Sunday marks a week since we all traveled to New York, moved into the EHS dorms, and began this eight week long journey that is the Manhattan Sports Business Academy. This week we had the opportunity to hear from speakers such as Darren Rovell, Jonathan Blue, Mark Holtzman, and Jared Schoenfeld as well as take our first Friday Field Trip to the iconic Madison Square Garden.

We’ve met our individual mentors, started our internships, and introduced ourselves to our High School of Sports Management mentees at the Brooklyn Changes the World event. If this week is any indication of what the rest of the summer is going to look like, then we are in for the ride of our lives.

Easily the most refreshing part of Sunday is that it was a chance for us to relax and catch our breath from a busy first week in the Big Apple. It marks the first time since the program began that we didn’t have any obligations until 7 pm, which admittedly it felt kind of odd. This gave me time to reflect on what I already feel to be one of the best decisions of my life, attending MSBA as a Class of 2013 student.

I used this free afternoon to explore the city and ended up at the 56^th annual Puerto Rican Day Parade. It was exciting to see people fill the streets to celebrate their culture. There was music, dancing, food, and mostly noticeably, lots of Puerto Rican flags. The parade was definitely something that I’m glad I got to experience.

This Sunday was special for two reasons: we had bonus guest speakers and the Heat beat the Spurs to tie up the NBA Finals at one game apiece. Joshua Lagan, a member of last year’s inaugural MSBA class, was one of the two people that came to speak with us tonight. He shared great insight into his experiences last year with MSBA and even gave us some tips for making this summer successful. He urged us to “Figure out what we’re here for, to work or to play?”
That resonated with me and definitely gave me motivation to meet and network with as many people as possible during this eight-week period. We also had the pleasure to speak with one of Time Magazine’s Top 100 Most Influential People of the World and General Manager of Reddit, Erik Martin. Erik’s story was unique in that all of his experiences came in positions that he felt he was unqualified for.Although he had no formal education in any of the jobs he took, he was able to make a name for himself through hard work and a willingness to learn. Erik also said something that is seemingly a trend in all of our speakers: “Don’t be afraid to take risks.” Obviously, there was extreme value in hearing from Erik despite the fact that he doesn’t have a typical sports business career. After hearing from the speakers we hung out, ate pizza, and watched game two of the NBA Finals. As an avid Heat fan, I was more than pleased with the end result (Miami winning by 19). It was nice just to kick back and watch the game with the other MSBAers before we prepared for week two of the program.

All in all, this week was a great start to the summer. It is apparent that the MSBA staff has truly made a conscious effort to invest in the future of sports business professionals; I am more than excited to see what else they have in store for us.