A Summer on the Cape with Baseball
Most students find the time to hit the beach during the summer, but Shaela Nally ’24 managed to stay on Cape Cod all summer long and gain real-world experience interning with the Yarmouth–Dennis Red Sox, a collegiate summer baseball team in South Yarmouth, Mass.
Working as an Intern Coordinator, the sport management major and communication minor oversaw various groups at the Yarmouth–Dennis Red Sox, including two play-by-play broadcasters, a PA announcer, three writers, a social media team, a producer, and a photographer. To learn more about the experience, we spoke to Nally to gather her perspectives on the busy summer internship.
What were the day-to-day operations like?
Day-to-day depended on home or away games. The media team traveled to all home and away games which made the summer pretty busy. Away games were pretty light on my end. We would produce a radio broadcast on the road and one of our writers would cover the game. I talked to other media teams and made sure my team of interns was set up and ready to go for the first pitch. Home games were a little more complex. I would get to Red Wilson Field about two hours before the first pitch. I made sure the visiting team had an area set up where they could produce their radio broadcast and welcomed them to our field.
One of my favorite parts of game day (besides the game of course) was pre-game: meeting the national anthem singers and whoever was throwing the first pitch that night on the field. Myself and the PA announcer would have everything timed out down to the minute making sure the first pitch was thrown exactly at 4:45 every night. Kids from our kids' camp would run on the field, honorary first pitches on Father's Day, intern appreciation night, and more.
What was the best part of your internship? Any challenges?
I think the best part about this internship was the people I met. The Cape League is one of the nation’s premier collegiate summer leagues, but with it doesn’t just come great players, but an entire staff of interns that make it possible. I was one of two interns from Massachusetts. Most of our interns had never even been to Cape Cod before, and we learned and helped each other from all the experiences we’ve had combined. One aspect of the internship that could be viewed as positive or negative depending on how much you like baseball is the countless hours put in every day. We finished off the season with 47 games in just about 8 weeks, equalling not many days off. I learned so much about the production and operations side of game days.
What was the process like to obtain your various internships throughout your time at Endicott?
It took a lot of hard work and dedication but it’s absolutely worth it. It’s a lot of long nights, early mornings, and missing out on weekends going out but being able to say I’ve had three of my dream jobs already is so worth it. Being a senior in college and having five internships under my belt is something most college students can’t say. One of my deciding factors when choosing Endicott was the internship program.
Was the internship what you expected? What didn’t you expect?
It was and it wasn’t in the best way possible. In any organization, there’s going to be bumps in the road—days where a certain camera wouldn’t work, or there was too much fog to see from home plate to the pitcher’s mound. It was a learning experience. In the moment, it was a lot of long hot summer nights. I didn’t expect to miss it as much as I did the day we wrapped up our season.
How did your sport management courses prepare you for this internship?
So many of my game-day responsibilities are tied back to what I’ve learned in sport management. Learning about how the schedule was created with an even number of home and away games for each team, but making sure it was balanced so every team plays an equal amount of Friday and Saturday games while swapping on Sundays. This made me think about creating my own schedule in Dr. [Dina] Gentile’s class sophomore year. Sport promotion and marketing also helped me with ideas for some of our theme nights and learning about who our target market was. I think my past two internships helped me prepare most for this internship. I’m thankful that Endicott requires you to complete three internships because it gives you real experience in your field.
Directly following this internship, you are now an Events Ambassador for Kraft Sports and Entertainment. Can you explain more about that and how it came about?
I applied for the position in the early summer and I was then hired. I worked at Patriots Training Camp, which dealt with a lot of fan engagement, interaction with alumni players, cheerleader photos and autographs, and a lot of behind-the-scenes work. I will be working every home Patriots game.
What do you hope to do after graduation this spring?
As of now, I am thinking of looking into a Grad Assistant position somewhere. Being able to get my master’s while also working for an athletic department would be such a great experience. On the other hand, if a job turns up somewhere, I think it’s a no-brainer to accept. Even though I’ve only been working with Boston College for my senior internship for a couple of weeks now, it is definitely something I could see myself doing long-term. I love the college game day atmosphere and everyone that I work with has totally made the experience for me.