Overall Experience

Overall, I love my internship. I was able to do something I love an be apart of something that means a lot to me. I learned a lot about my own abilities as well as things I never really knew about myself. During field hockey camp I learned something vital that will stay with me for the rest of my life; in order to make yourself comfortable, you have to be willing to be uncomfortable because that's the only way to become comfortable. This stayed with me and will continue to because it made me realize that although things can be uncomfortable, you have to be willing to risk that in order I learn something new. 

My mentor was not only my mentor, but she was my coach and my friend. She helped me with things that I didn't quite understand. This internship opened up my eyes to how much she sacrifices for this program; not because she has to, but because it is something that she cherishes and something, I believe, she will continue to cherish for the rest of her life. 

I realized that I would be interested in coaching some day because you create bonds with people that cannot be broke as well as memories that will never be forgotten. I highly recommend my internship site with Mrs. McCormick because you end up learning a lot about yourself in the process, as well as what it takes to create a successful season. 

I Admire You.

Being a field hockey player myself, I never really realized how much goes into a season and how much work my coach has to do. As my coach and now my mentor, I see and recognize how much you do for us girls and I want to say thank you. I know how passionate you are about this program and how hard you try to make everything the best for every player. 

You create numerous opportunities for every girl on the team and half of them don't even realize that. They take it for granted and don't realize how much time and effort you put in for us. But I just want to say I recognize everything you do and I want to thank you. 

Who knew?

I learned a lot about myself during my internship. Things I never really noticed but now looking back, I can see that I've always been this way. I absolutely love organizing things and taking initiative in setting up a system for how things work. This is a great strength that I have always had as a person, although I never really noticed. 

To me, it strange that I would live organizing and planning so much. Having a system and a way of doing something is crucial to me and without those aspects, things can't run efficiently. 

This was probably my favorite thin about my internship because that's all I did. I planned, organized, set up systems and ways of doing things. Who knew I loved organizing so much! 

Every Aspect Counts

Schedules are the most important part of a sports season. Without a schedule, nothing is clear. Not only did I do Monterey high's season schedule, but I had to double check all of the games of every school to make sure that each school played each other twice. No more, no less!  I had to look at every aspect of the schedule and create my own sheet to make sure that nothing was wrong. 

As well as doing the overall schedule, I created the schedule for just Monterey High. Because the original schedule was hard to follow, I had to be constantly aware of the schedule as well as having to double check that I didn't duplicate, or even miss, any games.  

In creating any schedule or spreadsheet of any kind, one must take into consideration everything that needs to be included. Double checking and being aware are the key factors into creating an organized form or schedule. 

Taking the Initiative

The most important part of the entire season is the conditioning aspect of it. That's the time where all the girls get whipped into shape so they're not out of breathe when playing games. Not only is conditioning important, but stretching is also important to every player. If you don't stretch properly, you can't play to your best abilities; and with all the conditioning, stretching is a must. 

As a player, I know what I would like to do in the beginning of season in regards to stretching and conditioning so I took the initiative in planning different stretching activities as well as conditioning drills that would not only benefit myself but every person on the team. I came up with different stretching drills that I know would help the soreness as well as different conditioning drills that would benefit players when the season actually started! It was fun and challenging at the same time!  

It's Season Time!

I attended the League meeting that is held every year within the county where all of the coaches and athletic directors of each school attend as well.  This is where they go over all of the expectations of every sport overall and thank all the coaches for what they do.  After everyone is all together in this big room, all of the coaches split up into rooms with the sport in which they coach.  Although at first we couldn't find our room at Palma High, we finally found it after going into a complete circle.  It was quite confusing.  But after we figured it out all of the coaches sat down together and got to work!
The coaches that attended came from Notre Dame, Christopher, York, Carmel, North Salinas, Catalina, Stevenson and of course Monterey High school.  The first thing that was addressed at this meeting was any rules that were changed and any questions that should be addressed about those rule changes.  After this, we had to go over the schedule and make sure that all of the games were correct and change any dates that weren't.  Oh boy did we change that schedule! All of the games had to accommodate with all of the other schools schedules including their fall break.  That was the biggest issue.  My mentor was the one making sure that all of the games were correct, reading them off one by one in order, and if one was not, she would fix it.  Her paper was filled with notes due to all the game changes! It was absolutely crazy! Everything went smoothly with each of the coaches as it seemed that everyone had already established the changes being made.  This was the main part of the entire meeting and I just sort of observed and helped my mentor with whatever she had missed being said.
This schedule mishap took a good thirty to forty-five minutes to do.  After this, they just talked about scrimmages and if they should change their end of the year meeting they do.
This meeting made me realize how much work my mentor has to do and how much everything goes into making a season run.  All of these coaches I admire because of all the hard work they do.  It's season time! Finally!

Clashing Schedules!

A bit of mix up with the season's field hockey schedule and Monterey Highs schedule caused myself and my mentor a bit of stress! It so happens that we believed that our fall break was a week later than it actually was, so we accidentally scheduled two games during Monterey High's fall break! Because of this, I had to contact two schools, in order to move the dates of the games that had already been scheduled.
My mentor and I worked together to make sure that we could reset those dates as soon as we could! A little worry is good for the soul right?  They were completely understanding and although it took a while to get everything settled, it all worked out for the best!

You Can Do It!

 A week before school started, the team, as well as myself, were in charge of making posters to post around the school so that when the freshmans walked around, the would see all of the amazing posters and would want to join!
One of the girls on the team is an amazing artist and she created a free handed sketch of the famous "Rosie the Riveter" You Can Do It propaganda poster.  She even did it all in crayon! It was the most creative thing to put on a recruiting poster for field hockey.  Not only does it represent historical importance of America, but it draws people in through its creativeness.
Because this poster was so spectacular, my mentor, Mrs. McCormick wanted to make copies of it so that she would always have it.  This became a little difficult because the poster was one inch off from what all of the copy places were able to copy.  So I had to go into Copy King and this amazing woman was very helpful and told me what she could do was create it as a photo image and then print it without any additional charge!
Now, we have plenty "Rosie the Riveter" posters for the rest of the field hockey program at Monterey High!

Communication is Key

During my internship, I used emails and technology more than anything.  With excel spreadsheets, maxpreps.com website, and emailing those who help this program, I felt comfortable using technology as our type of communication during this internship.
One type of communication I had to make was with the photographer that takes the programs field hockey team pictures every year.  Although there was a bit of mix up, when i contacted him once more to see if he was able to change the date, he was completely understanding and polite.  Not only did I had to email the photographer in order to set dates, I also had to email two coaches in order to ensure that the schedule was okay. The other form of communication that I used during my internship was phone calls just to ensure that the work was done right and communicate with others  that contributed to this program.
These types of communication I have used through out my internship are all vital forms and communicating has been crucial to making sure that the season will run smooth or not.

What can I say !

A personal high light during my internship is hard to say.  I absolutely love my internship as well as my mentor.  Not only is she my mentor, but she is my coach as well.  She is an amazing person and I am so lucky that my mentor is someone who I trust and have a good relationship with! She even brings me cupcakes! How awesome is that! I never expected that; one day she just showed up with cupcakes and I have to say, I was utterly happy!
The best part is being able to be a part of something I love; field hockey! To be able to see how everything works behind the scenes and being able to contribute to all that goes into this program has been the high light of my entire internship.  Although those cupcakes are delicious, being a part of something that means a lot to me is the most incredible thing.
I am so thankful that I have such an amazing mentor as well as having this opportunity of being involved in something so incredible!

Learning Something Useful

The past couple of days I have been doing less physical work and using the computer more. I've never really used xcel spreadsheet before. Using this type of technology gives me experience and allows me to be able to create spreadsheets for different occasions such as schedules, organizing payments, or keeping track of players. Mrs. McCormick has taught me so many useful programs that I know I will have to use in the future! 

We'll see what tomorrow brings !

Field Hockey Camp!!

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Last week, I had the privilege of being apart of Academy International. It was not only fun but an amazing opportunity as well. As we started our day, I set up all equipment needed for our drills and exercises such as cones, goal cages, sticks, etc.  I learned so much and became more aware of my own abilities as an athlete and how sometimes in situations you have to make yourself uncomfortable because that's the only way you will become comfortable. And I must say, at times I was very uncomfortable with doing a skill or a drill. But that made me realize I can do these things, I just have to work harder and accept the uncomfortableness that I may encounter in the process. I just want to thank my mentor for giving me this opportunity and thank Sue the instructor for helping me as an athlete. 

Yum Lunch!

Throughout my entire internship, I have been with my mentor every step of the way! She gives me something to do, and I do it! As simple as that!
The location of my internship is at Monterey High, so I usually work in the equipment closet or in her classroom in order to work with technology.  We spent a lot of time together and that was something I really enjoyed because she is a very fun person to be around!
One day, we went to lunch which was nice because we just talked about everything we needed to get done.  The season was coming up and we wanted to ensure everything was set in stone! It was a nice lunch and it was an awesome way to just sit down and figure out what was still needed to be done before the season started!

Yay Sticks!

INVENTORY! INVENTORY! INVENTORY!
Field Hockey sticks, kilts, jackets, balls, numbering, organizing and more sticks!
Where do I start! Inventory was interesting to say the least! It was awesome to organize everything that we keep in our field hockey equipment closet. This took me a couple of days just to make sure that everything was labeled and organized into their own designated location!
The kilts were the most time consuming due to the fact that I had to RE-LABEL every single number that was located on the kilt! But it was still nice because oddly enough I enjoy organizing.  I know, strange.
After I had finished that task, I moved on to the jackets that are  passed out to every player as well as the Play for the Cure jerseys. Counting, rechecking, and logging what we had was important!
The sticks were no different! Since those are also passed out to our players, those had to be labeled as well as repaired so that they were in good condition for the season and boy do we have a lot of sticks! (But you could never have too many field hockey sticks) As well as labeling everything and making sure nothing was missing, I also had to relabel every elephant back pack and organize them into bins by number.  Yes, I said elephant back packs. They are the most handy and adorable bags that are absolutely perfect, yet hard to explain!
Those physical tasks were very crucial to the program and also kind of peaceful for myself.  Although a lot of hard work and time, I was able to benefit the program and hopefully the field hockey closet stays organized!

Internship Objective

During this  internship, I would like to acquire leadership and organization skills as well as how to manage and control large groups and or situations.  I chose to select MHS Field Hockey as my 2014 internship because I believe it will help me to be more productive in stressful situations and also, this internship will allow me to have a lot of responsibility with managing a season, assisting in game scheduling and league responsibilities  and assisting with the facilitation of the YMCA Camp.  My mentor is Rosanna McCormick who is the coach of the MHS girls field hockey team as well as a league representative for field hockey.  I believe that this internship will be both challenging and fun because it's something that I love and care about.  I expect to gain a lot of knowledge with how things work when being in charge of something so important and obtaining the responsibilities come along with running a team.