have a mini clinic on June 13th where kids will take batting practice with the
team and learn about different hitting techniques. They will also learn different throwing and
catching techniques. The second mini clinic will take place on August 8th and the kids will take
on the field practice with the players and learn sliding techniques.
I would say that the project has been completed successfully. We were able to get a lot of
kids to register with us before the season started and throughout the season more kids are
allowed to register. We completed our goal of getting sponsorships for the Kids Club such as
Sheetz, Jersey Mikes, and Base Hits who was in charge of designing our Kids Club shirts for this
season. We were able to get in contact with players and coaches about our upcoming events to
make sure they would be available to host the clinic for the kids. If I had to make any
improvements, I would try to find a way to let the Kids Club members get more merchandise
besides just a t-shirt. I am not sure with budgeting if we would be able to accommodate that, but
maybe it would be cool if the kids could get a Kids Club drawstring bag with the Suns logo on it
or a Kids Club hat.

Recommendations
The internship this semester has been a really amazing experience that I am glad I got to be a
part of. I cannot think of any recommendations I would have for them. I have felt a part of the
team since day one and everyone has been really welcoming and wanting me to help them in any
way. I have not only gained work experience, but also friendships. I have gained confidence in
myself after working here and I feel like I would be able to pursue a job in sports. It does have
its tough times, which I have seen first-hand, but it is a cool atmosphere to work in. You network
with so many different people that you never thought you would get to meet such as certain
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players or coaches or the owner of the Suns and his marketing department. I have met a lot of
people out of doing this internship and that has been an amazing experience.
In terms of recommendations of Shepherd, I do believe that the final presentation of what we
have done with our internship and what we learned is a good idea since that shows what other
students have been up to this semester and it shows the advisor how much we have learned.
However, I do believe that the weekly report sheets and can sometimes be a little too much. I
think instead of having to do weekly reports and getting the supervisor to comment every time, I
think that we should just take the responsibility of checking in with our advisor via email to just
give a quick update on how we have been doing and calculating hours on our own. Sometimes it
is hard to remember to fill out a weekly report on top of having other tasks to do with the
internship.