Central Washington University hosted the 5th annual Sport Management Summit

Central Washington University hosted the 5th annual Sport Management Summit this past

Wednesday. Sean Dalin, Director for the Northwest Center for Sport, Associate Professor and

Coordinator at CWU and the Sport Management Leadership team planned and made this event

possible for the students and community. The summit included two separate panels, one focusing

on Nonprofit Sport Organizations and the other centered around Commercial Sport

Organizations.

The keynote address speech was given by KC Smurthwaite, after the panels

followed with lunch-in a networking session and ending the day with a reception. It is a big

opportunity for Sport Management Students and anyone wanting to break into the world of

sports to connect and listen to professional talk about their current roles in sport.

This year's summit focused around ‘Climbing to New Heights in Sports.’ KC Smurthwaite, the

Athletics Admin, Consultant on Athletics and Higher Education Revenue, gave the Summit’s

keynote message. Smurthwaite focused on the importance of having your backpacks ready for

"the climb,” and what tools should be in that backpack and ready, such as the clock (your

internal ticker), a map (road map) and first aid kit (mental health). KC mentioned the importance

that we as people need to know our weaknesses, which then can be worked on and fixed. After

his speech, I got the opportunity to talk to Smurthwaite in a private interview. It was important to

ask what advice he would give people going into the sports world and what students or anyone

should know, “be okay with taking losses and practice like you are going to lose.” Smurthwaite

expressed.

The Nonprofit Sport Organizations panel consisted of Jenee James, Assistant Executive Director

of Education and Special programs at WIAA, John A Cooper, President & CEO at Yakima

Valley Tourism, Kevin Bodle, Athletics Academics Advisor at Fresno State Athletics, and

Brandon Rinta Head Men’s Basketball coach at CWU Athletics. This panel was diverse in conversation, each of these panelists told their stories of how they each entered the sports world,

what was surprising about each other's careers, their toughest responsibilities and creating culture in their own workplace. Bodle highlighted, “Never pass up an opportunity to thank the people who helped you,” while also understanding that change is common in sport. Cooper expressed his most surprising realization was having a lot of interaction with many people. Jenee spoke on the culture of your work environment can be created by building relationships. Rinta mentioned that building relationships while coaching can be a tough responsibility to have.

Our second panel centering around Commercial Sport consisted of two successful women in the sports world, Jen Anderson, Vice President, People and Culture for the Hillsboro Hops and Kalli

Rutherford, Experiential Marketing Coordinator for the Seattle Mariners. Both women shared

many of their stories from their current baseball careers. The conversation consisted of a lot of

similarities between both but also different with one being minor league versus major league. It

was a wonderful opportunity for anyone working or wanting to work in baseball to gather some

valuable information. Both Anderson and Rutherford expressed that most of their days are not

the same and during the season it can be anywhere from 70 to 80 hours a week. Taking on many

different tasks and roles can be relevant for these two as they spoke about what in season and

off-season schedules look like. Attendees left both panels with a huge amount of helpful

information for anyone who attended.

‘

Climbing to New Heights in Sport’ was hugely expressed through this summit, not just from the

panels but also from the lunch-in networking session that followed. Students got the opportunity

to sit and speak with many professionals one on one and ask any questions that they

independently may have about working in sports. Overall, the summit was a success and a major

event to attend if at all interested in sport. A huge thank you to Sean Dahlin and the Sport

Management Leadership team for making this possible for the students and community.