By: Matt Heithaus
For my job shadowing assignment I went to a JMU volleyball match. I sat along the scorer’s table next to the Sports Information Director and two members of the JMU athletics office staff. I observed what they did throughout the match and got a chance to ask a few questions about what they do. During the match they recorded every play. One person called out the plays as they happened, one input them into a computer and the third wrote them down as a backup. I asked how long it takes to learn the game to be able to call out plays and they told me it takes a lot of practice and you have to start with being the person who writes down the plays on paper. I also asked if they do anything in terms of press conferences and they said for volleyball there generally isn’t one. My last question was about how long set-up takes and they said it doesn’t take too long but it is another item on the to-do list.
From doing the job shadowing, I learned that many of the sports at a college involve this level of work; that is most involve the simple few people to record stats and that most are not as major as football is. It was much more low-key than I originally thought it would be. I enjoyed the job and feel like I could see myself doing that. I liked it for the fact that it kept them very busy throughout the match and afterward they really felt like they knew the game completely. I also liked the fact that it was three people working together, which was cool.
