The First Month with the Amarillo Venom

When I first interviewed for the internship with the Amarillo Venom, Stephanie Tucker, their owner, basically told me there were no restrictions to what I could do with them. She could tell that although I was a Mass Comm major, I would be in semi-uncharted waters because my background is almost purely journalism, limited PR work (outside of the campaigns I had done for Jump n' Jive, Amarillo C.A.S.A., and Glidden paints, of course). But then she asked me, "What do you want to know learn about sports marketing?" Again, as a sports journalist my #1 dream is to cover the Denver Broncos; but I was not about to limit myself to purely journalism, I knew my journalistic ability would come in handy simply in writing press releases and game recaps after Venom seasons begins, but I also wanted to see how she handled different PR-type situations, contract talks, and sponsorship acquisitions. So she told me I would be their media coordinator, granted it would be in a limited role because I am still in school and working part time at Hastings and as well as doing work for WT's The Prairie News. But I was not about to let this opportunity to learn about the inner workings of a sport's team and their PR work slip away. 

The first week was all about writing press releases, I wrote about 5 press releases within the first couple weeks. They involved everything from the league meetings, to Amarillo Venom schedule, to a press release for the press conference. But once we slowed down on press releases, I did not hesitate to ask Stephanie for more work and she assigned me to help work on contracts with the media companies, and that is what I have been doing since my second week.

(One of the many press  releases I wrote was for Chic-Fil-A Family Night)

 Not only have I been working on contracts but I have also been working with the local news stations about getting word out about our pre-Super Bowl party pack and also been getting Stephanie on the morning shows to talk about it. In doing what I have been doing in the last two weeks with contracts, working with media outlets for advertising and getting Stephanie on news networks, what I have been doing for her and the Venom, my career trajectory finally feels real.

(Contract Headers)