{"id":4387,"date":"2013-10-29T23:22:55","date_gmt":"2013-10-30T03:22:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/?p=4387"},"modified":"2018-08-28T12:52:36","modified_gmt":"2018-08-28T16:52:36","slug":"sports-pr-get-your-shine-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/2013\/10\/29\/sports-pr-get-your-shine-on\/","title":{"rendered":"Sports PR: Get Your \u201cShine\u201d On [National Conference]"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>
Photo by Shaun Luberski<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Editor\u2019s Note:\u00a0<\/strong>The PRSSA 2013 National Conference was in Philadelphia from October 25-29.\u00a0All National Conference posts can be found\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Imagine you are the most passionate fan of your favorite professional sports team. Your family has been season ticket holders your entire life, you know the stats of every player. You eat, sleep and breathe that team. It only comes natural that you would be the perfect fit once a public relations job opens, right?<\/p>\n

Not necessarily.<\/p>\n

In the \u201cStep Up to the Plate: Sports PR\u201d session, industry professionals provided aspiring sports public relations professionals with the insights needed in order to land your dream sports job.<\/p>\n

According to Michael Preston<\/a>, director of public relations for the Philadelphia 76ers<\/a>, just because you are a diehard fan<\/i> of a particular team doesn\u2019t mean you are qualified to work<\/i> for that team.\u00a0In fact, Preston said if he reads in a cover letter something along the lines of, \u201cI have loved the 76ers since I was a little boy,\u201d he automatically throws out that cover letter.\u00a0 What Preston looks for are the candidate\u2019s capabilities, expertise and knowledge of the public relations field, rather than a fan.<\/p>\n

Bonnie Clark<\/a>, vice president, communications at the Philadelphia Phillies<\/a>, similarly stressed the importance that, \u201cit\u2019s not just a sport, it\u2019s a business.\u201d\u00a0 Just because you know Chase Utley\u2019s batting average, doesn\u2019t mean you will be successful when a crisis occurs at 3 a.m., and you need to take action immediately.<\/p>\n

Kevin Saghy<\/a>, manager, communications at the Chicago Cubs<\/a>, discussed how his hard work and never-ending effort lead to his current role with the Cubs.\u00a0 He made unique, different cover letters for each member of the Cubs he interviewed with. This proved to the Cubs how hard he was willing to work just to get the job, and that he would work even harder once hired.<\/p>\n

A theme every presenter agreed on was the importance of networking.\u00a0 All three got their foot in the door because of some connection, whether it was a friend of a friend or a PRSSA member. They said the exploration of networking is essential for young professionals striving to obtain their first public relations job.<\/p>\n

\u201cPR is not a nine-to-five job,\u201d Clark said. \u201cIt\u2019s your life, you never clock out.\u201d Session moderator Rebecca Timms<\/a>, public relations coordinator for the Philadelphia 76ers, said working 18 hours a day during basketball season is the norm. If the sports industry is your passion, than late nights and even earlier mornings are in your foreseeable future.<\/p>\n

One of the most interesting statements of the day came from Preston, who said that it is statistically easier to play for the 76ers than to be the public relations director of the 76ers.<\/p>\n

Even so, if working in sports public relations is your passion, then the sky is the limit.\u00a0 \u201cAt the end of the day,\u201d Preston said, \u201cit\u2019s a really cool job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eddie Ravert is a Senior PR major at The University of Scranton. Follow him on twitter @eddie_rage<\/a> and on LinkedIn<\/a>.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s Note:\u00a0The PRSSA 2013 National Conference was in Philadelphia from October 25-29.\u00a0All National Conference posts can be found\u00a0here. Imagine you are the most passionate fan of your favorite professional sports team. Your family has been season ticket holders your entire life, you know the stats of every player. You eat, sleep and breathe that team. It only comes natural that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":4388,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2895],"tags":[1606,2219,243,1607,1608,2217,2225,15,1559,40,422,571,1372],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4387"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4387"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4440,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4387\/revisions\/4440"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}