By: Nicholas Mellonakos
For a job shadowing assignment I decided to attend the girls’ volleyball game versus Northeastern University. I shadowed Brian Hansen. This was a really fun assignment for me because I love the sport of volleyball and had a fun time watching JMU play a school from home. At the game I sat in the press row and watched the athletics communications personnel work. I noticed that at first their job seems sweet because they get to watch volleyball games in a loud gym full of students and fans. But what I noticed was that they are constantly trying to keep track of all of the stats and don’t really get to relax and watch the games. I also noticed that they are constantly speaking with each other reading the different numbers of the players that make certain plays out and recording it. 
To me this kind of would ruin watching the sport for leisure. I would feel as if though I was working instead of enjoying the sport. I also noticed that all of the workers seemed like robots. I initially asked Mr. Hansen if he liked his job. The answer that I got from him was that he loved his job and he was doing what he loved by getting to watch a bunch of different athletics games. Despite this he wished that the hours were a bit different because he does have to work a lot of nights. I then next asked him if it was difficult to keep track of all of the stats because of the quickness of play. I a volleyball person who played for many years would have never been able to keep up with all of the stats and who hit the ball during long volleys. He assured me that yes in the beginning he sometimes couldn’t keep up but not anymore, he can always keep up with the stats and fast pace of the game. I then asked him how long he has been doing what he does and he told me 6 years, which reassured me that yes he did like his job. 
From shadowing I really learned how difficult that job would be. Not in the sense of the work that you would have to do, considering that I know that I am more than capable of doing that job. It just really seemed like having a family and doing that would be extremely difficult because of the nights. I also found it pretty difficult to not be able to cheer. I definitely learned that I did not like that job because I would want to cheer and be able to have time for my children. Also growing up I did stats for my father’s basketball team and it makes watching sports which I love to do, really boring. I would like to work hard elsewhere and be able to watch sports for fun and not have statistics be part of my job.