This was my last and most busy week of my internship. I was home for Thanksgiving Break, and Next Level was only closed on Thanksgiving Day so I got to spend a lot of time around the facility. I did all my normal duties but just worked on more days. I am having the time of my life here, and even though my internship time is complete I will continue interning in December for my own personal benefit. I can not even begin to describe my gratitude to Kevin Blankenship and the Next Level family for all that they have done for me. I am leaving here a College Coach, and have had three different job offers while being here. I hope that I continue to be apart of Next Level Fitness for many years to come.
I am so lucky to have started this internship and to have been able to work with players that truly value the work I put into making them become better players. I am really starting to make a name for myself, and am having to turn away clients because I simply do not have enough time to fit anymore clients in until the end of the semster. I still have regular duties around the gym like cleaning up weights, and watching the front desk but I am spending most of my time doing film analysis and training hitters and infielders. I also started working with my brother this week, and am trying to mentor him in the game of baseball as well as helping him select the right college to play at next year. I have more exciting news about my future. I recently received yet another job offer for this upcoming summer. One of the elite summer travel teams in my area has offered me the assistant coaching position on their team. I am beyond excited about this opportunity and it is going to be a tough decision between staying at home and going to Saskatoon this summer. I guess in life when it rains it really does pour. I had spent this entire semester trying to find a job as a coach, and until last week had not beein able too. I recieved my first job at a University and thought life couldn't get any better until earlier this week I got a phone call from my old Coach in Saskatoon. I was lucky enough this past summer to play in one of the top college baseball leagues in the world. It is called the Western Major Baseball League and it is a top notch league where some of the best amateur players from all over the United States and Canada come to play. My Coach called me to inform me that he was taking over as General Manager of the team, and then informed me that Logan Clewesy was going to be the head Coach. I congratulated him and he told me Logan wanted to talk to me. Logan was the pitching Coach last year and his family is the family I stayed with during my time in Saskatoon. He called me and told me that he would love it if I would be the assistant Coach. There are many perks to this job and I am strongly considering doing that this summer. As far as my internship for this week it has been going very well. I have been mostly shadowing Kevin, and working on film analysis of the players I work with. I have also started doing analysis on professional hitters in order to extend my knowledge of the game and to be the best Coach I can possibly be. I got a job!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This entire experience has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. During this time period I have emailed over a 100 college programs all over the country trying to se eif any of them needed a coach. It was very hard because the year is already halfway done and it seemed like nobody needed a coach. Out of all the schools I emailed I probably only recieved 50 responses and out of those 50 responses only 4 were interested. It was so hard hearing no from so many people, because I thought my accolades as a player would have made it easier for me to get a job. It was also hard just being rejected in general. However, over the past weeks I interviewed over the phone with those four colleges and all of them were interested, but said I would have to wait until next season to begin my coaching career. However, I recieved a call from Otterbein's head coach asking if I could come in for an interview. I was beyond nervouse for the interview but I went in their and nailed it. He told me two days later that I got the job and that I would be officially on the Otterbeing Coaching Staff starting in January! This is a perfect place for me to start and I can't explain how excited I am. This week I only had to work with Elliot because Sam also plays soccer at Gahanna Licoln High School and he had his banquet on Tuesday night. I could tell Elliot had been working hard on his own because his swing looked awesome. I noticed a few things he still had to work on and he corrected them instantly. His dad was there to see the session and was amazed at Elliot's progress. His dad walked up to me afterwards and told me how much fun Elliot was having and at how well he thought I was doing. I can't even put into words how much this meant to me. It is one thing to be doing what you love, but to know that your being successful and other people recognize that is as amazing of an honor as anything. I had such a passion for the game when I was a player and I miss playing the game more than anything in the world, but the passion I have for coaching is just as extreme and I can't wait to start my future as a college coach. On the left is a picture of Elliot during our session. Kevin told me I was in for a suprise, and to make sure that I came in on Saturday. This week just dragged along and I had completely forgot about something cool happening on Saturday. I absolutely love this internship, and working with young baseball players is such a passion for me, but it is so hard balancing all of that and staying on top of my academics at the same time. I know that this industry is what I will be in for the rest of my life it is just a bunch of work while I am at school. So when Saturday rolled aorund I was exhausted and ready to leave but Kevin told me to stay a little longer. All of the sudden a bunch of camera crews came into the facility and I was just trying to figure out whats going on and all of the sudden Donald Brown walked in. For those of you who do not know Donald Brown was the first round draft choice last year of the Indianpolis Colts, and their starting running back. I was now star struck for the second week in a row. I tried to stay professional since I was an employee and did not ask for a picture, but I now regret it. However, my little brother was there and got a picture with Donald. This immedietly raised my spirits and was just a reminder of how great the world of sports is. I am really starting to feel comfortable around the rest of the staff at Next Level. It is a weird dynamic because there are very few people on staff that actually work for Next Level. Most of the people making money there are personal trainers that pay kevin to use the gym. However, I am starting to become comfortable around them and as a result I am learning a lot more. For example this week I got the honor of watching Butch Reynolds train sprinters. Butch is an ex olympian runner for the United States. Just getting to sit next to him was an honor, and I was kind of star struck to be honest. I also am learning strength exercises from some of the other trainers. Trainers are very willing to tlak to you about what they belief, because weight lifting and fitness in general is based a lot on what an individual believes. What I mean by this is that there isn't one exact way that everyone should work out, so different trainers believe different things and by talking to people about their beliefs they get a sense of satisfaction. I love it because I get to hear all the different ideas from all of these professionals, and I am learning a ton. This week was much better from the stress standpoint. As I previously stated I now have two regular clients, Elliot and Sam. This week Elliot had a family event on Tuesday which is the day I hit with him, so I called him to talk about his swing and how he was doing practicing on his own. After that I then went to the facility to work with Sam. To the left is a picture of Sam that I took from my video camera. I am getting very comfortable with the video analysis now. Same progressed a lot this week and I am starting to get the emotional benefits of teaching the game of baseball as well as the financial benefits. The rest of the week was relatively simple. For the most part I just shadowed Kevin and watched him do speed and agility training with high school athletes that ranged from age 7-18. The excitement has started to wear off just a little bit. I was so ecstatic to get real clients, but I had no idea how much work I would have to do. The actual instruction is very fun, however the video analysis afterwards and the results I have to do take a long period of time. I have to watch the video, then take a picture where the player is in an important hitting position, then put the pictures on a words document, and finally I have to draw red and yellow lines where the player is doing good and bad. This entire video process takes at least two hours for every hour hitting session I do. This is very hard to keep up with when I my school work is also kicking into full gear. The good/bad part also is they bought ten sessions, which means I received a good paycheck but also have to do this for the next ten weeks. This week was by far the most exciting week I have had so far. Kevin has known me for a while now and has given me the OK to start spreading my wings a little bit. Since I can't actually train athletes like he does, because I just do not have enough knowledge, he has given me the freedom to teach baseball two out of the three days I come in and the other I will still shadow him. We also discussed a schedule where he knows I will be there at least every Tuesday, Saturday, and Sunday and if he needs me on other days I will try and be there. The other exciting thing is both of the hitters I worked with last week: Elliot and Sam purchased 10 more hour hitting sessions! With the money I earned I also went out and bought I video camera so I can video tape my players hitting and show them what areas they can approve on or what areas they are doing well. I also received two more in-fielders that want to work with me on Saturday's! I'm so excited to now have a set schedule and clients for personal instruction. |
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