Throughout the last three months, I have had the honor to learn a great amount of material regarding communication in sport, something I have not been too familiar with in the past. My current career is in athletic facilities and event management, so I do not see or work that side of sports too often. Although this might be the case, I believe there are a few core values I have been taught throughout the semester that could benefit my future career.

A major module I believe will help me in my future career in sports is Module 5, Sport Organization Communication. Overall, this full module gives great insight on communication within sport organizations, but more importantly I found lecture 2 to be the most interesting and informative. In any sport organization, creating and implementing plans for communication is imperative. No matter what department of the program, there will be times that an issue can arise and strategic communication needs to be pushed out to inform others or help resolve it. There are times that a promotion or an event needs to pan out, which also includes this planning.

Within this lecture, I was able to learn about the strategic communication plan RPIE: research, planning, implementation, and evaluation. We must take the time to research ahead of time on the topic to be able to provide correct statements and recognize what will pull the audience in the best way. Planning is the next important step, as we have to use this research we have gathered and purposefully place it into a plan to follow out. Once a plan is set, then the implementation stage of the plan will take place, activating this strategic plan we have put together to discuss the topic. Lastly, evaluation is key in any process we might face and it will start before research even begins. The proper metrics to evaluate this plan have to be set in place ahead of time, allowing the organization an opportunity to reflect on their overall plan through the process and after.

As I work in event planning, I see this material assisting me greatly. I got two great pieces of advice from this lecture: expect the unexpected and have a plan. I also really enjoyed the PenPal assignments and believe this was a good stepping stone to establishing more relationships with sport professionals in the future. With the help of this course, I now know all of the steps for strategic communication and recognize how this easily works into my career.

For the final sport professional penpal assignment, The Quest, I chose to create a promotional event for the Charlotte 49ers baseball program. After further research and insight from my penpal, Lauren Wilkowske the Assistant Director of Marketing for the 49ers, I was able to create an event that revolves around getting fans to attend a home baseball game while simultaneiously promoting one of the more popular animal shelters in Charlotte. This can be seen as a community event and partnership that could lead to more events in the future with both programs.

Establishing an Event

One of Lauren’s main duties is to get more fans to purchase tickets and attend home baseball games, as she is the main marketing contact for 49ers baseball. Lauren’s program, and Charlotte Athletics overall, are always looking for more opportunities to get involved with the local community to establish those mutual relationships. With these in mind, I started with asking myself “what event could be thrown at a baseball game in order to get more fans to attend and increase community involvement?” A few came to mind, but holding a wiffle ball game on the field post-game was what I landed on. Wiffle ball has always been a popular adaptation of the game of baseball and very commonly played in the youth today. Allowing for kids who attend the game to be given the opportunity to play in a wiffle game and on the baseball field too, we believe would spark great interest in Charlotte fans.

Creating a Community Partnership

Now that the event was established, I began to think of local community centers or organizations that would possibly like to partner with 49ers baseball. This partnership would be able to expand the promotional coverage of Charlotte baseball and the event, but also allow for the organization to benefit from said wiffle ball game.

https://humanesocietyofcharlotte.org/

I was able to gather a list from Lauren of local community centers, shelters, and organizations. After researching more on each organization, I fell in love with the idea of inviting the Humane Society of Charlotte Animal Shelter to partner with the 49ers for this wiffle ball event. They are always looking for donations and constantly have dogs up for adoption at this shelter. I decided to make them an official partner of the wiffle ball game event.

Henceforth, the event had been established for the Charlotte 49ers to partner with the Humane Society of Charlotte to put on a wiffle ball game after a home 49ers baseball game. The official name of the event was created using the partership between the wiffle ball game and adopting dogs: Wooferball.

Execution of Wooferball

Now that the event had been established, we have a partnership with a community organization, and we have a name to call it, this started our execution stage.

Wooferball will take place on May 10th at 4pm, when the 49ers will face UAB at home. The wiffle ball game itself will last 20 minutes and will be a very casual game on the field post-game, where only children ages 5-12 will be allowed to participate. Charlotte will provide wiffle ball bats and balls for fans to use. Participants will be put into two teams in random order and will play multiple innings until the 20 minutes are up. Participation can only be granted if a donation of at least $10 is made to the animal shelter. This can be done by purshasing your game ticket in advance where we will allow fans to donate during this process or by fans purchasing a ticket at the gate and donating directly to the animal shelter’s tabled area on site. Those who have donated will be identified with a wristband that will be given to them at the stadium, as seen below. Ticket takers will have them on hand for those who have donated ahead of time while purshasing their ticket in advance, while the Humane Society of Charlotte that will be tabling the event will also have them to hand out for those who donate on site.

The Humane Society of Charlotte will be given a sectioned off area inside the stadium to setup a table with information on their organization and also have several adoptable dogs for fans to meet and be given the chance to adopt a dog on site. As stated earlier, this will be where fans are able to donate directly to the shelter and receive their wristband to participate in the wiffle ball game if not already received prior.

Once we hit post-game, participants who have received a wristband will be directed to lineup at the right field gate. This is where a marketing staff member will be present to check each child for their wristband to get onto the field. Multiple marketing staff members will be on the field making sure the game goes smoothly and the participants are following directions. Once the wiffle ball game is over, staff will assist in escorting the participants off the field to conclude the Wooferball event.

Wooferball Promotions

To begin promotion of Wooferball, I utilized Canva to create a social media post to be posted onto the Charlotte 49ers sports and baseball Instagram, Facebook, and X pages.

Three weeks prior to the event, Charlotte will post this graphic to all social media pages to introduce the event to fans and surrounding community. This graphic will also be shared on the Humane Society of Charlotte’s social media pages to reach their followers who may not be familiar with 49ers baseball.

3 days prior to the event, this graphic will be posted again on all social media accounts for a reminder to the fans of the event.

The Charlotte 49ers website, charlotte49ers.com, will have all of the information regarding the Wooferball event and will be the main source of information for fans to follow. The Humane Society of Charlotte’s website, humanesocietyofcharlotte.org, will continuously promote this event as well and will also have information available at their in-person shelter.

To double down on getting information out to as many people as possible, we will use the Charlotte Athletic Foundation (49er Club) to send out invites to current Charlotte Athletic donors for them to attend the event or to donate to the shelter.

Lastly, it would be a necessity to place signage and banners surrounding campus and the stadium to advertise Wooferball. Signage can help inform fans of the event, but also direct them towards to stadium as well. These signs will include a QR code to the society’s website for those who cannot attend the game, but still wish to donate to the shelter.

Post-Event Evaluation

After Wooferball concludes, Charlotte will send out emails to all participants of the event to gain feedback on what was good, bad, and recommendations for future events. Charlotte will also gain feedback from the Humane Society and how the event ran from their standpoint. We will also look at the amount of donations that came from this event that went to the shelter to establish a goal for future events with the society. Overall, I believe with this plan of execution and promotion, Wooferball has great potential to be an elevating experience for the fans and community.

In December 2022, the MLB’s Philadelphia Phillies had just come out of a loss in the World Series to the Houston Astros. The team and fans were left disappointed after the season, but a new light and excitement came into play after it was announced that the Phillies had acquired Trea Turner from the Los Angeles Dodgers for an 11-year, $300 million contract. Turner would be joined again with his former teammates and Phillies stars Bryce Harper, J.T. Realmuto, and Kyle Schwarber. Turner is known for his elite athleticism and overall power and speed he brings to baseball, so this gave the fan base exactly what they needed after the past season: hope.

Trea Turner had his official starting debut with the Phillies in March of 2023. As most expected, he started off hot in offense and defense. His ability to contact and power hit, speed on the bases, and defensive strength at shortstop allowed for Philly fans to fall even more in love with this addition of the best in baseball. Although this high the fans were chasing was going well, Turner hit a slump that struck it all down. Up until August, Turner had gotten his batting average down to .236 with only 10 home runs, 35 RBIs and a .656 OPS, arguably the worst performance of his career yet. With his statistics failing, the fans responded very negatively, realizing that the Phillies might have thrown $300 million down the drain for a washed up player. As many can contest, Philadelphia fans are extremely loyal to their city but are not afraid to tell it how it is. The fans made it known that they were upset with his plummeting performance, but with the help of social media, that hope for a successful star came back.

As The Philly Captain asked, Phillies fans answered. On Friday, August 4th when Trea Turner came up to bat, the entire stadium stood up and cheered for Turner. The sounds of fans clapping and screaming could be heard from all over the city, sending all of their love to Turner. Some would say it was one of the most heartwarming gestures to witness in sports – who knew baseball could be so romantic? This standing ovation was not advertised by the Phillies organization at all prior to the event, it was solely through social media and word-to-mouth that spread the notion.

“I thought it was pretty [freaking] cool,” Turner said. “The fans have my back. They’re showing up for me. It’s pretty cool to see. I wish we could have come out with the win right there, but I thought that was awesome” (Zolecki, 2023). The Phillies ended up losing the game 7-5, but that did not strive away from the fact that Trea Turner was back in business. Although Turner only had one hit and one RBI, it allowed for him to gain that confidence and get out of this slump thanks to the fans support. Before, the fans were looking to Turner for hope to get the team back on track to a winning season. Now, Turner was looking to the fans for hope and they delivered.

“That’s what it’s about,” Nick Castellanos, Phillies outfielder, said. “That’s how a relationship is built between a player and the city he plays for. Just knowing that they have his back and they want him to succeed, that they’re pulling for him” (Zolecki, 2023).

Turner ended up improving his game significantly throughout the remainder of the season with the help of this newly grown relationship with the fanbase. He helped lead the Phillies to the National League Championship Series, where they unfortunately lost 4-3 overall against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Turner ended the season with a .266 batting average, 26 home runs, 76 RBIs, and a OPS of .779, remarkably better than his summer slump. The Philly Captain has now been known to have saved the 2023 season.

This relationship between the player and fans and the call for help became so memorable, that the story was picked up by Netflix as a short documentary staring The Philly Captain and other notable Phillies figures. It was released in September, 2024 almost a year after the standing ovation.

Zolecki, T. 2023. Turner grateful for reception: ‘The fans have y back.’ MLB. https://www.mlb.com/news/trea-turner-gets-standing-ovation-in-phillies-loss-to-royals.

As we recognize heroes throughout the last 10 years, athletes are often left out of the discussion. Their titles and roles in society often get overlooked as many believe they are merely athletes that need to stick to playing games. This idea was shifted and a new point of view was brought to the table after September 1st, 2016. Colin Kaepernick, a former NFL San Francisco 49ers quarterback and now civil rights activist, changed the world when he knelt down on one knee during the national anthem of his game. Leading up to this event, Kaepernick was seen sitting during the national anthem of the first three preseason games to begin his protests. The message he was sending was to bring light to systematic oppression and police violence within the United States, although that is not how most viewed it to be. This protest has forever changed the world of sports and activism in society today, allowing for more athletes and others to take a stand on their beliefs.

Media outlets ran with this story in a very negative way. Across the country, through the most popular newspapers, online articles, and talk shows, it was portrayed that Kaepernick disrespected the country. Media channels focused on his “unpatriotic and anti-military stance” aside from focusing on the true reason of the protest: to recognize the faults in the country that need to change. He was torn apart for his protest, but there were positive opinions as well. From activists like Shaun King with the Black Lives Matter movement to Rolling Stones contributor Dan O’Sullivan, many viewed Kaepernick in a good light for his protest. Social media, Twitter for the most part, was what pushed this protest to the most viewership across the country. We saw a great majority of fans responses through social media, which also encouraged those to do more research on the matter.

To defend his stance and help shape the media narrative, Kaepernick stood his ground to these issues that were occurring in the country. “To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder” (Wyche, 2016). He did not stay silent and sit back, instead he continued to protest and educate others on the issue. This helped shape the narrative in a more positive light. After how much media coverage on the protest took place, it has highly enhanced the impact of what kneeling during the anthem can do. It gave others a chance and motivation to do the same and it is now seen a lot in today’s society.

Kaepernick put his football playing career on the line to stand up for the ongoing issues in the country, but as media outlets continued to push the “betrayal” and “disrespect” he portrayed, his NFL career followed the negative outbreak. The 49ers and NFL disapproved this kneel and he later become a free agent in 2017. After this event, Kaepernick was unable to sign with any other NFL team. He is now a civil rights activist, continuing his fight that has forever changed activism in society.

Steve Wyche, 2016. Colin kaepernick explains why he sat during the national anthem. NFL. https://www.nfl.com/news/colin-kaepernick-explains-why-he-sat-during-national-anthem-0ap3000000691077

For the second penpal assignment, I was able to conduct an informational interview on my sport professional penpal, Lauren Wilkowske. Lauren is currently the Assistant Director of Marketing at UNC-Charlotte Athletics. Within this interview, I wanted to know more about her duties in this position and dig deeper into what it is like working in college athletics. After the interview, I gathered this information to layout on an infographic. Using the graphic design website Canva, I found a template I felt fit this interview the best and customized it to reflect Lauren’s career.

Thursday night, Old Dominion was projected as the underdog going into the 3rd round of the Sun Belt Men’s Basketball Tournament held in Pensacola, FL against Texas State. ODU quickly proved them wrong after the late Robert Davis Jr.’s wicked 3-point shot to seal the 64-61 victory in order to advance to the 4th round.

“That was an extremely physical game and for a young team like we are, an inexperienced team like we are, to respond the way we did, this is what March Madness is all about.” said Head Coach Mike Jones of the Monarchs. This season brought an abundance of new players to the ODU team with only six familiar faces in the mix from last year’s roster such as Senior RJ Blakney and Sophomore Dani Pounds, with a brand new coaching staff to match.

This was a huge win for the Monarchs, as they have now secured two post-season wins, which has not been done by the team since 2019 where they went on to defeat Western Kentucky in the C-USA Championship. The Bobcats are very familiar with the post-season, as they have eliminated ODU from the SBC tournament the past 2 years in a row.

Robert Davis Jr. led ODU with a total of 23 points, while Texas State was led offensively by Tylan Pope with 15 total points. We saw Sean Durugordon with ODU pop off to start the matchup with back-to-back-to-back shots, scoring 15 points within the first 8:20 minutes of the match. This led the Monarchs off with a strong lead of 19-7 halfway through the first half.

ODU held the lead consistently throughout the first half until Texas State’s Kaden Gumbs tied it up with a 2 point field goal, leaving 2:00 left in the period. The Bobcats continued with two turnovers, but gained the lead to end the half 29-27.

The second half began with Davis taking back ODU’s lead with a 3 pointer at 19:01 on the clock. The Bobcats rallied back to keep the score within a 2 point range for the first 4 minutes of the half. After multiple missed jump shot attempts by Texas State, ODU found an opening to gain a 7 point lead. With 11:57 left to go in the period, the Bobcats tied it up 45-45 with the help of Tyrel Morgan’s quick layup in the paint. The Bobcat’s gained their 47-45 lead with 10:22 left thanks to Christian Turner’s quick layup in the paint. They held on until 3:01, when three field goal attempts were made by Davis to extend the score to 57-57.

With the back and forth battle between the teams, the Bobcats kept the score tight up until just over a second remaining in the game. ODU’s Robert Davis Jr stepped away with a killer 3 point shot to secure the 64-61 lead with 1.1 seconds remaining.

Davis took pride in this play, as he mentioned, “We work on that play literally every day in practice. Coach Jones said, ‘Go take us home,’ and I guess I did.”

The Bobcats still kept it interesting when Christian Turner attempted a quick half-court shot, but ODU’s Caelum Swanton-Rodger’s fouled against Turner before he could jump off. The Bobcat’s chance to come back started to look up, but after Turner’s three missed free throw shots, the Monarchs secured the 64-61 win.

Every day, we are consuming media left and right. Flyers, books, TV, radio, and now it is even easier to view with our cell phones at the touch of our fingertips. The sports industry has grown to be one of the largest industries in the world and it is reflected on these media outlets. Not only do these outlets allow for fans to follow a team, organization, or their favorite athlete closely, but it also allows for those athletes to be given a platform to showcase their skills and speak up for ongoing issues. Media has influenced the world of sports drastically and it will only continue to grow as we consume more and the industry expands. With how important this is, it also important to recognize the ways people are consuming media over the years.

How We Consume Sports Media – Past, Present, Future

Past

There have been some changes in how media is shared over the past five years and it hit a peak back in 2020. Once the COVID-19 pandemic took over the world, it also took over sports. All competitions from recreation to college to professional put a pause or end to their seasons immediately due to the virus. With no actual events occurring, this drove fans to stay at home and transfer their attention from going out and watching games, to viewing other types of sports media. This was a huge shift on users, but also on the sport professionals and changing how to capture their target audience again. I believe this was a strong point to note in the sports media timeline, as it greatly increased the number of online users on social media and their involvement in sports overall. This was also the time the social media platform, TikTok, became increasingly popular. This drove fans to learn more and become more involved and intimate with their favorite teams through short videos. Organizations and athletes came together to show past highlights, history of programs, and athlete recognitions. ESPN also played a huge part in this aspect of encouraging users to use their app for content until games resume.

Present

Although this world is ever-changing, I have found myself going back to the same media devices to capture my sports “diet” as of today. TikTok is still a huge platform today and controls most of the population’s views on certain topics, especially in sports. I use this more for seeing smaller moments that happened at games and video content. Another outlet I like to use is ESPN, more so for statistics on teams and athletes but also to watch any competitions. It is the easiest to access, especially for college sports in which I enjoy the most. I can follow different schools, individual teams and athletes while also receiving updates through notifications. X is also a good source for sports content. I typically use this to view trade deals and any immediate news. Another way I consume my diet are through the individual sport apps, such as MLB or NFL to concentrate more on a specific league.

Future

As we continue this discussion, it is worth noting what the next five years could hold in the sports media world. I believe users will strive away from watching cable TV and the sport channels that follow, such as ESPN, CBS Sports, FOX Sports, etc. Their apps and streaming services will still be popular, but for the cable channels they will start to fade in use. This also goes for radio shows as well, as that has already become a smaller population of listeners. I can see the need for a new social media app that is just for sports fans to post their opinions and connect with others, without other industries and topics budging in like our current media outlets. As far as change, I would love to see movement on the way athletes are portrayed through sports media and recognizing who they really are, outside of being an athlete. Many times, athletes are shunned for speaking out on tough subjects or personal experiences or are turned down all together. It is important to realize that they are more than athletes and in order to make the industry better, we must listen to the ones who help run it and it starts with the actual players.

The sports industry as a whole can be difficult to navigate alone. This business thrives on communication and establishing connections to create careers and build existing ones to a better place. It is through valuable experience and the relationships that are created along the way that assist with improving this industry and ourselves. With this in mind, and the penpal assignment established, I found that making a professional connection is a great way to continue my career in sports and better it for the future. My penpal that I have established for this assignment and to utilize in growing my network is Lauren Wilkowske with UNC Charlotte Athletics.

About

Lauren Wilkowske is currently the Assistant Director of Marketing at University of North Carolina – Charlotte, otherwise known as the Charlotte 49ers. She has been full-time with the 49ers for 8 months now and has been living in Charlotte since she began this position last summer. Lauren is originally from Northern Virginia where she then moved to Norfolk, VA to pursue her Bachelor’s in Marketing and Master’s in Sport Management at Old Dominion University. During her Master’s program, Lauren was a Graduate Assistant for Marketing with ODU Athletics. Her experience at ODU led her to Charlotte where she has been since. Her main responsibilities at Charlotte includes game presentation to involve music, video board, PA scripts, and executing in-game promotions, ticket revenue generation, and oversight of student interns within the department. She is also the main marketing contact for Women’s Soccer, Volleyball, and Baseball. Fun fact: Lauren is a huge advocate for Women’s Sports!

Making the Connection

When getting assigned the task of making a connection and establishing a penpal for the semester, my first thought went to Lauren Wilkowske. I have previously known Lauren from her time at ODU, as I got to work alongside her for 2 years in Athletics. Even though I have already known Lauren, I found that her background in marketing and communications would benefit me greatly with this class. With her being at UNC Charlotte, this also gave me the motivation to reach out to her in order to gain more knowledge of her experience working in sports at a different university and in a different state. After this was decided amongst myself, it was time to make that connection with Lauren. I emailed her with my intentions and motivation behind this relationship for the semester and she excitedly agreed! I am looking forward to this semester with Lauren and to learn more about her experience and grow that connection.

Sports Media

Social media can be a huge determining factor on who a person is or what an organization represents or values. This is how most of the population is able to view messages needing to be relayed, support their favorite role models or businesses, or just to simply have a laugh. Sports media falls deeply into this conclusion in which it is one of the main ways someone can follow their teams or favorite athletes along on their journey. To be able to view overall game highlights to witnessing athletes and their motivations outside of their playing career is a gift to many. It can build one’s knowledge on the sports industry but also provide a platform for many to have a chance at communicating with their favorites. It allows for most users to feel connected and a “part” of something and that is what creating a sport media persona is all about.

My Persona

Hello everyone! I am excited to start this sport journal and to dive into the world of sports with you all. Before we continue this semester, I would like to introduce my passion for sports. I have been involved and in love with the sports industry since I was able to step foot on to a field. The competitive nature was ultimately what I went after, but soon enough I learned that the world of sports is much more than that. I fell in love with the teamwork, creativity and discipline that this industry brings forth. As an athlete my whole life, sports gave me the resources to become the person I am today. I soon realized that I can utilize this passion in my career and return the favor to the industry in making it better. With this, my hopes for my future career is to work in college athletics and continue to contribute to student-athletes success on and off the field. My desired field would be within facilities and event operations, as I love being able to provide athletes with spaces to improve, as well as assist in the managing of their games on site. I currently work in ODU Athletic Facilities and Events, so I have already begun my journey!

Utilizing the resources from Canvas and the different themes on WordPress, I was able to easily create this sport journal. My goal is to ultimately use to this blog to showcase my work within this course, but also as a platform to be able to share my thoughts and experiences within the sports industry throughout the semester.