Mr. Wendell Mitchem

After many emails, I finally landed on the perfect Sports PenPal. I chose Wendell Mitchem, whom I volunteered for last semester for a SMGT class assignment. I knew he would be an amazing fit because when I volunteered, it was such an enjoyable learning experience. Mr. Mitchem is the video coordinator for ODU’s football team. He is the one who makes sure that our football player has excellent quality video of their games and practices. For just a little background, Mr. Mitchell grew up in the small town of Middlesex, Virginia. Which was remarkably interesting to find out because I am from a neighboring county. He attended Old Dominion University in 2005 and majored in sports management, which landed him an internship with the ODU football team in 2009, and he has been with them ever since!

His career journey was simple, yet effective. He interned with the team in 2009 and then worked part-time in 2010 and 2011 as an athletic video assistant. He quickly climbed the ladder of success when they gave him the responsibility of head football video coordinator, a position that he still holds to this day. I asked Mitchem what inspired him to pursue his career in football film, and he responded, “I loved sports growing up and always knew I wanted to work in the sports industry. I needed an internship before graduating, and football was just starting here at ODU. I contacted the team wanting to do an internship, and they put me on video staff.” He then followed up with, “I had never filmed a thing before, but they were looking for someone who was willing to learn. I quickly learned how to film and edit, and I have been working here ever since.”

Mitchem’s key responsibilities (including his staff members) are filming for all practices and games for ODU. He manages a server and over 50 computers in the building that the coaches and players use to watch film. Which is super impressive to think about. Imagine how much he must pay attention to detail when creating and watching film. He also imports other collegiate and professional games and maps the corresponding data to those games.

His typical workday depends on the time of year. He describes January as quiet because all the coaches go on the road for recruiting. In February, the coaches come back, and they start filming walk-throughs and mini camps. Spring practices start in March and end in April. They have a 7AM staff meeting every day and practice on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Sunday is their off day. They typically get most of July off and start camp in August. This is when it really starts to get busy. He says that he is in the office from 6:45AM to 8:30PM around this time. They have staff meetings every day, but it is mostly geared towards players academics. Tuesday-Thursday meetings are position meetings. By position, he means where his employees are supposed to be when it comes to the camera positions on the field. On Fridays they travel to away games or go to the team hotel for home games. During this, he will help set up meeting rooms so that players and coaches can watch film. Saturdays are game days. So, he packs everything up and films, edits, and prepares the film for the players and coaches to watch as soon as the game is over. Which means he doesn’t get home until the middle of the night depending on the location of the game. Then Sundays are reserved for 2:30 staff meetings, position meetings, and practice, which lasts until 8:00PM. This cycle continues until the season ends in November or December.

Lastly, his favorite part about working in his field is the relationship he has with his student workers. It is very special to him to create these bonds in which he gets to watch them grow up, graduate, and do great things in their lives.