BY ARZA MARSH, Sports Information Intern
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — As the confetti came down at the Orleans Arena, signaling the end of the Western Athletic Conference basketball tournaments, anyone would be forgiven for not noticing the workers in black polos and gray windbreakers milling about the stage, helping present the champions with shirts, hats, glasses, and their championship trophy. But a keen-eyed observer from Southern Utah University might have spotted some familiar faces among that crowd.
Every year for their basketball tournaments, the Western Athletic Conference invites students from each of their member schools to come and be volunteer staff, putting them up in a hotel and providing meals to make it possible for these students to come and gain valuable work experience for their future careers. This year, 11 Southern Utah University students took advantage of this opportunity and attended the tournament as volunteers.
These students, made up mostly from either the Sports Communications or Event Planning and Management programs, arrived in Las Vegas the night before the tournaments began and began their work almost immediately the following day. Some of their duties ranged from assisting the tournament athletic trainers in ensuring the teams had their water coolers filled to helping run in-game promotional activities and even included jobs such as helping to check in members of the media and aiding in the production of the post-game press conferences with coaches and players.
Volunteers were each given a variety of different jobs to work. Usually, they switched off roles each game, both to help prevent boredom in getting stuck in the same role for hours on end and also to give volunteers experience in as many different roles as possible. When asked how this experience helped prepare him for his future career, Senior Gab Small said, “It just exposes you to a variety of different roles … so opportunities like this are really valuable because you get to see all different sides of an event.”
A lot goes into coordinating the 30-plus volunteers that come to help out the WAC in Las Vegas, and that responsibility falls on coordinator Jason Frank, who has served in his current role since 2017. After a chaotic first year, having several local volunteers drop out at the last minute, Frank suggested to the conference that in the future, he could bring students from Grand Canyon University, the school that he worked for at the time, to volunteer for the tournaments. WAC officials loved the idea and took it a step further by opening the invitations to students from any of the conference’s member schools.
The workday for volunteers started sometime between 10 and 11:30 a.m., depending on what job they were performing for the first game that started at noon, and would last until the final game of the evening ended, usually sometime between 10 and 11 p.m., though some volunteers didn’t finish their work after the championship games until after midnight—the late night hours worked proved to be a challenge for some. “I don’t usually stay up that late, so it was kind of a culture shock for me,” said Shania Hopkins, a sophomore studying Sports Communications with a minor in Graphic Design. “I get done with my classes around 2. I don’t usually have a late day.”
Despite the challenges that came with the long nights worked and the wide variety of tasks, SUU students loved the experience. They made sure not only to gain work experience but also to take advantage of the networking opportunities provided. “I didn’t know half the people who were there,” says Mia Vazquez of her opportunities to make new relationships in the sports industry, “… create that bond, create those networking opportunities. That’s what [volunteering] allowed me to do.”
But it’s not just the students who benefit from their experience volunteering. Top officials within the WAC have taken notice of the professionalism and hard work their volunteers put into the tournament each year and recognize the benefit of having such motivated college students as their volunteers. “It benefits the WAC because we’ve got people who are dependable and we can count on,” said Jason Frank of the current student volunteer program. “The student volunteers from our conference schools have displayed tremendous work ethics, positive attitudes, and the desire to help make the WAC Tournament a success every year.”
Collegiate sports are in a time of unprecedented upheaval, and no one truly knows what the future may hold. But one thing is sure: as long as there are Western Athletic Conference basketball tournaments, the WAC will want students from its member schools to volunteer to help run them.