Erik 2016

I’ve had a great 2016 that was filled with so many new opportunities and experiences for myself! I’ve also made and continued some great friendships along the way.

This year, I’ve been busier than I have ever been in the past! While sometimes it can be tiring, it’s much more enjoyable being busy and doing things, rather than sitting around and doing nothing for an extended period of time. I spent most of the year in between everything I’ve been doing, continuing my job at Leads On Demand.

While continuing to work in the Quality Control department, I also began to work more in the data management department as there was some personnel changes. Working in data management has helped me learn a great deal more about how important data is in the business world. If the data is analyzed well and in adherence to whatever specifics are set, there can be great results. It’s been a great learning experience for me and I’m very interested to learn more about data management, as so many things can be different about data depending on what industry a company is in. In addition to working at Leads On Demand, I also worked with the Orlando Predators.

This season, instead of working in game-day operations like in seasons past, I spent the whole season, February through August, working in the football operations department. Thankfully, heading into the season I had a bit of experience from the latter part of last season working in football operations so I wasn’t completely out of depth!

It was a very exciting season for the Predators as we started the season 7-0! It was a lot of fun to be around the facilities and help out in anyway possible while this winning streak was going on. Even when we lost a couple games here and there, it was still great to be there and see how everybody from the players, to the training staff, to the football operations staff and then to the coaches had a sense of renewed focus about everything we did, whether it was something as small as doing laundry, or as important as a padded practice.

We finished the season with a 12-4 record and made the playoffs but unfortunately we lost in the first round of the playoffs in an overtime game against our rival, the Jacksonville Sharks. It was definitely disappointing to have the season end that way, especially since it felt like we had a great chance of winning the ArenaBowl. At the time, when I looked ahead to next season, I thought we could be just as good and I was excited to potentially return to the staff. Unfortunately though, the Predators franchise folded in October so there will not be another season.

While this season was disappointing with how it ended and even sadder when the team folded, I have so many great memories and friendships created from this experience. I formed great relationships with the players, the training staff, the football operations staff and the coaches throughout the season and no matter how much work needed to be done, it was always a blast coming each day and interacting with everybody. It was a joy to go into work each day no matter how much work needed to be done, or what the weather was like here, (summer in Florida!) I never wanted to miss a day.

The memories that I will always cherish are the fun moments we as a football operations staff had while waiting for laundry to be done, the long days and nights moving all of our equipment from one facility to another multiple times, getting players equipment ready for the games and so many more. I probably laughed more this season then I ever have in a seven month stretch. I’m so happy and grateful to have had this opportunity as it was a great learning experience but more importantly, I met some great people and formed some fantastic friendships.

This fall, was also the first year I covered college football and basketball games as a member of the media! I was given an awesome opportunity by an online media site called TheSkyBoat to cover these sporting events and it has definitely been a great experience for me. I’ve never covered football from a media perspective before so this at times, is new and challenging but a lot of fun!

I’ve covered so many games this year with teams across the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Big Ten Conference and the American Athletic Conference and I’ve also got to go on many road trips out of state to cover these events. My two favorite games that I covered this season were the Clemson vs. Pittsburgh game in South Carolina, where Pittsburgh upset Clemson on a game-winning field goal, and the Big Ten Championship game in Indianapolis between Wisconsin and Penn State. Both of these events were great for different reasons.

Clemson vs. Pittsburgh was great because it was a very competitive game and Pittsburgh won in an upset. Clemson was ranked 2nd in the country at the time and I was down on the field right underneath the goalpost that the game winning kick sailed through! It was so cool to be part of the experience on the field when the Pittsburgh team and staff rushed the field and celebrated!

The Big Ten Championship game was awesome as it was the first ever really major college football game I covered. It was a very cool to be in Indianapolis for the first time and cover the events leading up to the game, as well as the game itself. The press conference between both head coaches before the game was particularly cool for me as I got to ask the Penn State head coach James Franklin a question!

During the conference, he seemed to be getting annoyed with all of the questions he was receiving about the College Football Playoff, so I asked him a question regarding special teams and he seemed to be thrilled with the question as his face lit up and he said, “Great question!” He went on to give a very lengthy and informative answer but it was very cool for me to be able to get a great response from him as I was a little nervous asking the question!

Probably the most fun “vacation” I had this year was going to New York City in the wintertime! I have been to New York City several times, including earlier this year, but the trips were always in the summer so when a couple of my friends were going there in mid-December to cover the Heisman Trophy ceremony, I leapt at the chance to go with them! Though I didn’t attend the Heisman ceremony, I was part of the pre-event coverage as I wrote the preview and breakdown of all of the candidates.

The best part of the trip was wandering and checking out New York City in the wintertime! I have always been a bit more partial to cold weather than warmer weather, so it was cool to experience everything I’ve done in the summers there but in the winter. There’s nothing better than walking in Central Park, or across the Brooklyn Bridge on a cold day with the wind around you. Especially if the sun is out!

We got to check out so many cool sites like the ice skating rink at Central Park, the Freedom Tower and World Trade Center Memorial, the Empire State Building and of course, the Christmas Tree at the Rockefeller Center. It was fun to show one of my friends around as he’d never been to New York City before and it was great to see his reactions to everything.

While there, it also snowed about an inch and we were actually walking around the Time Square area when that happened and that was a very cool thing to experience as I don’t see snow too often. Another fun thing was that I ran into a few different friends from Florida, which was a bit surprising because the odds of a person running into someone you know, from your home area in New York City are not very high!

I’ve had an amazing 2016 and the memories and experiences I’ve had this year will be something that I remember for the rest of my life! 2016 has been great but I’m excited to see what 2017 will bring!

Stay caught up with me at my blog Starting At The 17.