Internship Summer 2013

As the intern of San Diego Beach Volleyball Club, I was open-minded as well as sports minded. I’ve played a variety of sports, including a lot of volleyball. I grew up at the beach, so I am very comfortable on the sand. Beach volleyball came naturally to me. I have served as a coach, player, motivator, and mentor.

When I first began this internship in May, I thought it wasn’t going to be too hard and coaching would seem to come easy to me. I thought wrong. I was caught off guard and learned that it takes hard work, patience, and dedication to coach close to fifty girls a day. It was a wake up call because I thought that I coaching was going to be something that I enjoyed.

I put hard work and commitment into each day even when some days were harder then others. I felt that by the end of my internship, I was proud of what I had accomplished. I have learned more about myself in who I am and what I want to be involved in after I finish school. There were some days where I struggled with girls that didn’t want to participate in the workouts or girls that would just complain the entire time. I had to come up with strategies to motivate them. I am known for being too nice of a person. I had to learn to be stern and proactive when coaching all the different age groups of girls.

I am an experience volleyball player and have been playing since the age of ten. It’s not like I didn’t know how to coach the skills of volleyball, it was learning how to communicate and motivate different age ranges of girls and some boys. I have been familiar with this surrounding, because I too was once involved with this club as a player during my senior year of high school. The club has definitely evolved over the past three years, so it was a new experience for me learning the new ways and forms of beach volleyball. I had to watch and observe the other coaches while they demonstrated to the girls certain ways to take an approach to hit the ball or make sure that their outside leg is forward when their passing a ball.

I found through this experience that I am not sure if I want to actually “coach” after going through and observing coaching techniques implemented by the club. I know that I love beach volleyball and sports in general, but I am just not sure that coaching is the right job for me. I definitely learned a lot about myself over these past three months knowing that I do want to be in this kind of environment as my workplace just maybe not coaching. I think I would be better at marketing the company or pursuing beach volleyball professionally. The second thing I found was that I enjoyed the environment around me as well as the coaching staff. All the coaches have become good friends of mine and are going to be great contacts to have in the future for employment. The coaching staff had a wide variety of strengths and different approaches to the game. It was good for me to learn from each of these coaches because they all had different things to offer in the skill of beach volleyball. Two of my favorite co-workers are Gustavo and Majo. Majo is from Guatemala and Gustavo is from Brazil. My former coaches from when I was in the club, Kaui and Marc are Hawaiian and Spanish. It was really interesting to get to be around all these people that are from different countries and culture backgrounds. It was very cool to watch each of them coach because they all a different coaching style. We all came together as groups to help each player from the club perform at their best ability.

I was prepared for this internship by remembering the theories I was taught in my Communication Theory class and my Research Methods class. I was able to use some of these theories while I was on the job. The two communication theories that can be directly applied are Phenomenology and Ethnography. I am both observing my experience and interviewing and conversing with coaches and players on the best ways to play beach volleyball. There are four, different coaches, and I am carefully watching their unique styles and techniques towards the girls for motivation, structure, explanation, and becoming enthusiastic about the sport all at one time. My internship also applied directly to my Research Methods paper that I did this past year. My topic was a coach and player’s communication relationship when it comes to sports. It was really exciting for me to watch and observe a coach and player relationship over this summer after doing the research for my paper last semester.

The things that I was lacking in preparation were communication skills to help motivate the kids. It was frustrating because I didn’t always know the right thing to say because some girls would complain or others would go to me to ask questions. I became the easy target. I also was lacking in the up to date beach volleyball techniques on the best way to play the game and win. The last thing that I struggled with over this summer was patience at times with the kids. There is only a certain point and then you break. I had to learn to keep my thoughts to myself at times or go to one of my co-workers or boss to ask them what I should do with the situation.

I would recommend this internship to other students because it really was an awesome opportunity that I was able to endure this summer. One aspect that is needed for this internship is definitely someone who has played and knows the sport of volleyball for some time. Secondly, the intern should be fit and able to perform the work out tasks. It is a benefit to the intern because you are able to participate in the workouts while also competing with the girls in the club. The intern environment is also the best part because you are on the beach for your office everyday. You’re in nature and get to enjoy relaxing yoga at the end of every practice. The coaching staff of San Diego Beach Volleyball is phenomenal. They are laid back and take care of you as if you were their own kid. They are very easy to communicate with and are always there if you need help or have questions. If you enjoy coaching and the game of beach volleyball this is definitely an internship to experience.

I know me being the intern this summer was a huge help to them. I don’t think they would have been able to get through their summer with out me. I was the first intern they have ever had because the club is only four years old, and it is still growing. At the end of my internship my boss Chris said that he is going to have an intern every summer now. I became the organizer of all the equipment that was loaded and unloaded from the van each day. Beach Volleyball is finally starting up in colleges this coming year. San Diego Beach Volleyball Club needs more staff and I think I was a huge part of helping them get through the end of this years season. It would be great to be able to get money from all my hard work. Hopefully after I graduate I could come work for them. After being a fly on the wall this summer watching how the club runs I came up with the idea of maybe being the photographer for the club after I graduate college. I would be their everyday helping coach as well as taking pictures for the entire club. At the end of every season I would then be in charge of making an end of the year video.

Some days were easy and fun other days were hard and frustrating, but I got through it! One of the best experiences I was able to have the honor to do. I am now much more confident when it comes to spontaneous planning, problem solving, flexibility, and relationships. I appreciate all the coaches and what they have done for me over the past few years and this summer.