This was the first day I was given the responsibility to cover an event time at the Sports Complex. The Complex hosts the Great Lakes Alliance youth soccer league, which has weeknight practice times along with weekend tournaments and college showcases. Running these events from a facilities and operations standpoint essentially means ensuring the right equipment is on each field, turning on the lights prior to the teams’ arrival, being present during the event to fix anything that might go wrong, and locking everything up once the teams leave. It should be a low-stress role so long as you have done enough preparation prior to the start of the event. Being placed in charge of the Complex was somewhat stressful for me just because of the responsibility I had to take to ensure that nothing went wrong for the guests. Once the event was underway, I was able to settle in and let things happen without as much anxiety, and nothing happened to cause me any undue stress during the event. It was encouraging for me to get through the event without any incidents, although I could have done without the constant rain. I think this experience reinforced the necessity for thorough preparation to make the actual event much less stressful. It was also encouraging to feel that I had done enough to gain the trust of my supervisors that they would let me run the event on my own without any direct supervision. I will look forward to being given more tasks like this in the future.
(Photo credit: hofvillagesports.com)