(Google Images, 2019)
Taking a Break from Sports
3/26/2019
Since my last completed assignment of Lili Thompson was presented, my mentor has been awaiting approval from Lili and her father on their next steps for pursuing speaking engagements. During this time, I am approximately 36 hours shy of completing my internship journey and have yet to receive an assignment response from Mr. Greene. After long hours of contemplation, I decided to reach out to “Superwoman” Dr. T. From the start, I knew if I reached out to her, she would not only have a bunch of questions, but she would be ready to give me an instant assignment. From previous experience, Dr. T sure does know how to assign some work, but I was willing to tackle her challenge. That said, Dr. T and I spoke briefly about some research, and she created a time frame for the final piece. Per the initial instructions, I was supposed to educate myself on a website and gather as much information from top prestigious schools. This information included enrollment status, majors, minors, and certificates on topics that surround Olympic values and/or leadership. Seemed easy enough, so our phone call ended, and I was put to work. After gathering my thoughts, I figured I would do my best to complete four hours a day until the assignment was due and finish all of the finishing touches before submission. After receiving the assignment, I decided to take the first day to look over the website and make sense of the research that was already presented.
References
Google. (2019). Photo [Taking a Break]. Retrieved from http://google.com/images
(Google Images, 2019)
First Four Schools
3/27/2019
Today, I am looking to complete four schools that were on the original list and find out what programs, certificate, or majors are offered that incorporate leadership or Olympism. As I am approaching my first school website, I am confused as to what type of classes classifies as leadership or Olympism. I did some research and tried to follow the examples of classes that were already completed. For the most part, these classes had options such as leadership, health, wellness, and global studies. The continuous pattern of leadership courses was a big help in completing my portion. After reviewing my first school, I had a better understanding of what I was assigned. My initial thoughts for this assignment were confusing because I am trying to help someone plan out their vision and since the vision is not mines, it makes the understanding of the task slightly challenging. One of my first steps in completing the assignment allowed me to research on Google, the top prestigious schools who offer certificate programs. Of course, a list of ads and “sign-ups” were available instead of the material that I was researching. As the level of frustration became intense, I decided to end the day.
References
Google. (2019). Photo [Top Prestigious Schools]. Retrieved from http://google.com/images
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(Google Images, 2019)
Who Knew Schools Offered Non-Degree Certificates
3/28/2019
I will be the first to admit; I never knew schools offered non-degree certificates. In fact, on job applications, I saw this option, but I never knew you could go through some prestigious universities and accomplish a certificate mastering a professional development. After the frustration from yesterday’s assignment, I decided to complete more schools for the research assignment. On the positive side, today was more accessible than yesterday. Today, I went to Forbes.com and looked at the ranked list of top prestigious schools in the United States. This was a start; most of the schools from this list were already complete from the original list that I was given. On my end, I decided to add a few more schools from the Forbes list that offered certificates. After reviewing several schools, I notice this assignment is more time consuming than it seemed. This is because each school website layout was different and the navigation through the site was more time consuming than I imagined. However, on each of the school’s website, I noticed a search bar that I initially thought would be helpful to locate the information that I needed. The drawbacks from using the search were linked to Google. That said, if I researched “certificate programs,” anything was liable to show up as a result; looking at each school individually was more helpful than other strategies that I previously used.
References
Google. (2019). Photo [Certificates]. Retrieved from http://google.com/images
.jpg)
(Google Images, 2019)
Organization of Research
3/29/2019
When I first received the initial assignment, the layout was simple but from the outside looking in it was confusing. For example, the list that was given had a row of schools on the left and the name of programs listed on the right. Considering I am new to the assigned task, there were a few schools that I tried to review their programs and was unsuccessful because the enrollment status wasn’t labeled and looking through each option would have taken a lot of time. When researching my portion, I decided to create a chart that labeled the school name, enrollment status, type of program, and the cost. This chart was easy to follow, and for those who wanted to reference my work, they knew the type of program to locate to get a clear understanding of the presented work. So far, the work is not as easy as I thought. One thing about Dr. T is she will make something seem extremely easy; however, when I was engaging in this assignment, it felt like I was researching to write one of her 8-page papers. By the end of today, I had most of the work complete and felt comfortable in the work that I was researching.
References
Google. (2019). Photo [Organization]. Retrieved from http://google.com/images
.jpg)
(Google Images, 2019)
Narrowing the List
3/30/2019
From the start, I tried to list approximately 10 schools that were on the Forbes list but not on Dr. T’s list. After looking into these schools separately, I noticed most of these prestigious universities are more liberal, and most of the majors that were listed did not present leadership or Olympism studies. This was frustrating because I had to minimize my list. Initially, I wanted to present at least 10 new schools that were not previously listed. All in all, I was able to gather information on 6 schools that offered non-degree seeking programs. For those who are confused with the terminology of non-degree seeking, it simply means taking a specific number of courses to obtain a certificate without credits being accumulated toward degree requirements. After completing some research, these classes are not cheap, and financial aid may be an option for some schools but not all. On Average, these courses totaled $2,500-$3,500 depending on the school and the number of credits needing to obtain the certificate. These courses are scheduled to work at your own pace and provide the opportunity for online options.
References
Google. (2019). Photo [Checklist]. Retrieved from http://google.com/images
(Google Images, 2019)
Turn it in Sunday’s
3/31/2019
Today is the day that I will turn in the project. This morning I have four schools to finish and decided to tackle the task around mid-day. My first two schools were straightforward. However, the last two schools took a long time to complete. First things first, I never knew there is a college that is dedicated to sports—United States Sports Academy. After conducting research, I realized this school covers all of the topics in sports except Olympism. For me, this was unbelievable. Initially, I was impressed with the course work offered by the Academy. However, I feel if you have a program dedicated to sports, you must cover all topics surrounding the sports field without limitations. Olympism is not a topic that is commonly covered. However, a school such as the Sports Academy should emphasize courses implementing the topic. When I think about Olympism, I not only think about sports but more so the elite abilities to accomplish a goal. These goals are not only geared toward able bodies but, those who are legally disabled—stressing adaptability. Nor here or there, I was able to complete my portion of the assignment and submit my final research to Dr. T.
References
Google. (2019). Photo [Sunday]. Retrieved from http://google.com/images
.jpg)
(Google Images, 2019)
Constructive Criticism is to be Expected
4/1/2019
Feedback back from the assignment was extremely constructive. Dr. T expressed her positive thoughts about having a chart. However, some of the instructions were not understood. In return, Dr. T asked me to take the 13 schools that I researched and list a course that involves leadership or Olympic values instead of the program or major and list the cost per credit hour and not the cost of the university. At this point, she wanted 13 schools with 13 courses. From this point, I listed the 13 schools and listed at least 2-3 courses per school that I felt met the requirements. In my previous experiences, Dr. T is a professor who grades extremely tough according to her instruction’s requirements. Well, my efforts to list more than the 13 classes gave her a chance to alleviate classes that she felt did not target her vision—hoping to keep the 13 schools to be contacted for further certificate opportunities. This task literally took the entire day. As I was completing the task, I realized it would be easy if I copied the link of information from the website and paste it to the assignment for a quick reference. This reference was to be used as a guide for Dr. T to examine the details of each course that the school offered—hoping to implement her idea requirements to develop her own plan and make sure the courses that I selected fit her desired requirements.
References
Google. (2019). Photo [Feedback]. Retrieved from http://google.com/images
.jpg)
(Google Images, 2019)
“Who has Hops?”
4/5/2019
As my internship is coming to an abrupt end, I have less than 20 hours to complete. Since my mentor and I last spoke, I am uncertain with the results from Lili Thompson’s father; that topic was never revisited. However, when speaking to Mr. Greene, he assigned me my last task. As I transition back into researching sports assignments, I had no idea what Mr. Greene had in mind. According to the instructions, the task sounds easy. I was instructed to “find players that can jump out of the gym. I mean like, players who really have hops. I need those players for the Globetrotters.” For those of you who do not understand the terminology, “jump out the gym and hops” is slang that is primarily used in the Urban community. These terms are used to describe someone’s ability to jump really high. Sports enthusiasts often use this term when referencing basketball as a result of outrageous dunks. The task seemed easy, just like the others but now it was time to start the research process. Just like all of my previous assignments, I always try to break the process down into steps that will allow me to generate thoughts and remove the possibility of experiencing burnout. During this stage, I decided to think and write out my first step. For me, this step was to figure out how and where I was going to recruit these players. However, once the assignment was presented, I knew I wanted to expose at least 10 players. Having this challenge in mind, I was forced to develop multiple options—I started with YouTube, ESPN, and Webstagram.
References
Google. (2019). Photo [Jonathan Clark]. Retrieved from http://google.com/images
(Google Images, 2019)
The Joy of Social Media
4/8/2019
Once I located three media platforms to recruit players, I decided to let the search begin. My requirements were simple (1) have the ability to jump and (2) perform dunks with original content while being creative—in other words, I was looking for players who are able to master video game dunks 😊. After looking at video content for about 2 hours, I realized this task was not easy at all. At this point, Mr. Greene did not necessarily care about the educational level as long as the age range was at least 18 years old. At first, he wanted college experience, but that task was not the most realistic and of course the chances of scoring an athletic player like Zion Williamson is completely out of our range. After hours of searching for content on YouTube, I stumbled across “Dunkademics.” This organization showcases players who not only possess skills but creative dunks from players all over the United States. Some of these players are high school prospects while others have years of experience in street ball. Regardless of the level of experience, I was seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and it feels like a matter of time before I can develop a list of elite athletes to present. During my search, I found former players from UConn and And1 Streetball. After locating my first two impressive dunkers, I used Webstagram to locate social media contact information.
Webstagram is a web-based platform that allows you to search for Instagram profiles. This social media software allows users to showcase their talent and those in search of specific content can use “hashtags” for a narrowed search. Once this assignment was presented, I knew from previous experiences that I must locate some sort of contact information and not just name of people because Mr. Greene will ensure the assignment is complete before submitting approved feedback. Of course, Webstagram had its own challenges, and I was forced to look for players who had both Instagram and Twitter information listed to ensure I was obtaining the correct information. On a positive side, social media enthusiasts tend to have multiple platforms but use the same username to remain consistent in their fan base. As the day comes to an end, I knew I wanted to add three more players to the list by the end of tomorrow—completing my first set of five players.
References
Google. (2019). Photo [Social Media]. Retrieved from http://google.com/images
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.jpg)
(Google Images, 2019)
Historical Challenges of Recruiting a Harlem Globetrotter
4/10/2019
If you’re a sports fan you probably heard of the movie “White Men Can’t Jump.” This was a challenge because many players of the opposite race have the ability and skills that minorities do. Unfortunately, knowing the history of the Harlem Globetrotters, I was afraid of adding certain types of players to the list. Although Mr. Greene did not mention race, I feel that comes with knowing the history of Globetrotter basketball, the original reason of the Globetrotter organization, and the real task behind conducting research—If you conduct proper research, some questions are already answered according to its historical background.
The Original Harlem Globetrotters were Chicago natives that started in 1926 and played their first game in 1927 under the direction of Abe Saperstein (Harlem Globetrotters, 2019). Looking into history, the Globetrotters were a traveling team who had challenges competing in the United States due to the racial inequalities. As most of us know, the NBA was considered to be a “Whites Only” organization in its early years. Now, the Globetrotters are entertainers who still travel the world; continuing their legendary mark for being creative and showcasing elite styles of basketball challenges.
Growing up as an inner-city youth in the urban community, the Harlem Globetrotters were basketball heroes. In fact, being able to experience a Globetrotter event years ago, usually meant you were more fortunate than most citizens in your community. However, it wasn’t until 1985 when female athletes were included—since then times have changed and you can now follow frequent female entertainers such as Lili Thompson.
This background history made today extremely difficult to locate my next three players to top off my first five prospects. As I am continuing my research, I am noticing a lot of players who have the skill and the qualified abilities to become a Globetrotters while other prospects that caught my eye were recent players of the Globetrotters (after performing further research). The challenges of today forced me to watch numerous videos and review comments, hoping to locate individual contact information. In the end, I was able to develop the first portion of my list.
References
Google. (2019). Photo [Original Harlem Globetrotters]. Retrieved from http://google.com/images
(Google Images, 2019)
My List has Hops--Thanks Dunkademics!
4/17/2019
Today is bitter-sweet. I know this is my last portion of the assignment and since the beginning of the week, I was able to log the remaining 200-hour requirement. However, my assignment is not fully complete. In fact, I still have five prospective players to locate. I decided to pick up where I left off and continue my search from Dunkademics. Fortunately, Dunkademics YouTube Channel just added some new content, and I was able to find some remarkable talent. There were two players in particular that captured my attention—Jonathon Clark and Daniel Kabeya. Neither of these players has previous experiences with the Globetrotters and may love the experience and opportunities the Globetrotter organization brings. Today was slightly easier because was previously able to map out most of the players I wanted for the second portion of the list. However, when developing this contact list, I never ranked these players, and I only captured information based on the order of the players that I recruited through these platforms. As I am finishing up my list, I was able to locate my 10 players and provide at least two social media contact information for Mr. Greene to follow up with.
This assignment was not only one of the most challenging but joyous. The instructions were simple, but that was also the challenge—not having any help or suggestions to move forward with the requirements. Overall, I was impressed with the assignments my mentor provided. For me, they were all learning experiences, and I gave 100% effort for each task. This assignment was even more exciting because of the very first conversation Mr. Greene and I had we spoke about the Globetrotters, and I had just transported them to Long Island, New York. To this day, I still remain in contact with most of those players that were on my flight as long with some previous Globetrotters from Columbus, Ohio.
References
Google. (2019). Photo [Dunkademics]. Retrieved from http://google.com/images
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