When Camosun’s Sport Management Program invited Jeff Harris of the Victoria Royals to do some mock interviews for their students a few years ago, it’s doubtful either party could have predicted the beginning of such a mutually beneficial relationship.
Harris, the local Western Hockey League (WHL) team’s director of hockey operations and communications, has since hired several Camosun students per year to do internships with the Royals and last year was named Camosun’s Co-operative Education Sport and Exercise Employer of the Year.
And at the danger of this becoming a “rah-rah-rah,” “I’ll pat your back if you pat mine” scenario between the two organizations, the Camosun interns working with the Royals franchise are reaping the rewards of internship positions that are preparing them for jobs in the professional sports team industry.
“We want to make sure that the students find value in these internships, and we want to give them lots of opportunities to succeed, and we’ve been very lucky,” says Harris from his office at the Save-On Foods Memorial Centre. “We’ve seen some spectacular things from these students, and some of them become very integral to what we do here.”
Putting in his time
Bryden Burrell is a fourth-year Camosun student currently finishing up his bachelor’s degree in Sport and Exercise Leadership at the Pacific Institute for Sport Excellence on the Interurban campus. Burrell is also the longest-running intern with the Victoria Royals, now in his fourth year with the hockey team, currently acting as the team’s communications coordinator.
Four years as an intern in any industry is a long time, but Burrell sees the value in putting in his time with the WHL hockey team.
“I didn’t really know what to expect with that first year and where it could lead,” says Burrell, “but just to be able to spend these past four years with the team, I’ve learned so much with regards to the WHL and working for a hockey team in general. That four years’ experience that I’m gaining from working with the Royals is just as valuable as the degree that I’ll walk out with when I’m done.”
Burrell now acts as a mentor for a new group of interns, overseeing them as they compile stats to distribute to the media before games, live tweet during the action, and write press releases and game reports for the team.
“I try to give them some advice,” he says. “I tell them that if they just keep putting in their time and working hard and showing them that you’re committed, by the end of it they’ll walk out of here with the experience and qualifications to get a job, even potentially into professional sports.”
With the end goal of getting a full-time job with a professional hockey team after he graduates in April, Burrell says over the four years of working for the Royals he has mastered the art of balancing his studies with his work responsibilities, and he has passed along this knowledge to new interns.
“One of the biggest things was the ability to balance your time properly between school and work, and that’s one of the things I’ve learned over the four years of doing this,” he says. “So I don’t have to scramble to do schoolwork at the last minute or anything. It’s definitely manageable, and to gain that experience has been so beneficial.”
Fresh, unbridled passion
Second-year Camosun Sport Management student Jeff Phillips is currently a couple of months into his first internship with the Royals.
Phillips, who grew up playing hockey in Alberta but moved away from it in recent years to focus on track and field, saw his interest in the sport reignited when he returned to Victoria and started going to Camosun. PISE, he says, is a hotbed of hockey interest.
So, when a classmate who interned for the Royals last year mentioned there were more openings coming up in team communications, Phillips jumped at the opportunity. He remembers what it felt like the first time he walked through the arena doors.
“It was like a nervous excitement because it was something I hadn’t done before, in terms of the area of communications and writing. I wasn’t 100 percent sure, but I’ve actually turned out to be a pretty decent writer,” he chuckles. “I was nervous because I wasn’t sure if this was the right thing for me, but it was exciting because it was a new challenge and a new opportunity.”
Harris says having the interns around the rink creates a fresh energy that helps to keep all of the team staff invigorated, as well as make their daily tasks interesting.
“One of the things that students bring is unbridled passion. They want to be here and hockey is like any job, it has its day-to-day monotonies and the moments where you can feel a little bit run down, and the students come in with this enthusiasm and they want to learn everything,” says Harris. “They are so willing, but more importantly they are capable, and they come in with a really good skill set that they’ve been taught at Camosun.”
While Phillips is new to his intern position and will likely see it pay dividends as he puts in more and more time, he’s already feeling pretty good about working within the Royals organization.
“I’m enjoying myself quite a bit. It’s a lot of hard work, but for the most part it’s right up my alley and what I like to do,” he says. “It also gives me a different view on how sports teams run.”
Success stories
Camosun Sports Fitness and Leadership and Sport Management graduate Rachel Sproule found her way to the Royals after she bumped into Corey St. Laurent, the team’s current manager of communications and hockey operations coordinator, at UVic.
After interning with the Royals last year in hockey operations, Sproule snagged a full-time position as manager of special events and hockey programs with the Moose Jaw Warriors WHL team in Saskatchewan. Now a success story for both Camosun and the Royals, Sproule has some keen advice for new interns.
“Try and experience as much as you can with the Royals; they do give you a lot of opportunities within,” she says. “They definitely give you the tools and leeway to do what you want, but they also expect a lot of you.”
Burrell, who hopes to follow in Sproule’s footsteps and secure a WHL job of his own in April, says her getting hired in Moose Jaw bodes well for other Camosun students interning with the hockey team.
“With Rachel getting that job it just shows what Jeff [Harris] and Corey [St. Laurent] are able to do with the individuals that are going through the Royals who are qualified to go into these jobs. And it also gives a good name to the school,” he says.
Rah-rah-rah and pats on the back
Although their work duties aren’t quite as fast-paced and exciting as the young WHL hockey players who hit the ice for the Royals and their opposing teams, there is a common thread for young interns looking to rise in the ranks of the sports industry, according to Camosun’s Sport Management department chair Nevin Harper.
“I have heard from students that they are excited seeing players jump from local minor hockey to the WHL, as well as the potential for the next step to pro hockey,” shares Harper. “A parallel experience exists for these students in their envisioning themselves working full-time in the WHL, as well as demystifying the thought of working in professional hockey.”
Dealing with Camosun College, says Harris, has been a pure pleasure for the Victoria Royals. “They’ve just been absolutely fantastic to work with in every possible way. They’ve been very supportive of what we’re trying to do here and they have an understanding that our commitment is a little larger than most internships,” says Harris. “They’re a first-rate organization to work with. From the work advisors to the teachers we’ve been dealing with, they’ve been absolutely top notch.”
Well, maybe those pats on the back and cheers we alluded to earlier might just be in order after all.