Every June and July for the past eight years I have had the great honor of teaching and learning from high school students with an interest in sports business. Between our summer program at Columbia, The School of the New York Times, and some other programs like the Manhattan Sports Business Academy, at least parts of June and July were filled with helping a new, engaged group of young people figure out their interest, promote discussions and build relationships for the future.
They came from China and Colombia, Brooklyn and Los Angeles, Mexico and Japan, Texas and Massachusetts. They were a mix of kids from prep school and the inner city, massive high schools and microprograms, but all shared curious passion for finding out what they could do with the area of business that drove them most…all the off field goings on. We had elite athletes and kids who loved stats, gamers and writers, tech wizzes and others who were just fans of the game…all willing to learn and work together.
And while the classes were largely of boys, we had a growing number of young women from various backgrounds in the programs, many of whom, as pointed out by one young woman last year, there because they not only played sports, but they had spent time with a parent or a sibling who pointed out that the opportunity for them to succeed as business professionals had never been greater. “My dad said to me, why can’t I be the general manager of the LA Galaxy one day, and I realized he was right, so that’s why I’m here.”
New York gave us such a wide-ranging playground for our students to engage; arenas, team executives, professional athletes, college athletes, brand executives, social media leaders and many others all made themselves available. Then we had the unplanned moments that proved invaluable…from negotiating the New York City subway to being able to attend conferences ranging from Hashtag Sports to SABR all within the course of the learning day. Thanks to colleagues like Al Santaserre and Ray Negron at the Yankees CC Sabathia stopped by to ask them questions; we had random run in’s with Alex Rodriguez on the streets of New York and Larry Brown on the Columbia campus, as well as getting to casually meet people in their sphere of influence like “House of Highlights” founder Omar Raja, and world famous ball hawk Zach Hampel, who actually had his streak of catching foul balls at a game end the day we met him as Yankee Stadium. And while we had the requisite big guest like the late David Stern from time to time, the value our students gleaned from the stories of people who have been on the business side…ticket sales agents, mascots, lawyers, agents…was even more invaluable.
For us the invaluable moments remain the relationships. I marvel at how far our high school kids continue to go…now on to jobs at the NFL, the Croatian Olympic Committee, MLB and on and on. We have had kids who rose out of their shy shell to become digital empresarios and website editors, and others who are pursing law school and MBA degrees. Two of our high school students even went the full route, graduating from our Master’s program at Columbia after they finished their undergrad degrees.
The things they taught us…about digital engagement, viewership habits, emerging sports, fundraising…were really gold, and they continue to be invaluable to us even today. We also got to learn…through follow up notes and cards…they impact we had on them, which was as important if not more, than the lessons we tried to bring across on field trips and classroom discussions and projects.
This summer there are more than a fair share of online classes and attempts at class, but it is really hard to do without the experiential. The showing up, the interaction between the kids was really the gold. Now many are trying for the silver. So, while I have the extra time this summer to pursue other opportunities, I do miss the kids…many of whom have already advanced up the ladder with a little push from the pros in the classroom.
And speaking of a little push, if you get a chance check out Future Sports Business leaders, the peer to peer platform some of our students from last summer created that has formed sports business clubs in high schools across the country, It shows how much WE have learned from them and will continue to do going forward.
A great experience had by all…especially by me and our staff.
