By Michael Williams Jr.
The SID is responsible for managing all athletic information within the school. This includes managing the marketing for the athletic department, handling broadcasts and livestream for home sports contests, making articles for the athletic page, and recording game stats to report to the NAIA.
What brought you to RU and why did you choose to work here?
“I was brought through the Lake North Centra Basketball Camp that’s been here for 30 years and it was run by Garth Pleasant and Klint Pleasant. I did this camp back when I was 10 years old and I was looking for work to start my basketball training business in Michigan. I started looking for job opportunities around here and I remember that Garth is probably still running this camp. So I came to LNBC and talked to Garth and he welcomed me with open arms and he was excited to see that I was a former member of the camp and he brought me on… It's a job with a lot of responsibility and to trust someone who just got out of college that didn’t take sports management as a major and to be offered a job like that is a huge honor and it means a lot to me and that’s what drew me here.”
What’s the most rewarding part of your job?
“I would say the most rewarding part is kind of seeing how my work affects the athletes. Seeing the athletes feel like they are a part of something bigger through the work that I do, so like interviewing them and making them feel like they’re amazing athletes, which they are, and having them see how their work gets recognized and to me that’s the most rewarding thing because it's about them not me. As much as I love the work that I do, I know at the end of the day my job means nothing without the athletes who come through this campus every single week. So to see them react to being rewarded for that is definitely a huge honor for me.
What do you do to have fun or relieve stress?
“ I love to hoop, that's the biggest thing I love to do, basketball player through and through. I play in a men’s league that plays every Sunday and I also play on the weekdays and sometimes I use the arena and invite my friends over we’ll play. Another big thing is listening to music. I really love a lot of the subgenres within hip hop. I also love spending time with my cat, Valentino, she’s always full of energy and affectionate.”
Where did you grow up?
“I grew up around Rochester, then I moved down to Troy for the first seven years of my life, then back to Rochester. So I’ve always been familiar with this area, I didn’t know about RU so it's a lot to take in how vibrant the campus is now that everyone has moved in. It's definitely an adjustment, but it’s really nice to be here and see that students are enjoying RU.”
What is your favorite thing to do in the Rochester area? Or in Michigan?
“Go to Piston games, before I went to college in Ohio I would go to 20 Piston games a year, but now I want to attend the basketball-related events that happen around here. Now that I work here I’ll be at all the basketball home games but I can also attend the TBL games and be around more basketball culture in Michigan."
What in your life do you feel most passionate about?
“Basketball I always like to gravitate towards basketball, but I now work in athletics and giving athletes opportunities. That’s the big thing I love to do and it was a big thing that drew me to this job. The important thing about being a SID is making sure all the information is up to date, all the stats are being reported accurately not because it looks good on the school's part but for the athletes. If you are an athlete who is looking for an opportunity to play pro or put something on a resume all your information needs to be up to date as possible; so for me, my biggest passion is giving people opportunities in athletics.”
What single piece of advice would you give to students today?
“Network, network, network, I would say that’s the biggest thing, always look to talk to people and not just for things that are job-related but just anything. Always look to meet new people and find opportunities to work with them. The biggest thing people look at is the person themself before they look at anything on a resume, so if you’ve already established a good relationship with people, that is going to give you a lot more opportunity than you think. To be honest I am a big testament to that because that’s how I got this job. Being able to meet Klint and show him what I’m about before he even looked at my resume. Don’t be afraid to speak to people or to take care of yourself. I feel like people tend to work super hard for other people, but often we forget to work hard for ourselves."