Sports broadcasters. Athletic trainers. Marketing team members. Landscapers. Videographers.
Each year, students join sports organizations and facilities to gain valuable experience and provide manpower. From professional teams to home-town recreation departments, interns fill out the rosters to keep the wheels turning in these organizations. In return, internships provide students with valuable, practical experience. Ideally, these form a win-win partnership between education and business.
Little League International
In the sports world, organizations like Little League International (LTI) help set up these invaluable internship experiences. LTI is one of the world’s largest youth sports organizations, offering a variety of semester-long internships in several areas, allowing college students to gain practical industry experience.
In summer, those internships are largely based around the Little League World Series tournaments. Positions are typically offered
in fields including digital media/web, graphic design, landscaping, media relations, merchandising/retail, social media, sponsorship/marketing, turf management, and video production.
“Each year, additional opportunities may also become available in the summer, as well as potential internship positions during the fall and spring semesters,” says Kevin Fountain, LTI’s senior director of communications.
“LTI prides itself in providing hands-on experiences while supporting the learning experience for our interns with a curriculum, teambuilding, and interaction and exposure with all facets of our organization,” Fountain says.
While the exact number of opportunities varies, the organization typically hires between eight and 12 interns each summer to assist with numerous roles surrounding the Little League baseball and softball tournaments.
All internships are paid positions with the opportunity for college credit available on a case-by-case basis, he says. Most of the internships are based at the organization’s headquarters in Williamsport, Pa.
Fountain said they are provided with a competitive hourly rate determined annually. Internships for 2023 are advertised at $15 per hour for a 35-hour week.
“While requirements for each position vary based on the skill set needed to accomplish the job, Little League
is committed to finding hard-working and dedicated students looking to gain hands-on, real-world, practical experience at one of the world’s largest and most revered sporting events,” Fountain says.
For its part, LTI aims to provide a diverse, accepting, and supportive work environment, holding all employees to the highest standards of conduct, integrity, inclusiveness, respect, and engagement. All open positions for the 2023 season can be found at LittleLeague.org/Careers.
They also work exclusively with Hampton University, Penn State, and Syracuse University to identify 10 to 12 college students to take part in the Little League World Series Residency Program, a six-week experience based around the Little League World Series each year.
This group of support personnel assists LTI’s communications efforts, specifically involving video highlights from more than 350 regional and division World Series games, as well as onsite activations and in-game entertainment at the Little League Baseball World Series in Williamsport.
Additional support is also provided by the students at the Little League Softball World Series in Greenville, N.C.
More than just manpower
The NFL, NBA, and MLB all offer summer internships. Minor League Baseball teams around the country also hire interns, as do ESPN and other sports-broadcasting companies.
Colleges and university sports management degree paths often require internships. The University of Iowa’s Sports and Recreation Management Program, for example, offers listings and help for students seeking positions.
While interns gain skills and experience, organizations also stand to gain more than just manpower.
“Internships—and mentorship in general—are a reflection of your organization’s commitment to growing your industry and imparting hands-on experience to grow the workforce,” says Michelle Russ, vice president of sales for Gulf Shores & Orange Beach Tourism and Gulf Shores | Orange Beach Sports & Events. “Internship programs allow your organization to grow and learn, too, as new thought leadership and updated standards are parlayed from college students.”
Many previous interns for tourism organizations remain in the tourism and hospitality industry, Russ says. Several joined Gulf Shores & Orange Beach Tourism full-time as positions became available. Russ listed four current team members at both Gulf Shores & Orange Beach Tourism and Sports & Events who are now full-time staff.
The grass is greener
Dan Dorrough, golf course superintendent at the Gulf Shores Golf Club, works with high school and college students on his turf grass maintenance team.
As a turf grass management and landscape horticulture double major at Auburn University, Dorrough interned for two Top 100 golf courses in the country—Pinehurst No. 2 in Pinehurst, N.C., and Eastlake Golf Club in Atlanta, Ga.
“I learned a great deal about the industry and what was expected of my career path,” Dorrough says.
He says he also gained skills beyond the work itself.
“During my first internship, I learned that it’s never too early to start teaching others the skills you have acquired even as a student,” he says. “During
my second internship, I learned the value of people complementing each other’s strengths and weaknesses.”
At Gulf Shores Golf Club, students help fill out the crew in the summer and provide additional help in the spring and fall that is mutually beneficial. He works with the students and adjusts schedules at times to best accommodate the students’ availability—as a student first and a team member second.
“In many cases, hiring high school and college students, and mentoring them along the way has turned into team members developing an interest in turf grass management as a career,” Dorrough says. “I sincerely hope each student develops a love for the field we work in as well as learning life skills that could help them down the road.”
While it’s not difficult to find college students who want internships in turf grass management, Dorrough says there are some hurdles.
“The difficulty is that if housing is not paid for or provided onsite, most universities will not send a summer intern,” Dorrough says. “This is mostly due to the lack of available short-term rental options in many markets. If a property/golf course can own a house or condo for interns to use, the ability to build a healthy internship program is easily obtainable.”
Barriers to entry
Equitable access was identified as a barrier for students in obtaining and/or accepting internships in the National Survey of College Internships 2021 Report by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a pilot study of 17 campuses.
The report showed that 67.3 percent, or 6,407 students, of non-interns in its study wanted to take an internship but were unable to due to a variety
of obstacles. About 40 percent of those responding say the need to work a paid job outweighed the internship opportunity, while 59 percent indicated
a lack of knowledge on how to find an internship. There are efforts to overcome those hurdles.
In south Alabama where Gulf Shores is located, for example, The South Baldwin Gateway Initiative is working to construct a workforce training campus that would provide housing for up to 2,000 seasonal workers, as well as an education and training center and transportation services. The collaborative effort is raising funds for the project.
Some companies provide housing or housing stipends for interns. ESPN provides subsidized housing for some interns in New York City and Bristol, Conn.
Interns can also check with universities in the area as many offer students from other schools affordable housing options in their dormitories.
In areas where tourism thrives, such as Summit County, Colo., home to the ski town of Breckenridge, hotel conversions are opening up affordable housing for workers.
