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CNN10 Special Edition: Exploring Careers in the Sports Industry

 

We're here at the home of the Atlanta Braves Truist park from the people who keep the field looking major league ready to the creative minds designing what players wear to the planners bringing that ballpark energy and leaders making a difference in the community.

 

Today we are stepping behind the plate with the team behind the team let's go. Turns out a path to a career in professional sports doesn't have to include scoring goals or hitting homers it can go through science, art, music, community work, food, and more.

 

Pro sports teams create a micro economy full of hundreds of amazing people working amazing careers and today we're rounding the bases with some of them in this 10-minute special.

 

Meet Inseong Kim vice president and creative director of the Atlanta Braves. Some careers in sports start with a sketch and end up in the hands of fans around the world.

 

I have one of the coolest jobs in the world because I get to design things and the players and fans and one of my favorite sports to get to wear it and they get to keep it so it's really fun.

 

From jerseys to bobbleheads creativity is key.

 

jersey [ˈdʒɝzɪ] n. 运动衫

bobblehead [ˋbɑb!ˌhɛd] n. 摇头娃娃; 摇头公仔

 

This is the Outkast bobblehead so we got Big Boi and Andre 3000 over here.

 

And for Mr. Kim a little nostalgia from his childhood inspired some big ideas.

 

nostalgia [nɑsˈtældʒɪǝ] n. 怀旧之情

 

So this is a new game new store here at Truist Park called South End Trading Company. We wanted to remind you of kind of the baseball card shops that you and I went to growing up.

 

kind of 有點兒

 

You can actually come here and buy a baseball from the game that you watch today so we have a neon light outside the store so once all the baseballs from today's game are brought over here the light goes on and you come in the store and you can say you know what this is this is my first baseball game so I want to make sure that I get a baseball from today's game.

 

Who is a teacher out there who impacted you on your journey?

 

So I want to give a shout out to Miss Spencer my my art teacher in seventh grade. Without her I never would have pursued art.

 

She was the one that that encouraged me and told me hey this is something that you're really good at maybe you should continue to follow it because she saw something in me and I and I'm so grateful to her for that.

 

Amazing impacting the next generation teachers out there keep it up. This is Scott Beam director of field operations.

 

Long before fans fill the stands and players take the field work on the field is well underway.

 

We're here 24-7 pretty much from March until October so there's a lot of demand but from fertilizing to cutting to dragging the infield to managing moisture there's a lot that goes on into making this thing playable every day.

 

drag [dræɡ] v. 耙（地）

infield [ˈɪnˌfild] n.【棒】內野，內場

 

Keeping a field looking major league ready takes serious skill and science.

 

For the next generation out there if they're looking to maybe get into this kind of career path what sort of skills or studies should they be working on?

 

I got you science is big for us obviously we're watching disease control we're fertilizing so knowing rates of fertilization I graduated from Penn State with my turf degree I mean that's a good program to get into to be able to learn this stuff and to do a career like this.

 

turf [tɝf] n. 草皮，草根土

 

While players study the playbook this crew studies soil, weather patterns and more to make sure the field is game ready.

 

The biggest thing for us is weather especially down here we're not a dome facility so yeah I'm always watching the weather.

 

Tarping is of utmost important on this field I have a system underneath the field that I can pump a hundred two thousand gallons of water in an hour off of this field I mean that's that's what we care about is the players safety and then you know obviously we want to look good but if it has totake a seat back and look good we want to make sure it plays good.

 

tarp [tɑrp] n.（涂有焦油、蜡等的）防水布（或帆布）

take a back seat（在组织或活动中）退居次要位置 (= take a seat back)

 

You hear that preparation preparation preparation and attention to details he didn't say a hundred thousand gallons of water off this field he said one hundred and two thousand gallons of water he can pump off this field that's awesome.

 

From the field to the front row seats meet Katie Hearn manager of game day staffing and administration.

 

If you like meeting greeting and making people smile you can make a career out of that as well.

 

Katie you help manage the people that fans interact with most at a ballpark what makes a great employee?

 

Being a good teammate I tell people who come to work for us the importance of being a good role player if you're coming from playing a sport you know that the person who passes the ball is not always going to get the limelight but they are so important to the game and so we all work together as a team it's a team sport on the field and off so we tell people know your role get excited about your role get excited to do your role every day and you're gonna have a great time.

 

Katie always says one thing what is the most important part of your uniform and it's the smile.

 

If you can come to the ballpark give a warm and sincere greeting with a smile and it's got to be sincere anticipate the fans needs and at the end of the night we give them a fond farewell and we make sure that they enjoy themselves at this ballpark creating memories that they'll never forget and relationships that they will always have for the rest of their life.

 

After landing your dream job your life changed in a major way tell us your story and what kept pushing you through it?

 

I started with the Braves in 2016 and then I suddenly lost my vision in 2017 and I really wanted to continue working because of the passion I had built for our guests and for our staff and so the Braves are really supportive of that we had an accessible advisory committee at the time that were really helping us decide what we were going to put in Truist Park I was lucky enough to be a part of that in my very first year and right now we're standing in section 39 which is front row accessible seating I want to make sure that this ballpark is the most inclusive place that you can go watch a game or any type of entertainment so that is what keeps me here and that's the passion that I continue to hold every day.

 

Next up Danielle Badassi VP of Community Affairs and Executive Director of the Atlanta Braves Foundation.

 

If you dream of creating positive change in the world you can do that far beyond the field.

 

How does your career show that having a career in sports can impact people far beyond the playing field?

 

Oh my goodness well first of all I like to say that I have the best job in baseball because I get to use this whole stadium all of our players our teammates all of our fans and I get to go and do good things for our community so whether that's supporting youth baseball building baseball fields it's going out and doing food distributions I get to build community through baseball every day and it's fun.

 

And beyond the ballpark the impact keeps growing.

 

We honored one of our Braves heroes Hank Aaron with the establishment of the Henry Louis Aaron Fund and through that this past year we've been able to announce a project called the Hank Aaron Diamonds.

 

The Hank Aaron Diamonds are going to put a brand new baseball and softball infield at every Atlanta public school high school over the next year so we've already opened four baseball fields opened in February on Hank's birthday which was a really special thing and now we're in the process of building the four softball fields we're going season by season so when we're done we'll have 16 brand new Hank Aaron Diamonds across all of Atlanta public schools and that to me feels like a love letter to our kids in Atlanta that that will have an opportunity to play on a Hank Aaron Diamond to feel like they're a part of the Braves and that's really what this is all about.

 

For many that's what makes the job truly meaningful.

 

This can change lives what I do every day gets to change lives whether it's just giving someone a moment extending the life of a child and creating opportunities and that's the privilege of all of this.

 

So whether it's science, design, entertainment or simply showing up with a smile these careers prove you don't have to be on the game day roster to work in professional sports.

 

Did you notice how everyone said that they have the best job? Well it may be hard to compete with Jeffrey Schmidt senior director of entertainment and events and he had a surprise for us.

 

Oh man it's so good to see you Cory. You too. Listen you're in Braves country you got the hat you're looking good but you know what if you're gonna take in the experience I got I can't let you go without a jersey but check it out oh yeah that is just for you right there check that out we got to do this in style.

 

I need to wear this. Yes. For those of you who love music and performing arts did you ever think you could join a pro sports team and bring some positive vibes?

 

Baseball season typically runs April through the end of September into October if you make the postseason but this is a year-round operation it takes us all year to plan these experiences.

 

I have a team of over a hundred people that help put on the game day experience just for the live entertainment element so between our drumline and our tomahawk team and our mascot team and all the live entertainers and variety performers that come up you don't just have to be a baseball fan to come to a game like this you just be an entertainment fan.

 

drumline 鼓号乐队

tomahawk [ˈtɑmǝˌhɔk] n. (北美印第安人的）戰斧

 

Jeffrey's path to his career might not be what you'd expect.

 

So I wanted to be on Broadway musical theater was my passion that's what I wanted to do so for a brief moment I went to a theater school in New York City but I realized quickly that I kind of I love the passion of being in the live experience so I ended up after college going into theme parks I worked in theme parks for 14 years creating consumer events and also I've been all over the country did that for 14 years and now this is my 14th year in Major League Baseball.

 

Turns out the path to a career in pro sports doesn't have to go through a game day roster it can go through arts, music, science, community work, leadership, and good old-fashioned teamwork.

 

Thanks for learning with me and playing ball today I'm Coy Wire we are CNN 10 I'm out of here!