Blog 11: Lesson 1 Reflection

1. What are you most proud of in your lesson, and why?
I am most proud of making time, as I very nearly went over since I had a lot of information I wanted to present to the class.

2. What assessment would you give yourself on your lesson? Explain why you earned that grade using evidence from the component contract.
I would give myself a P, as I did make time, discuss my mentorship, referenced 3 sources, and discussed 5 main points. My conclusion could have been stronger but it was don't and my hook I thought was clever and (in longer lesson) can be built on.
3. If you could go back, what would you change about your lesson?  How can you use that knowledge to give a better Lesson 2?
My lesson did go well, but I wish I could have gone more in-depth with the business portion of my business and next lesson I'll look to move that topic towards the front of my presentation.

Blog 10: Interview 2 Reflection

1. Please explain how you are spending your mentorship time (Is it at a workplace or somewhere else?  Are you shadowing?  Are you able to do tasks that are meaningfully related to the topic?  If so, what?  Are there other people who are experts in the location?  Etc...)

I am spending my mentorship hours in a workplace setting up fields, answering questions for parents, coaching my own team, and then tearing down fields. 

2.  How did you find your mentor?  How did you convince this person to help you?
   
My mentor wasn't difficult to find, the hard part was convincing him to loan me the cash to buy over the league and having him help me out with the management until I am 18. Once this was in place it was easy to have my mentor agree to be my schooling mentor for this project.

3. How would you rate your comfort level with your mentor at this point in your relationship?  How does this relate to the time you've spent so far at mentorship/with this person?

I feel very comfortable with my mentor being I've known him for so long (my whole life).

4. What went well in this interview?  Why do you think so?  What do you still need to improve?  How do you know?  How will you go about it?

I believe this interview went well, at least better than last time. The point of the interview seemed clear, but the length of the answers can be adjusted in time. I can go about this by cutting answers a little shorter or asking smaller questions.

Interview:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx-BoNqTy86HMDFIMUdQd2U5Snc/view?usp=sharing

Blog 9 - Advisory Prep 3

1. State whether or not you currently have a mentor, and what the status of your interview is with that person (I have completed the interview, I have scheduled the interview, I have not scheduled the interview, etc).
I currently have a mentor and have scheduled an interview.
2. At this point, your research is probably guiding your studies toward more specific areas within your topic.  Name the area or two you find most promising and explain your reasons.   
Sport psychology and injury prevention
3. What kinds of sources do you think will help you in the next month to gain more research depth?  Where will you go to get them?
Currently the PCA is bringing a lot of in depth information on the psychology behind a coach's action.
4. Write down a possible EQ.  Please don't worry about wording other than ensuring that it provides the option for multiple correct answers.  At this point, the senior team is most interested in understanding your thought process.

What is the best way to have players return to youth sports and continue playing?

Blog 8: Independent Component 1 Proposal

1.  Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 hours.

I will be running the winter football season of AVY Flag Football on my own.

2.  Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence.

I can show the 30 hours of work either by a spreadsheet such as the Senior Project Hours Sheet or by showing a copy of the contract made up by the City of San Dimas where the promised hours of the season will take place.

3.  Explain how what you will be doing will help you explore your topic in more depth.

By doing this project I will be running the Youth Sports Organization on my own which is exactly the topic of my Senior Project.

4.  Update your Senior Project Hours log.

I did.

Blog 7 - Second Interview

1.  Who is your mentor and where do they work?  If their workplace does not reflect their expertise, what makes them an expert?

John B. is currently co-owner of AVY Flag Football. Before this he was also apart of youth sports for many years, and has helped develop a youth racing organization in Orange County. During this he helped negotiate relationships between OSQMRA (the racing organization), Orange Show Speedway, and USCA (the governing body of sprint car racing and off - road racing).

2.  What five questions will you ask them about their background?

- How long have you been involved with youth sports?
- What positions have you held in your time in youth sports?
- What has been your goal being apart of these organizations?
- What is the hardest challenge you had to overcome in youth sports?
- What experience or knowledge do you feel helps one succeed in youth sports the most?

Blog 6 - Advisory Prep

1. What has worked well for you concerning senior project this year?  What has made it a positive experience for you?   

My senior project has been coming along pretty well. Working with the City of San Dimas has gone efficiently and supplies from the vendors have all arrived promptly and with minimal cost. Overall this experience has been a lot of work between the long days at the football field on game days and the never ending inbox of e-mails I constantly have to be checking and replying to, but in the end it has been rewarding seeing the first season play out with minimal glitches. 

2. What are you finding difficult concerning senior project?  How can you adept to make that portion work better for you?  How might the senior team help?

The most difficult portion of my senior project will have to be dealing with certain parents and coaches. The majority of the league runs well but it is the few that make a fuss when things aren't going their way or information has to be spoon fed to them personally instead of using common sense that make the work more difficult. I'm not sure of any way the senior team can assist with this unless they can reteach adults on how to check e-mails, or to scroll down on PDFs.

Blog 5 - Interview 1 Reflection

1. What is the most important thing I learned from the interview?  Is there anything I would do differently for other interviews?
The most important thing I learned from this interview is how contacts I have made over the years can be used to gain different perspectives on my own topic. In my next interview I plan to expand on the types of questions I ask and keep a more conversational pace.

2. Did I get additional resources and contacts?  What is the most useful?  Why?
I did not get any new contacts but it was brought to my attention how I could use contacts I've already known to my advantage for my topic.

3. What makes my interviewee qualified to help me? 
John has helped me through contract negotiations and has done a good job outlining work needing to be done leading up to the beginning of the Fall 2015 Flag Football Season. He also has been apart of youth sports for many years, and has eloped create a youth racing organization.

https://soundcloud.com/don-b-2156212/interview1

Blog 4 - House Advisory Prep 1

Hello,
So just as a recap of my past blogs, my senior topic is on Management and Ownership of a Youth Sports Organization. Many parents put their kids into youth sports hoping it will develop into life long skills their child will need to succeed in the future. I support this claim 100%. I have been coaching for quiet a few years now and seeing kids grow from shy youngsters into the loudest, heads up, and nicest kids on and off the field is the biggest reward a coach can have. Through my senior topic I want to find out what makes this growth in kids click with youth sports and how I can expand a few players into a who league of bright, social and kind kids. It is a big undertaking, but I believe I can do it. Currently my father and I own a youth sports organization called AVY Flag Football. I have been apart of the program for over a decade whether it was through playing, coaching, or field management I have been around for a while. This benefit will give me a hands on experience on the business of youth sports and how I can make a league into the best place to participate for players.

Blog 3 - First Interview Preparation

1. Who do you plan to interview?  Why?
1. I plan on interviewing John B. for my first interview. Being on of my two mentors for my senior project, John has helped me through contract negotiations and has done a good job outlining work needing to be done leading up to the beginning of the Fall 2015 Flag Football Season.
2. Five questions will be assigned to all seniors to ask.  What additional questions do you plan to ask?  Ask open-ended questions.  What are open-ended questions?
1. Additionally to the 5 questions assigned to ask, I plan on asking why John so strongly took a part in youth sports instead of sitting back as most parents do? Another question I'd ask would be which characteristic in a person is the most beneficial in providing management in youth sports?

Blog 2 - Summer Mentorship

1. List the contact name, phone number, and organization of the person with whom you volunteered.

- Bob Napoli, (909) 630-4997, AVY Flag Football

2. What qualified this person as an expert in your topic choice?     

- Bob has been in been in the youth sports organizations for many years either as a coach or an owner of a company. Has has coached Little League Baseball, and has worked at San Dimas High School as the Freshman Football Head Coach and Assistant Coach on the Varsity Team. He also is the founder of AVY Flag Football. Originally Bob created a flag football league in San Dimas with the backing of the youth sports organization i9 Sports. After a few seasons, he broke off from the company and created his own naming it All Valley Youth (AVY) Flag Football. Bob turned his bushiness in to a league that not only had hundreds of sign ups a year in his own city, but pulled players as far as Rancho Cucamonga to play in his league. Each season turns a profit, as through his years in experience he mastered the art of limiting costs and still having families sign up for his league year after year.

3. List three questions for further exploration now that you've completed your summer hours.

- What form of advertising would bring in the most people to a business?

- Does subcontracting through cities provide greater benefits for a youth sports company or does independence benefit the most?

- How can a small business expand to new cities without cutting into its current customer pool?

4. What is the most important thing you gained from this experience? Why?

- The most important thing I gained from this summer would be having to work on my own but constantly be checking up on other people's work. This may sound like a facilitators job in a group project it is a different dynamic when you are minor having to constantly be proving to people you deal with that you are mature enough to deal with city contracts and sending in grown men in for back ground checks in through the Sheriffs Department when I'm not even old enough to be check myself. Although I was given a general direction of what needs to be done from my mentor, he left it completely up to me on how to finish the job. 

5. What is your senior project topic going to be?  How did mentorship help you make your decision?  Please explain.

- My Senior Project Topic will be the Managing and Ownership of a Youth Sports Organization. Being apart of youth sports since I was a child, and learning from there how to coach and run a team on my own I feel being in charge and pushing the organization to expand and become something more people can be apart of is the next step for me. My mentor helped me along with this decision by showing me the ropes of the organization as I got older and over time relying on me to do much of the work that is commonly only for the Commissioner to do. This summer has proved to me that running youth sports is something I enjoy doing and would like to be apart of for years to come.

Senior Project Hours Log:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1sBlTuP60DO3mMRVcwwRT1jCHa66-EQt6Gy3ixr3a61g/edit?usp=sharing

Blog 1 – Senior Final Lesson/Interview Reflection

1.  What three lessons were most helpful for you to see, and why?

The three most helpful presentations I got to see were Matthew I. on Electrical Engineering,  a Small Business Management presentation, and Ana N. on Social Psychology. Matthew and Ana's presentations showed me the benefits of loving your topic and doing the research not only because you have to but to learn more about a field you genuinely want to be apart of. Ana also gave a great example of interacting with the audience and how this helps teach the topic to the class. The business management presentation helped me in a separate way as it showed me what not to do. His slides were sloppy and the color scheme did not match, he as repetitive with information, never cited his sources until the end and even then it was small font which wasn't readable, and above all else his activity was very obviously last minute and didn't have strong ties to what he EQ was on. 

2. List one thing that you learned about the senior project in interviews that will help you get off to a good start?

One major thing I learned from senior project interviews is keeping up with the blog assignments. It was explained to me how much the smaller assignments build up to the senior project grade and how the "big scary presentation" won't affect much of the grade as is believed by lower class-men. 

3. What topic(s) are you considering, and why?

The current topic I am considering right now would be business ownership. I have been given the opportunity to take over a flag football company that I have coached for for the past 4 years and I believe that doing a project on something in my life I would have to learn how to do would be interesting and beneficial to both school work and my job.

4. What EQ do you think might be interesting to consider in guiding a project like this? (Please don't worry about any sort of formula...we want this question to come from your genuine interest).

As a starting EQ I think the best way to put what I want my project to revolve around would be " What is the best way for a business owner to help make the best experience for the company and its clients?"

5. What are some ideas you have about finding summer mentorship?

A few ideas for summer mentorship is Bob N. who is the pervious owner of A.V.Y. Flag Football and has already promised to show me the ropes on running the business. Others I have looked into is the owner of the game store Gameology which I have become friends with over time as well as another close friend of mine Luke P. who is a co-owner of a cement distribution company in Souther California.