Greater Cleveland Sports Commission
The Greater Cleveland Sports Commission is a non-profit organization governed by a committed group of trustees representing some of the region's most esteemed private, public and nonprofit institutions. The organization currently has ten full-time staff overseeing sports development, marketing, communications, fundraising and events management. The Sports Commission have experienced tremendous growth through their ten-year existence and the entrepreneurial spirit abounds within the organization. The Sports Commission has established itself as a revenue-generating entity that has become an integral part of Cleveland's economic future. Sports Commission events have rapidly become valued community assets. While Sports Commission events mean tens of millions of annual dollars to the local economy, they also add much more.
The mission of the Sports Commission is to “measurably enhance the economy, image and quality of life in the Greater Cleveland community by attracting and creating significant sporting events and activities.”
The mission of the Sports Commission is to “measurably enhance the economy, image and quality of life in the Greater Cleveland community by attracting and creating significant sporting events and activities.”
Missy Kinkopf
Missy Kinkopf is the Events & Housing Coordinator for the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission. Her main responsibilities include planning and managing Sports Commission events as well as overseeing hotel properties and housing placement. Prior to joining the Sports Commission, Missy was the Community Events Specialist at The Diversity Center of Northeast Ohio. There, she assisted in planning and executing the 2010 Diversity Center Walk, Rock and Run, Humanitarian Award Dinner, and other community events. Missy began her career with the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission as an Events Intern in January 2009. While in this position, she was extended the opportunity to serve as the Housing Coordinator for the 2009 Continental Cup. Given her passion and commitment to the Sports Commission, she was offered a full time position. Missy attended Tiffin University where she received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Hospitality and Tourism Management and a minor in Marketing. She remains active at the University by running the Cheerleading Alumni Program.
2012 Continental Cup - Cleveland Indians Baseball Tournament
The Cleveland Indians Charities Continental Cup is on track to become one of the most significant youth baseball tournaments in the United States. The Cleveland Indians Charities Continental Cup is unique when compared to any other international youth baseball tournament. Participating athletes have the chance of a lifetime to play competitive baseball against some of the top teams from across the United States and around the world while experiencing a travel adventure and cultural exchange beyond compare.
My Experience with the Sports Commission and the Continental Cup
Missy came to TU to speak to our event management class, when she came she also offered to interview students for positions within the Sports Commission. I immediately jumped at the opportunity to interview and gain some experience interviewing. I figured the worst that could happen was that I would at least have and interview so that I would know what to expect.
The interview went well and Missy offered my a position helping with the baseball operations side of the Continental Cup Youth Sports Tournament. The Continental Cup started the first week in July and ran through the 9th of July. It was a short amount of time but in that time I gained an extreme amount of invaluable experience. The first day that we showed up we had a quick orientation meeting where we learned of our duties and room assignments. During the week we stayed on Baldwin Wallace's campus and were on call full time. My job was to be on the event crew. More specifically the baseball event crew.
After we finished out orientation we began to set up the base operations at Baldwin Wallace. This involved getting the athlete entertainment room ready and setting up the headquarters in the basement of the college union. This essentially was us emptying a couple truck loads full of equipment. Once we got all that set up the volunteers showed up and we began to fill athlete participation bags. There were over 3,000 athletes participating at the event and there were also many different sponsors. We filled the varying participant bags with coupons from the various local sponsors along with items specific to the sport of play. I think I've seen enough Mechie's coupons to last me a lifetime.
Once we finished with the participant bags on Monday we readied the vans to take our equipment to the three different locations at which we were playing baseball. The following two days were consumed by setting up the various locations, on Tuesday when we were finished setting up the two baseball locations we went back to help set up some of the larger locations for the soccer tournament. Monday was our only 'regular' for the week. It was our last easy day after that the athletes showed up and the days became even more hectic. And it became a very long week very quickly.
Once we got our locations set up on Tuesday we returned to the headquarters to rest up while we waited for the athletes to start showing up. Athletes began showing up as early as 1 in the morning on Wednesday morning. We worked shifts for the last night arrivals. The baseball crew worked the first shift on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning which ended up being the worst shift to work (of course) because the athlete arrival schedule was immediately thrown out the window when teams began arriving outside of there scheduled times. Tuesday was a long night.
Wednesday came very early. Luckily we got to sleep in a bit that morning. Wednesday didn't differ very much from the day before in terms of setting up locations, we set up our final baseball location and got the rest of the locations set up. After that it was back to the dorms to rest a bit before the opening ceremony. The opening ceremony was a spectacle to say the least. It was held at the Cleveland Browns stadium and featured all 3,000+ athletes both foreign and domestic. The Cavaliers entertainment, Scream team and their announcer, were there and the entire city of Cleveland was invited. Despite there only being family and fans in the stands for the most part. Essentially the opening ceremony for the continental cup was a slimmed down version of the opening ceremonies for the Olympics.
Once the tournament started the next day things were a lot smoother running. We knew what was happening, we were at a set location and had a set schedule to follow. The venues were responsible for setting up the playing fields and there were umpires responsible to keeping score. The only thing that we were responsible for was to make sure that the umpires had the right amount of baseballs and that the teams agreed upon the scores. Surprisingly everything went smoothly and there were no altercations. Coaches were very understanding and the umpires did an admirable job and remained professional. All that was left for us was to sit back and watch some baseball.
Despite being long days Friday and Saturday went smoothly. Then Sunday hit. Sunday we had to finish the semi final games at the venues in the morning. Then we had to clean up the venues and take everything back to headquarters. After that we had to get both championship teams to Progressive Field so that they could play their Championship game. It was a lot of work, but being able to see behind the scenes, and to watch the athletes get a chance to play at Progressive Field was quite an experience. Shortly after leaving Progressive Field the awe wore off because reality set it. Now we had to check all the athletes out.
This turned into a very long night, and a very early morning. Actually they both merged together. It was very stressful at times as some of the other staff didn't quite pull their weight. And some of the teams didn't coordinate very well, nor did they clean their rooms. But I can't complain because, met some great people, made some great contacts, and most importantly I had a great experience and learning a lot about running an event.
The interview went well and Missy offered my a position helping with the baseball operations side of the Continental Cup Youth Sports Tournament. The Continental Cup started the first week in July and ran through the 9th of July. It was a short amount of time but in that time I gained an extreme amount of invaluable experience. The first day that we showed up we had a quick orientation meeting where we learned of our duties and room assignments. During the week we stayed on Baldwin Wallace's campus and were on call full time. My job was to be on the event crew. More specifically the baseball event crew.
After we finished out orientation we began to set up the base operations at Baldwin Wallace. This involved getting the athlete entertainment room ready and setting up the headquarters in the basement of the college union. This essentially was us emptying a couple truck loads full of equipment. Once we got all that set up the volunteers showed up and we began to fill athlete participation bags. There were over 3,000 athletes participating at the event and there were also many different sponsors. We filled the varying participant bags with coupons from the various local sponsors along with items specific to the sport of play. I think I've seen enough Mechie's coupons to last me a lifetime.
Once we finished with the participant bags on Monday we readied the vans to take our equipment to the three different locations at which we were playing baseball. The following two days were consumed by setting up the various locations, on Tuesday when we were finished setting up the two baseball locations we went back to help set up some of the larger locations for the soccer tournament. Monday was our only 'regular' for the week. It was our last easy day after that the athletes showed up and the days became even more hectic. And it became a very long week very quickly.
Once we got our locations set up on Tuesday we returned to the headquarters to rest up while we waited for the athletes to start showing up. Athletes began showing up as early as 1 in the morning on Wednesday morning. We worked shifts for the last night arrivals. The baseball crew worked the first shift on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning which ended up being the worst shift to work (of course) because the athlete arrival schedule was immediately thrown out the window when teams began arriving outside of there scheduled times. Tuesday was a long night.
Wednesday came very early. Luckily we got to sleep in a bit that morning. Wednesday didn't differ very much from the day before in terms of setting up locations, we set up our final baseball location and got the rest of the locations set up. After that it was back to the dorms to rest a bit before the opening ceremony. The opening ceremony was a spectacle to say the least. It was held at the Cleveland Browns stadium and featured all 3,000+ athletes both foreign and domestic. The Cavaliers entertainment, Scream team and their announcer, were there and the entire city of Cleveland was invited. Despite there only being family and fans in the stands for the most part. Essentially the opening ceremony for the continental cup was a slimmed down version of the opening ceremonies for the Olympics.
Once the tournament started the next day things were a lot smoother running. We knew what was happening, we were at a set location and had a set schedule to follow. The venues were responsible for setting up the playing fields and there were umpires responsible to keeping score. The only thing that we were responsible for was to make sure that the umpires had the right amount of baseballs and that the teams agreed upon the scores. Surprisingly everything went smoothly and there were no altercations. Coaches were very understanding and the umpires did an admirable job and remained professional. All that was left for us was to sit back and watch some baseball.
Despite being long days Friday and Saturday went smoothly. Then Sunday hit. Sunday we had to finish the semi final games at the venues in the morning. Then we had to clean up the venues and take everything back to headquarters. After that we had to get both championship teams to Progressive Field so that they could play their Championship game. It was a lot of work, but being able to see behind the scenes, and to watch the athletes get a chance to play at Progressive Field was quite an experience. Shortly after leaving Progressive Field the awe wore off because reality set it. Now we had to check all the athletes out.
This turned into a very long night, and a very early morning. Actually they both merged together. It was very stressful at times as some of the other staff didn't quite pull their weight. And some of the teams didn't coordinate very well, nor did they clean their rooms. But I can't complain because, met some great people, made some great contacts, and most importantly I had a great experience and learning a lot about running an event.
cleveland_sports_commission_hours.docx | |
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