Welcome to Gustavus Adolphus College’s Student Stories Series!
Performance Coach Intern at ETS
Major: Financial Economics and Sports Management
Minor: Communication Studies
What was/is your career opportunity/experience (i.e. internship, shadowing experience, research)?
I am interning at ETS as a performance coach. Part of my opportunity is to shadow operational manager which fits great in what I want to do for my career in the future.
How did you get the opportunity/experience? What steps did you take to achieve this?
I was looking for an opportunity to combine my passion for business and sports performance so I was looking around for places to apply for an internship. Meanwhile, I reached out to Julie Rudolf in the Center for Career Development, as she helped me a lot in the past, and Jared Phillips. Both are pointed me towards ETS and Jamison Buelke who is a Gustie Alumni .
Tell us more about your accomplishment (include title, role, location, program, etc.)
With help of Center for Career Development, I was able to get a position as a sports performance coach at ETS located in Mankato.
Who were some of the people who helped you most at Gustavus to get this opportunity? What did you learn from them?
Julie Rudolf and Emilie Moeller played a big role in me getting this opportunity. Julie was the one who connected me with Jamison and helped with all the paperwork. Emilie, on the other hand, helped me to prepare for the interview. I was very confident going into the interview but wanted to stop by and speak to Emilie and I am glad I did. We went over the possible questions, practiced the answers and defined key points I want to emphasize in my answers. During the interview, I got asked more questions that I initially expected but meeting with Emilie helped me to not panic and search for an answer in my head as I had an idea what I wanted to say already. The interview ended up going very smooth and I learned the importance of being over rather than under prepared.
How did the Engaged Learning Funds help you be able to complete this experience?
The Engaged Learning Fund helped very much with my gas expenses. It also took away a pressure of needing to find extra work to pay bills which helps me to focus more on learning about the field I eventually want to work in.
How have you applied things you’ve learned here at Gustavus to this opportunity? (i.e., Career & Self Development, Communication, Critical Thinking, Equity & Inclusion, Leadership, Professionalism, Teamwork, Technology)
So far, I found many skills that I learned in my communication courses were very helpful in working with athletes. The ability to listen, connect to the athlete, and engage them in workouts are the skills we learn through group projects in the classroom.
