On October 14, 2012, I job shadowed at the JMU women’s volleyball game versus Towson. Job shadowing Brian Hansen at the volleyball was not what I expected. It was very exciting to sit in press row, but I didn’t think the actual job was very interesting. I listened to everything Brian was saying and the interaction between him and the girl who was entering the information he gave. Brian called every action that went into one play. Some plays were very easy to call, but others became quick paced and got very confusing. I don’t think it would be possible for him to enter the information as he was calling each play, so I completely understood why he had an assistant entering it into the computer. During the game his assistant was constantly tweeting updates about the results.
I asked what he did with the information after the game and was informed that it all got put into files and then sent to the opposing team’s athletics communications personnel, which was in this case Towson. I was also told that the information would be entered into the website for the statistics of each player. I asked him about how long he has to stay after games to wrap everything up and he told me that it depended from game to game, depending on how long each one was. After the game Mr. Hansen was also going to speak to a player and get a quote, along with the head coach, and possibly the athletic director. He was not sure if he was going to use this information but said it was good to get it just in case.
I don’t know if I would like this job because I thought that calling play after play got somewhat boring. I did find it interesting though because he knew each player so well, and their statistics. Throughout the game I would hear him make comments about someone’s performance in a previous game and compare it to the current one. I think it could be a fun job because I would get to be in an athletic environment supporting my school.
Overall I thought this experience was very interesting, even though it was not really what I expected. I enjoyed interacting with everyone on press row and hearing how each play is called. I would definitely each the part of updating social media, and could see myself in a position focusing on that.
By: Lauren Metz