10-2-19 The introduction 

    On October second Kelly and I had a sit down to discuss the detail of the mentorship for both her part as well as mine. Within this meeting, we went over the days and times that would be worked in order to complete the mentorship program. Thought this meeting we went over the details such as dress code, how to reach one another, and my overall goals for the mentorship. I then discussed with her that I was looking to further my education within athletics and in that hoping to learn the ins and outs of college athletics. The reason being that I had already completed an internship with a high school athletic director. In working with Kelly I am hoping to see what it would be like to work in college athletics as I already have a taste of high school. I really enjoyed the internship that I had previously completed an am hoping to enjoy this once just as much. While seeking to complete my mentorship hours I am looking to guide my decision on my future career path. After my internship, I am almost certain that I will be looking to work within a high school by Kelly assured me that a job in college athletics is fun, fast-paced, and really enjoyable. After our meeting, I was sure that this mentorship would be a fun learning experience that will have an effect on my future. 

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10-3-19  The first day 

    The first day was a bit slow as we tried to figure out a routine and how each other worked in their space. We then went over the things that would be completed and worked on by myself throughout the mentorship. On this day I learned that I would be in charge of keeping practice logs for the university in order. In doing this I was given the ability to email coaches of different programs to make sure that they were on track with their teams logs. The practice logs are a representation of the numbers of hours practiced each week by a player on each team. They are keep track of to ensure that teams are not violating NCAA practice hour requirements. The logs are a way to ensure that athletes are not being overworked whether they are in season or in the offseason. During the in-season and off-season, there is hour requirement that teams are required to be under for the week as the teams get closer to being in the season the hour's increase. While in the season there is also a limited number of contact hours that an athlete can have with his or her coach. Outside of the logs Kelly also spoke on different documents that I would work on for the NCAA, GMAC, and the Institution. Overall the day went well and fast as we were discussing the different opportunities that I would be able to work on thought the mentorship. 

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10-4-19 The Logs 

    Today I worked on sorting the logs that had been collected up to that date. As I worked through the logs on had I made a list of teams on campus that had missed a week or that have not started practice yet. Working through the list I had several teams that needed to turn in a few logs. So I had to become the bad guy right away and reach out to these coaches and let them know that they had been missing a few logs and needed to turn them in as soon as they could. But I used this time to introduce myself to the coaches and let them know that I had currently been put in charge of a few things. I was also able to let them know that I would be working with Kelly for the rest of the year and they may also be receiving other emails from me regarding other documents within athletics that we would need filled out. I think that this was a good opportunity to let most of the coaches know that I would be working in athletics that way when I emailed them later in the year they would not be wondering what I was doing asking about that. Today Kelly and I contented to learn more about each other and learned about her time at tiffin university. 

 

10-7-19 Getting to Know the Boss

    Like the last time, I worked with Kelly we got to talk about her time at tiffin as this will be her 23 year at Tiffin University. Within that athletic director Coach, Allen was in the office the next day and we got to talk about his time at Tiffin as well. He and Kelly had both been a part of Tiffin for over twenty years and know each other well. It was interesting to see their paths to their current jobs. Coach Allen started as a baseball coach here right out of college as he played at Tiffin himself. Kelly started as a worker in admission and found herself in the athletics office and never looked back. As they got to talking and sharing stories about their times here and how the transition from coaching to the athletic director and how well the athletics programs at Tiffin have changed for the better. He also then went on to discuss the transition from NAIA to Division II athletics and how it pushed us even further in the right direction. He believes that this is why we are currently in the position we are today with our athletics programs continuing to improve each year. Overall this was a great experience to hear and learn what they had to say about how they got to be the driving force for our school's athletics program. You could tell that they both had a deep passion for Tiffin University and would do anything in their power to point our programs in the right directions. Today was also the day I was nicknamed the Sheriff  

 

10-9-19    The Warden, Deputy, and Sheriff

    How I got nicknamed the sheriff I am still unsure but Coach Allen loved it and it stuck. Kelly also seemed to like the nickname and said that it fit with me and my job with the practice logs. They thought it was funny because I was the new individual in charge of cracking down on keeping the logs straight. So I had gone on and told them that if I was going to be the sheriff, then the needed nicknames and they were deemed to the warden and the deputy. All in good fun it is nice to see that these individuals are easy going and do not view themselves as better than one other because of their job title. It just went to show me that everyone is looking to enjoy their job and have a good time. Overall the way these two have brought Tiffin athletics to a rising star in division II athletics is amazing. It is nice to know that they would consider me to work beside them and help aid in that process in anyway possible. As being a Dragon myself I would like to see all of the sports programs compete for national titles and they try to do everything they can to see this happen as well. 

 

10-10-19 Another Day Another Experience 

    Today I was able to learn and work within the NCAA portal giving me access to work on different aspects of NCAA eligibility. The eligibility center allows for Kelly and myself to upload and see if athletes are eligible to compete in their respected sport. In doing this we are able to see what forms and documents that athletes are still needing to complete in order to play this season. We are also able to see if the athletes are completing all forms on their end and still needing a submission of transcripts or ACT scores. Once we see what these individuals are needing we relay the message to the athlete or take care of it on our end if we are able to. Overall this a simple task that allows us to work on eligibility quite easily. The NCAA eligibility center is easy to navigate through thus allowing for work to be done efficiently. In working with this system I was able to see how much work really went into making sure that athletes are able to compete. It gave me a new respect for the work that Kelly does a day in and day out. I never knew what Kelly did I just always seen her around at different games. But being able to learn and see first hand what she does every year is truly amazing. 

 

10-10-19 First Game 

    Today was my first time working a game within athletics as I was going to work with my supervisor and the athletic director. We worked the soccer game as the dragons played we worked on a few behind the scenes operations. While the Dragons defeated Ohio Dominican 4-1. While the dragons played I was able to learn a few things that Kelly does while at the game. We looked for a few times today as there are so many different things she looks for during the duration of the game. So she gave me a small list for the first game so today we started with greeting the officials and letting them know that we were the administrators at the game if a problem were to occur. After that, we walked to the sidelines and make sure that the individuals that are on the sidelines are supposed to be there. We then went to talk with the media personally and make sure that they all have passed. Overall this was a great experience to work with both administrators and see what they are required to do as administrators at games. As I continue to work with our school's administrators I continue to be even more grateful as I have learned more than I thought. 

 

10-11-19 Kelly Day to Day 

    As talked about above Kelly's workload is astounding as she works to get over 900 student-athletes eligible each season. As this has grown custom to her daily activity it is almost unheard of across the nation. It is, for this reason, I gained so much respect for her once I learned the true nature of the job. At almost every other school in the country that has this many student-athletes, they have multiple individuals that are working in their compliance office. At Tiffin, she is the only one working in our compliance office and does a great job getting the work done. The amount of work it takes to ensure that the teams are eligible is very misunderstood I think. It is not ensure thing that everyone is eligible there is so much more that goes into ensuring that all the boxes are checked. This included going back and double-checking all the boxes and being sure that they are good to go. Behind that as stated before the individuals that work in athletics truly care about each student and want to see them succeed in all levels of college. Therefore they make sure that their job has been done 100% ensuring that kids are not losing a season because they forgot to do something. Overall the job requirements for one individual to do this job are crazy and she does a great job getting it done. I think that one day I could see myself working in a position like so due to my great love for sports and my desire to help others succeed. 

 

10-16-19 Looking Into my Future

    Today I talked with Kelly and Lonny about where I could head with my degree and what I should look into. I have spent a lot of time thinking and thought that I would bounce some of my ideas off of them. For me, I think that there are three routes that I am looking to go with my future. To me, I would love to become an Athletic Director at a High School and grow with that district. In doing so my overall goal would be to help as many students get to college and play a sport they love. I think that with my background this would be a great opportunity for the students and myself. I would also like to coach at the college level as my main passion has always been track I would love to give back to the sport in the best way possible. I think that no matter what I will end up coaching at some point. The third route would be to become a College AD in doing this I would need to work my way through the ranks and that would start with being a track coach. As I have continued to look into my future Kelly and loony both had their opinions on what I could do. 

 

10-17-19 What Should I do 

As I gave my options to Kelly and Lonny they both agreed that at some point I will be coaching track. But before that, I need to figure out what route I need to go to achieve my personal goals. I love the idea of coaching track and field at the college level and it makes me excited for my future. Overall I think that the coaching track would translate easily to the other jobs that I would like to do. Both lonny and Kelly agreed with me and though that I would be a great opportunity for me to coach and see how far it would take me. Also in the end of coaching it would help me get a job as a High School Athletic director which I think this is my end goal. As I looked at Lonnys path to the Tiffin AD it was amazing how he went from the baseball coach to the AD. I would the opportunity to take over a high school or a college program and grown with them. But I think that both of these start with a career in coaching as so many individuals believe that coaching will teach you more than anything you have ever learned. 

 

10-18-19 Adding Up    

    Today I worked on updating team roster for a few different sports. While working on these it was a combination of Kelly and I communicating back and forth about these different athletes. When adding athletes to a specific team we are in communication with the teams coaches as they have reached out to us. When the reach out to us it is normal concerning the different types of information we need to add a kid to their roster. So they will normally supply us with their NCAA ID, Tiffin ID, and an email address. Along with they will sometimes supply different items of information that can be added through their profile like race, date of birth, and incoming freshman or transfer. Once we make our way through the list of new individuals now we need to send them NCAA compliance forms. These forms are basically your contract with the NCAA. So we need to go to another program and re-enter all of their information again and then send them these forms. This can sometimes be the hardest part because the forms take a while to be completed. But in order for the individuals to practice they need to be complete. So another thing we like to do is add the players and then send the coach an email saying their athletes need to finish these forms. The coaches always do a great job of getting on their players about completing them quickly. 

 

10/22/19 NCAA Conference Call

    Today I was able to sit in on a conference call that Kelly was a part of that went over the NCAA request list. This call had a checklist that they were going to work thought during the call that took around an hour. Kelly then provided me with a copy of the checklist so that I could follow along. Throughout the call I was able to hear about some new policies and agreements that the NCAA was considering. Within this call there was also a checklist that was required by Tiffin that needed to be completed. This being the NCAA request list which was very large and had many different items that needed to be completed and turned in. Because it was such a large list of different departments of the University were required to work on different sections. As they work on the different sections they then turned all of the information into the NCAA at the end. Just a few items that were on the list included, Provided a schedule as described in #12/13 for. Fringe benefits, provide a schedule of indirect cost rate and administrative support, provide a detail of travel and entertainment expenses and travel policy. These three are among a list that is over twenty items long. 

 

10/23/19 Roster additions

    As the year goes on we continue to have additions and losses to the schools athletic rosters. When this happens there is a pretty easy process that is involved in adding an individual to the roster and removing an athlete from a teams roster. Today I was given a list by all fall coaches that gave me the ability to go in and add kids to the sports roster. If a kid needs to be added to the roster we go in and add the student using their NCAA ID, school email, TU ID, respected sport, year of entrance. On the other side when a student-athlete leaves the sport we go in and mark them as quit. Both of these processes are put into place to make sure that the student-athletes NCAA clock is on track with their status at the university. This is good for the student-athletes that have quit the team as if they want to transfer or join another team the compliance office is aware of their status. Overall this a simple but time-consuming task as we normally need to communicate back and forth with the coaches throughout the day to make sure we have all the correct information.

 

10-24-19 Cleaning Out the Desk 

    Today was very tedious as I needed to clean up a lot of the papers that I had been working on for the past few weeks. The desk was becoming cluttered and I needed to clean it off to make room for new work. As I started to go through the two file boxes and the stack of papers it gave me time to reflect on how much I had done in the past few weeks. This reminded me of how much I have enjoyed my time working with Kelly. The amount of work that she gives me to do is great because it shows me the fast pace tempo that she is demanded every day. We come in go over a few things and get straight to work and that is what I like the most about this job. In my life I have always wanted to do something that is ever-changing and this job fits that perfectly. No matter what every day there is new things to do and work on and as some things are repetitive it always new information. A lot of the time she has to work on the fly and adjust her schedule to the information as it comes in. This is probably what I like the most about this environment because it always keeps you on your toes and makes for an exciting work environment. 

 

10-25-29 A Fresh Start

    The day after cleaning out the desk and start new! With few papers on my desk it is way easier to look at now when you come it. Before it was a big eyesore that did not make for a good start to the day! Today was a better start as the desk is cleaned and Kelly had a new task for me. In today's task I was asked to go through the NCAA transfer binder and clean out old names. In doing this I went through every individual request form and looked for dates of 16-17, in this I took out about so many names and papers that I could not believe. The amount of individuals that were looking to transfer in a two-year span blew my mind. But once this was done I filed the papers away so that if anyone were to need that information in the future we would have it on file. After that I went through the new names and papers that had been collected over the course of the year. Once I had them all spread out I had to put them in alphabetical order and then alphabetize them in the binder to match the current names that were already in there.  

 

10-27-19 Soccer at Home 

    Today I worked another home soccer game with Kelly as we watched the dragons fight a tough Lake Erie team. In the game, the Dragons played hard but came up just short as the Storm scored a goal late in the second period. As the Dragons played we went over the checklist that had been mentioned before. At the beginning of the game we introduced ourselves to the officials. After that, we talked with the head coach for the other team and let them know we were the administrators if a problem arose. Then we checked the sidelines to make sure that everyone that was on the field was supposed to be there. We then went up to the press box to ensure that sports information was up and running. They ensured us that they were all good and didn’t need anything. After that, we went to cheer on the Dragons as they fought hard and came up just short against the nationally-ranked Lake Erie Storm. Overall these experiences are great for myself as I get to experience first hand what it is like to work for the university as an Administrator. I hope one day I get the opportunity to run my own university and get to be a part of the success.  

 

10-29-19 Routine office day

    Today was just another day in the office nothing special was done today but some work was done. Throughout the day I received multiple practice logs and filed them away. Overall this was just another day in the office. Kelly gave me a overview of a conference call she was on and gave me the rundown on what the were going over. This was a GMAC call that went over a few new laws that the GMAC was voting on. Kelly let me in on a few things that happen during the conference call. She told me how they go about voting on the new laws or regulations. How many individuals that are needed to pass all depends on who is in the call. 

 

10-30-19 Conference Call 

Today we had the GMAC meeting that was gone over yesterday. This meeting was very informal kind of a get together to talk about upcoming events and how the past year went. This meeting was put together in the form of a phone call all of the fall coaches were on the call and participated in the conversations. Including how their individuals seasons went what they focused and didn’t focus on and other items along the lines of sports. I think that this is a very good idea for the GMAC conference to put together and understand what needs to be fixed. This recent expansion could make it hard for teams to feel welcome and a meeting like this allows for some nonformal interaction and for coaches and administrators to meet new faces. I am glad that Kelly allowed for me to tag hang out in the office and listen in on what was said. This allowed me to have a deeper understanding of what goes on during this type of GMAC confrere call. 

 

10-31-19 Slow Day
Today Kelly and I really were not in the work grove and she kinda let me have questions and answer day. We mainly talked a lot on the daily activities that she goes through and how her day goes. During this, she talked a lot about working on the fly and always being open to change. She said there is days that she will come in with a list of items to get done and he won't get to anything on the list because something else comes up that she needs to focus her time on. We then went on to talk about how to work with all the different sports that are involved in her job. I figured this would be a regular basis item for her and she said that its not a problem. I was honestly shocked but she said over the years she figured out a system that works to get all sports done. It was amazing to me because of the many individuals that are in sports at Tiffin. At other schools, there are so many different individuals that work in the compliance office alone. She does everything by herself and it is very impressive that the amount of work that other schools have five individuals or more she does it all. Overall she talks about how communication is key to any job. In her job it is especially key because she needs the coaches to be especially open and great communicators. When working on specific documents she needs to have a quick response from the respected sport.  

 

11-1-19 Talking Over Jobs 

    Lately I have been looking over different jobs on the NCAA marketplace and there are a few that have caught my eye. In doing this I wrote them down and talked them over with Kelly to figure out what I would need to get the job. My biggest problem that she points out is my lack of experience. With there being a big problem with experience she said I need to focus on how to make up for this problem. In the interview process she said I need to try and focus on my strengths but explain how I can work on my flaws. For me this would be focusing on what I can bring to the table. After that she focused on the jobs I was looking at in a compliance job, a coaching job, and a AD position. She said the AD position was almost out of the question because of a lack of experience or any work in the field. After that, she said the other two would defiantly be in in my cards and I should look for jobs in coaching or compliance in areas that I would love to work in. This was a great day because I was able to learn more about the ins and outs of the jobs I'm looking to get into. 

 

11-4-19 Working Working Working 

    Today has been a routine day Kelly and I went to work early and knocked some things out. We were able to just get straight to business and I started on a new project in filing away football tryouts. Although this may seem to be an easy task it defiantly in not and going to take a few days. In doing this I have about 10 files that I need to go through and put into alphabetical order. The reason behind this is the fact that the file needs to be created just in case the NCAA ever comes back for an audit on the school or the compliance office. As this task was tedious it needs to be done and done correctly. So as I knocked out about four files today it took up so much more time than I had thought it would. But as I move into tomorrow I am hoping that I am going to be able to knock out the task in two days as it is quite a bit of work. 

 

11-5-19 Another day on the Logs

    Coming in today I had one goal and that was to finish the tryout forms that I had started the day before. In doing this I knew that I had a lot of work ahead of me but it could defiantly get done. Overall this task was not hard but it was a lot of work to put everything in alphabetical order as there is about 8 days' worth forms or more. Overall this was a tough task that was more work than I thought it would be but I was able to get it done. As I completed this it took longer than expected. But it was a good workday and I defiantly felt accomplished for completing this as the day before I got only about half the amount completed. At the end of the day, I feel as if this is going to be the type of work that is being completed at any university or high school. There is going to be a lot of paperwork that needs to be understood and filed away in case of a problem that laters occurs. In doing this I am working with real situations that I think will most defiantly be dealt with no matter what job field I enter into. 

 

11-5-19 Soccer Game Double Overtime

    Today I worked another home soccer game with Kelly as we watched the dragons fight a tough Findlay team. In the game the Dragons played hard but came up just short as the game finished in a tie after two overtime periods. As the Dragons played we went over the checklist that had been mentioned before. At the beginning of the game we introduced ourselves to the officials. After that, we talked with the head coach for the other team and let them know we were the administrators if a problem arose. Then we checked the sidelines to make sure that everyone that was on the field was supposed to be there. We then went up to the press box to ensure that sports information was up and running. They ensured us that they were all good and didn’t need anything. After that we went to cheer on the Dragons as they worked to get the win and just could not capitalize as the game finished in a tie. Overall this was another great experience as I am getting more use to working games and understating the role that athletics plays. 

 

11-5-19 Volleyball Game Big Win

    It was a great day to be a dragon as the Volleyball team came up with a huge win over the Ashland Eagles. The dragons won the game three sets to one in what seemed to be a big upset for the eagles as they were nationally ranked. As the dragons caught fire quick and killed all of the eagles energy. As the dragons were doing a great job me and Kelly went over the checklist for volleyball games that is very similar to soccer games. This list involves introducing ourselves to the officials and letting them know where we are if a problem occurs. We then check with the scores table and make sure that they are ready to go for the game. As they usually are we move to the VIP lounge to watch over the game and make sure that no problems occur. As always it is a great honor to work with Kelly as she has helped me learn so many unique things that help overall education. I think that it is great to see the athletic side of things outside of what we do in the office. It is a very different atmosphere but we have the same goal. The goal being to create the greatest experience for our student-athletes and that is what we try and do every game. 

 

11-6-19 GMAC Conference Call

    Today I sat in on a conference call that was comprised of the Game Advisory committee. They went over many topics ranging from game-day experience to weather applications used across the conference. Overall the committee goes overs many different sections that have been outlined before the call this allows them to follow the agenda. As they go over the different sections the different individuals that are involved are able to provide their input and then they make motions from there on how they will move forward. Once again it was a great opportunity to be able to sit in on a call like this. It has once again allowed me to become more knowledgeable in so many aspects. I think that this will translate over nicely into whatever I do in sports whether it be coaching or administration. 

 

11-08-19 Resume Help

    Before today I always knew that my resume was not up to standards with my educational and athletic background. After today I can honestly say that I would be proud to present my resume to any employer that is looking for an individual in my field. I thought that it would be a great idea to task Kelly to look over my resume and make changes as she is involved with hiring new coaches when there is a position available. As she has looked over hundreds of resumes in her time at Tiffin I knew she would set me on the right path. There were a lot of suggestions made and a bunch of editing done throughout this process but in the end, it was all worth it. The best thing that she did for me showed me a few examples of great resumes that she had keep over the years because of how much she liked them. These gave me a great start on creating a new resume as I figured it would be easier to start from scratch than fix all the mistakes in my old resume. Overall this was another great opportunity that provided me with a lot of insight into what individuals like herself look for in a candidate. It is very unique how every individual looks for different things when hiring. 

 

11-09-19 Working the Football Game 

    I never would have guessed that I would be working the football game alongside the AD Lonny Allen. Today was a long cold day that started to bring and early at 9 am Saturday morning. As I had morning practice before this I knew today was going to be a long one. The team played Hillsdale today and it was scheduled to be a tough game but the Dragons were able to pull off a victory on the team's senior day. As the Dragons warmed up Lonny and I went to work as we had a lot to do before kick-off even started. To start off our first activity was to meet with the officials and make them aware of the admin rep for the game and where their locker rooms would be. After that, we showed the visiting team to the locker room and directed their coach busses where to park. As I mentioned it was a cold day and Lonny thought it would be a good idea to get the heaters on the field for the team. The coaches agreed and we went to get the field heaters. After that, we talked to a few alumni and visitors that Lonny knew then we made our way to the fifty-yard line. Lonny, Holly, and I helped move through the seniors and get the job done before kick-off. We then watched some of the game before we went to check on a few individuals to ensure all our parties were doing well. At halftime we then worked with the senior dance and band members to congratulate their seniors in the program as well. As there were so many different things going on it was a great day for me to get to ask Lonny a lot of questions that pertained to sports administration and how he got to where he is today. He gave me great insight into how he believed that I too could get to a similar position. Overall today was a great learning experience as I got to see what I was like to be an administrator representative at the football game. 

 

11-12-19 Biggest take away from the football game 

    I think by working the football game if there is one thing I could take away above all would be that no job is too small for even the Athletic Director. Lonny is one of the individuals that will do anything for the University that he is involved with. It was amazing to see someone in his position get his hands dirty just to get the job done and not wait to call someone. There were many things thought the day that I noticed he did with no problem. He talked to everyone who approached him and always made time for them making that individual feel important. Next to his willingness to take action and go find heaters at the game and grab some plywood sheets so the turf does not melt. Down to the simplest thing of picking up trash off of the ground that rolled by him. This goes to show that no job is too small for anyone no matter the position. This is how I was always raised to respect my job but do not take advantage of a title. If you are willing to do the simplest little things then everyone else will feel as if they should be doing the same.

 

11-13-19 Least Favorite Part 

    The worst thing about my mentorship is the fact that I am not able to hear about everything that is going on in athletics. I would say 90% of the time I am allowed to sit in on conversations that have to deal with small problems within athletics but I feel as if I am missing out on huge learning experience within the other 10%. I knew that this was going to happen before the mentorship started as I know I am unable to hear about everything going on as I am still a student-athlete at the school. So by no means am I upset about the processes that have been going on but I feel as if I could be learning just a bit more in these areas. I think that these are the key areas that interviewed are looking into when asking questions. They look to see how you would handle certain situations that occur over a time of working at a university. I think that it would be great if I was able to understand how Kelly and Lonny are working things out that are major problems within athletics. But I also know that these are things that come with experience and this is something that I do not have so being excluded from some conversations is very expectable in the end. 

 

11-14-19 My favorite Part 

    The best part about this job is the fact that it is always changing and there is never a dull moment. I really thought that this job would be more repetitive than other sports jobs but it is the opposite. The reason being that Kelly holds many different positions within athletics so she is come to about many different problems. So for her, she is not just working with compliance so she has many hats that she needs to give attention to. So this gives me the ability to learn so many different things. The other thing is that Kelly is very open and this allows me to learn even more. As our relationship grows she trusts me with bigger and harder tasks to complete that relate more and more to the university. I enjoy that the most because I feel as if I am truly contributing to the athletes at this institution. The fast pace environment of sports is everywhere in every job. In an office that I thought to be just paperwork and rules and regulations is so much more than one could ever imagine. With that being said I could defiantly see myself working a position like so. 

 

11-15-19 Improving a Problem 

    The biggest problem in the compliance office is that Kelly is the only one working in this office directly with compliance. Her job is so big and she has so many different things that she must do to get everyone eligible I really do not know how she does it. Any other school that is our size has multiple individuals working in the compliance office. I'm guessing the reason that we do not have an assistant position is that the budget does not allow for it. I think that this is a very important part of athletics as her job is crucial to the success of the sports programs that Tiffin would need to expand this position asap. But this is the way things have worked for so long at the university I think that it would be hard to change. But as the university grows and the team sizes keep increasing I think that sooner than later they are going to have to bring another individual in to help knock this job out. But at the end of the day, Kelly always gets the job done no matter what it takes. I think the reason is that she truly cares for the kids and their success and she wants to see everyone at Tiffin succeed.   

 

11-15-19 Walsh Volleyball Game 

    The Lady Dragons had an easy game today as they beat Walsh in three sets to none. Overall this was a good game for the dragons as they were coming off a losing game against Trevecca Nazarene. The Dragons have a busy schedule coming up as they look to win out and gain a higher seed in the GMAC tournament. As the dragons were doing a great job me and Kelly went over the checklist for volleyball games that is very similar to soccer games. This list involves introducing ourselves to the officials and letting them know where we are if a problem occurs. We then check with the scores table and make sure that they are ready to go for the game. As they usually are we move to the VIP lounge to watch over the game and make sure that no problems occur. As always it is a great honor to work with Kelly as she has helped me learn so many unique things that help overall education. I think that it is great to see the athletic side of things outside of what we do in the office. It is a very different atmosphere but we have the same goal. The goal is to create the greatest experience for our student-athletes and that is what we try and do every game.

 

11-18-19 Who are the Stars 

    The stars in this organization can not be defined by the faces of the athletics department. This organization because everyone at Tiffin wakes up ready to do their job every day. The stars are truly come from administration, coaches, finical aid, admissions, and more. These individuals communicate so well with one another on a daily basis and it allows for the athletic department to flow smoothly. If it were not for all of these individuals it would be even harder for Kelly to get all of these athletes eligible for the next season. I think the communication among these departments is what is key to Kelly's problem that I talked about on the last log. She is able to get ahold of anyone in any department in less than an hour a simple phone call or email away is the key to this University. It allows for a quick answer to a problem that can be solved and cleaned up before the next occurs. I feel as if a bigger university the communication process would be way harder as there is so many different individuals working in athletics. 

 

11-19-19 Success 

    Overall this mentorship has been an outstanding experience as I ave gotten to know more and more individuals in athletics. The athletics department at Tiffin is so well-knit and very family-like and I enjoy that very much. I think it would be a great success to one day be apart of this Tiffin family. Overall I feel as if I have done a great job in getting my assignments done in a very timely manner. I do not like to waste time so it is always great to get a new assignment and just knock it out. Kelly enjoys the fact that I am able to work at a high pace as we look to get a lot of information completed every day. My biggest success has been staying up to date on the practice logs. I have been able to keep great track of who is missing logs and who’s isn’t. As well as being able to look over the logs and make sure that no one is over hours for the week. I think up until this point I have had success in every piece of work I have completed and it feels great. The biggest success would be having created a great working relationship with Kelly thus hopefully leading to a great friend and reference to have behind me at a job interview.

 

11-20-19 How it Felt Being In a New Place

    At first, this job a big adjustment for me as I have gone through school the past four years very rarely waking up early and getting dressed up. Within the first few days, it was a good adjustment as I was working to figure out this new schedule. It only took me about a week to get the schedule figured out. The biggest challenge I faced with my schedule change was waking up even earlier to walk my dog, eat breakfast, and get ready for work. The next was figuring out when and how to eat lunch before I had practice around lunchtime on many days. After the first week, it was easy for me to adjust to this schedule and I fell right back on track like it was any other day. The next biggest adjustment was working in an office setting for a specific number of hours each day. I defiantly understand how individuals are tired after a full day's work as I was going from work to practice and then lifting on some days. This was a good adjustment so that I can get ready for the future. Overall working with Kelly made the adjustment so much easier. She was open and willing to work with me from day one and never turned me away. She allowed me to come in and succeed as I was willing to work this adjustment was not had but was defiantly not easy. 

 

11-21-19 How It Feels Now 

    At first, the adjustment was different and not the easiest as I do not have a problem being up in the morning but I like to sleep as well. But at this point the daily routine is normal and it is weird on days that Kelly is out of the office or that I have an early practice and can not come in. As our working relationship has grown over the past months the work environment has become even more comfortable. We have a great routine as we come in talk about what we need to get done and then go to work. A lot of the time we are doing routine work as I kinda know what needs to be done by me at this point. Overall Kelly continues to give me bigger projects to work on that allow me to learn so many different areas of compliance. This is by far one of the best decisions I have made that will allow me to succeed in this industry.  

 

11-22-19 What Was the Quality of Supervision and Communication with Your Supervisor 

    The quality of supervision was great as we worked alongside each other in the same room. The best part about this was that if I had any questions at all about what I was working on, for the most part, I could just turn my computer and Kelly could guide me with what to do. She helped me in so many different ways as she gave me projects towards the end of the mentorship that required a lot of work and would look over them and then approve it to be sent to the next party. On the other hand, she allowed me to work on smaller projects and told me that she trusted my work at this point and if I thought it was correct to submit it. This was huge for me as I have a big problem relying on someone to approve my work as I have never really been in this type of position. Although these were things that I had been doing for months it was still hard for me to accept the fact that I knew what I was doing just as well as the next person. In her doing this it allowed me to get over my fear that I messed something up. Overall the quality of communication falls in line with what was said before. As we worked alongside together it was easy to go back and forth about what was needed out of each other to get the job done. 

 

11-25-19 Meeting Expectations 

    This mentorship by far exceeded my expectations for many reasons. Kelly was an amazing mentor for the entire mentorship. There was never a day that I did not learn something new or useful. She was always giving me tips and showing me different ways to get the job done. I was able to come in every day and always work on something new or a different subject of compliance. In doing so I was able to learn many different areas of the compliance assistant that every NCAA university uses. Being able to learn this tool was by far the best knowledge I could have gained over this mentorship. Having this background in compliance I think will give me the upper hand when working towards getting a job in this field. Outside of this, I made great connections with individuals in administration that are willing to have me use them as a reference. Overall this was mentorship blew my expectations out of the water and will defiantly benefit me in the future.  

 

12-3-19 Relating to school work

    Overall this was a great mentorship that related to many general areas that were touched on throughout undergrad and grad school but I think compliance should be focused on more by Tiffin University. We focus a lot on topics that I have never heard of that are related to the sports world and I think that anyone trying to work in NCAA athletics could benefit from learning about this field. Compliance is useful to ever NCAA institution as every school has multiple individuals working in compliance. Overall it would be great for anyone working in coaching, administration, or strictly compliance or any job dealing with the NCAA. Everything these individuals do falls back on compliance and whether or not they are allowed to do anything related to recruiting, budgeting, tryouts, management, and anything that has to relate to the rules and regulations of the NCAA. Overall I think it would be beneficial to our sports management students that are looking to go work in college athletics. Lastly, Tiffin does a great job preparing individuals as they look to prepare for the workforce. 

 

12-4-19 How has the Internship Influenced Your Career Objectives 

    This internship has influenced changed my mind about working within the NCAA as I was unsure about it. I think that it changed my whole path to what I want to do in the future. I now think that I either want to start off coaching or in compliance as this will allow me to build up experience and connections. I then would like to work into a head coaching position and run my own team for a few years. After that, it would be great to get back into administration and be an assistant AD or even ahead for a few years. Once I move past that job I hope to secure the AD position at my home high school. Once there I hope to help the school and their athletic programs succeed like never before. My main goal would be to get as many student-athletes to compete at the college level to help pay for school. I think that this would be the greatest was I could give back to my community. By helping student-athletes be able to experience what I was able to experience in my sport and even more.     

 

12-5-19 Reflecting 

    Over the past few days, I have reflected on my time at the mentorship and how it has given me the motivation to succeed in my future. I think that this is by far one of the best decisions I have made by talking with Lonny and then he showed me the demand for compliance officers in the NCAA. There was no doubt in his mind that this would be a great area for me to start in. After working with Kelly for a few months he was defiantly right I would love to work in this are or even coach for a while as I had thought I wanted to go straight into high school athletics. I think that this mentorship has prepared me for a job and got my mind in the right are when thinking about applying for certain jobs. The love Kelly shows for Tiffin University and its student-athletes is something that I hope I one day am able to have myself. I would like to think that I would be able to find a home with a university and watching their program grow and succeed would be awesome. 

 

12-6-19    GMAC Report 

    Over the next few days, we will be completing a report for the conference office. This report will consist of working with all of the fall teams in figuring out who competed and who did not. Once the report is completed we will then submit it to the GMAC office as a finalized document that is signed by all fall sports coaches. Today we started with football as we work through the report we focus on what athletes competed and who did not. As we find the individuals that have competed we put their names on the participant list. For the ones who did not I then went into the NCAA compliance website and searched the list and marked the ones who did not compete as a redshirt. In doing this process we are ensuring that the message relayed from that sports coach to the compliance office and saves that individuals season. This process took quite a bit of time as there are a large number of individuals on the team. It also took a while as I wanted to ensure that everything was done correctly. 

 

12-7-19 Report Continued 

    Report day two, on this day we focused on knocking out cross country and making sure that all the boxes were checked correctly. Today I was in charge of getting in touch with the head coach and receiving the participant's list for the men and women. Once this list was finalized from the coach I then went back into the NCAA compliance assistant and enter the ones who did not compete as redshirted as stated before. The next part of this form was related to the location of games played. So I had to go back through the list of the team's schedule and then relay it to the form. They also needed to know the date and the result of the event. It is also looking for the min contested needed to have a competitive season as well of the signature of the head coach, Athletic Director, and the Compliance Director. As we continue to work through the report it seems to become easier and easier to fill out the information. I love working on these types of projects as we have throughout the semester because it is very time consuming and takes up the majority of the day. 

    

12-9-19 Still Working 

    Report Day three, as we continue to work on this document we realize that it is becoming easier and easier. We have gotten into a great work rhythm in completing this document. Every morning we come together and put together the different documents that are due and then focus on what we have to do that day. On this day, in particular, we finalized the cross country forms and then focused on the new documents need for soccer. In doing this Kelly sent me the men and women’s soccer rosters that had been declared from the coaches and we entered the information into the compliance assistant this once again allows us to make sure that we are saving all the athlete's seasons. We finalized the documentation during the day and made sure that we are nothing seeing the same thing and then take it to the coach to be signed. As the coach's signature makes it final as they are in charge of the team and know all of their athletes who participated and whom they played this season along with their outcomes. This acts as a third eye to look over what we had been working on for the day and this is a great system of checks and balances. 

 

12-10-19 Continuing on the Document 

    Moving forward we do as we did previously the day before as we are able to work well together which is my favorite part of this mentorship. We have learned to work so well together and it is a great relationship that we have grown. In working today we focused on volleyball as we talked with the volleyball coaches the participant list and redshirts had been sent to us to use for the completion of the report. We then use these to enter the redshirt and work towards the finalization of the report. Today went pretty quick as we worked just on volleyball and they have a smaller roster. This was nice as we knocked this out quickly and were able to get this to the coaches and have them oversee what we had been working on. They then finalized the document with their signature. Once this document was finished Kelly had me file some other G-MAC paperwork that was all within the office. These were just papers that had been sitting around in my desk file that had been worked on throughout the semester. This was a quite simple task that I basically needed to paperclip together and put away in folders. We did this for the sole reason to make sure that if we ever had gotten audited by the NCAA we had the paperwork on file for years to come. 

 

12-11-19 The last report.

    As Kelly and I had been working on this document all week and made sure that we had double checked every move that was made. This ensures that we are able to be confident in the finalization of this document. On the last day, we go back through and make sure that no mistakes had been made for one last time. In doing this we found one mistake on a document that had not yet been signed. This was a great catch and an easy fix in doing this we were able to catch a simple mistake. This just goes to show no matter how many times we look over documents there can still be mistaken. This was a great learning experience that I got to learn first hand. Overall this was an amazing report to work on as we come to close on my mentorship. It's not that I learned a ton of new information it was seeing how easy it can be to work with other individuals on a document and be very proficient. I once again would love to thank Kelly for every opportunity that she has given me during this mentorship. She has allowed me to work on so many different documents that I didn’t think I would be able to. In the end, she is the reason that I have learned so many things during this mentorship because of the exposer she continuously gives me. 

 

12-16-19 Last Day

    On my last day, I worked on a new list of individuals missing practice logs so that Kelly had them before I left. This consists of just going through the log binders that I have set aside and checking the dates of the logs. In doing this it is very simple just going though each team's logs and making sure that they have every log up to date. When there are missing logs I write down the team and create a checklist. Once I have gone through each team I then go back and send an email out to the coaches and let them know what weeks we are missing. As always the coaches are very good at responding and letting us know when the logs will be received. As I finish out my mentorship hours I look back on the hours spent and iv enjoyed every minute of it. I think that Kelly did an outstanding job in allowing me to work on as many documents that I could without breaking any confidential rules. I can not thank her and Director Allen enough for all they have done for me this semester. The game an experience within college athletics that I will forever be grateful for.