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Crossover Season Part 2

By Darren Mason posted 03-25-2019 11:39

  

Crossover Season Part 2

            Most schools have transitioned into their respective crossover seasons. The fall crossover season has hopefully prepared you for this moment but now there are new sports, elements and events. Planning plays an important role in how you handle these events and your execution of expectations from the coaches and administration. The communication with other departments all the way to staffs at different venues has to be almost perfect. The more information shared and the more people copied on an email is extremely helpful so the proper people are getting notified of what is going on. It is crucial to know who your point of contacts are and who is in charge of what aspects for each sport. Here at The Ohio State University we are blessed to host multiple events during crossover season. Below are some notes that come with being able to host all these events in one weekend.

 

            Columbus, Ohio is a fantastic place that is home to The Ohio State University, Columbus Blue Jackets, Columbus Crew, and Columbus Clippers. With that being said it is also home to a numerous amount of athletic events. This past weekend this city hosted First and Second rounds of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, Ohio High School Men’s Basketball, and 13 Ohio State varsity sport events that our athletic department had a hand in. NCAA basketball was hosted at Nationwide arena downtown where the Blue Jackets play. High school basketball was hosted at the Schottenstein center which is home to Ohio State Men’s and Women’s Basketball along with Men’s Ice Hockey. Now sprinkle in some Ohio State athletic events all around the same area as the Schottenstein center and that makes for one fun filled weekend, especially for our fans looking for a parking spot. As a staff we needed to plan out in advance a few things. We focused on the full timer, music device needed (we only have 5), the lead student and finally the students working at these events. This was no easy task as the different times and locations were spread out. It seemed that everyone was covering a sport that they typically don’t cover and students were working events they have never worked. Finding out all the details for each event was important but the curve balls we faced were winter sports post season and the weather. Women’s basketball made the NIT and could host, and Men’s Ice Hockey could have hosted the B1G championship game. These sports ended up losing and we did not host but the planning for each had to be included in the grand scheme of everything. We have this fine-tuned plan and sports change times (softball weather moved the game time up and then it ultimately was delayed 30 minutes) or we have football student appreciation day thrown into that weekend. It was challenging to say the least but the most important thing to take away from this is The Ohio State University is fortunate to have the people it has in its athletic department. It takes a special group of people to put on several events throughout the course of the weekend and some of those events aren’t even Ohio State related but still must be executed to the highest standard possible. The last note I will end on is this. Hosting championship events always give us a chance to connect and network with staff members from other institutions. We may have never met in person but you may follow each other on social media and this is your opportunity to connect in person. Even if it may be for a few short minutes to catch up or meet new people just getting their foot in the industry. Connecting on social media is important so feel free to reach out to connect.
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