An extracurricular key learning experience for me during my Junior year at the University of Washington was being a Gameday Recruiting Intern for the Husky Football team. This internship chooses smart, hungry and humble candidates to be a part of the recruiting team in order to help recruit the best high school football players in our nation to help the Husky football team win the Pac-12 conference championship and compete for a National championship. I wanted to be a Gameday Recruiting intern because towards the end of my Sophomore year, I noticed that I was only involved in one extracurricular activity. Moreover, this position was more of a fun extracurricular activity, and I wanted to add more fun experiences to my life. This leadership experience was valuable to me because it taught me about initiative, self-development, listening, non-verbal communication, and positive attitude.

My time as a Gameday Recruiting Intern was important to me because it helped push myself out of my comfort one and gave me a different challenge to take on. Prior to having this role, I noticed that I was very comfortable with just being a full-time UW student and Resident Adviser. Therefore, I wanted to add some excitement to my life and I knew that doing something different would be beneficial to me. Furthermore, the Gameday Recruiting Intern position provided me with insight on what it means to network. Through this position I was able to expand my networking skills within the sports and collegiate athletics industry. At this point of my UW career, having strong networking skills is vital in the professional world.

• Assists with the coordination of planning and executing official and unofficial visits of potential student-athletes and their families

• Hosts and provides tours on official and unofficial visits of potential student-athletes and their families

• Completes administrative tasks and other projects as instructed by recruiting staffs

• Attends home football games while talking to potential high school football recruits

Initiative

One of the major roles of being a Gameday Recruiting Intern is being able to talk to the high school football players that the UW Football Coaches have invited to visit. These official and unofficial visits from the potential student-athletes and their families are important to the recruiting team because we want to make sure that we leave a good impression. My fellow gameday recruiting interns all had a list of names and pictures of the players that were visiting each gameday. This was our only source of knowledge, and with this information we had to all take initiative and get to know each recruit without being prompted by the recruiting coordinators. Despite having social skills from my role as a Resident Adviser, I still had trouble with taking initiative when introducing myself to people. This job was able to push me to become better at this because it was in my job description to do so. At the beginning I was still very timid and I awkwardly talked to the recruits. However, towards the middle of the football season I became more comfortable with talking to all of the recruits and their families. Furthermore, I no longer felt uncomfortable when taking initiative to talk to them.

Self-Development

I am always seeking opportunities that will give me the ability to develop myself more. Being a Gameday Recruiting Intern was a self-development opportunity because I had no experience in this area before getting the role. To illustrate, I had no idea what the process for recruiting potential high school football players looked like. Through this job I was able to learn the inner workings of the recruitment process. Thus, I was able to develop recruiting skills such as working collaboratively with the other interns, networking with the football players, body language skills, and listening. Some of the skills listed I was already equipped with, but I was able to strengthen them because I know how to incorporate these skills in a recruitment setting.

Listening

As a Gameday Recruiting Intern it was my job to get to know the potential student-athletes visiting the Husky football team. As a result, I knew that my listening skills would be needed for this task. I knew that all of the recruits would feel overwhelmed if every intern they spoke to bombarded them with questions, and therefore, I made sure that I paced out the questions that I had for the recruits I spoke to. Moreover, by pacing out each question I was able to ensure that I actively listened to the responses the recruits gave me. Furthermore, it was easier to remember what each recruit told me by asking these questions slowly. I know that when talking to people listening to them is significant because it lets them know that they are being heard.

Nonverbal Communication

When talking to people, it is also important to make sure that your body language is welcoming and open. With each recruit that I spoke to, I wanted to make sure that they were comfortable with me. From being a Resident Adviser I was confident in my approachability skills because my residents have told me that I was easy to talk to. Through this role I improved my body language skills each time I spoke to a new potential student-athlete. I think this was because I made myself be aware of how I presented myself through my facial expressions and gestures.

Positive Attitude

Having a positive attitude was essential for this key learning experience. The potential student-athletes and their families were being approached by the Gameday Recruiting Interns, which meant that the interns had to exhibit an optimistic mood in order to make a good impression. I remember that during the season there would be times where on a gameday I was not having the best day, but I knew that I should not exude this pessimistic mood in front of the recruits and their families. Being in a bad mood would bring low energy and for gamedays the interns had to bring a lot of energy to make the potential student-athletes and their guests feel the excitement of being a Husky. Therefore, this job has taught me how to exude a positive attitude even if I am having a bad day.

My experience as a Gameday Recruiting Intern for the Husky Football team has impacted my life because I now try to make an effort and take initiative in situations that I never would have done before. Moreover, I am now taking the initiative on finding more self-developing opportunities for me in order to push myself out of my comfort zone.