Wednesday, January 13th, 2016

     As the survey result process comes to an end after today, I have been looking at the results thus far to get an idea of what aspects occur more frequently and consistently among young net-minders.  Upon the finalized results, I will be writing an entry for the Foundation of Goaltending Research & Education's (FGRE) latest research project, "Why Goalies Become Goalies".

    Where the completed results stand (until this point), most goaltenders try the position initially as a Mite, before becoming a full-time goalie as a Squirt.  For the most part, parents to not believe cost is a factor when deciding to become a goaltender.  Many goaltenders begin playing the position through parent or coach suggestions, the team needed a goalie, or simply wanting more ice-time.

     As the process goes through the final stages today, the results may vary to some extent.  This survey has brought a valuable experience in the middle part of the internship.  Not only have I been given the opportunity to put my people and communication skills to use, but I also now have knowledge when it comes to survey construction and development.

Tuesday, January 12th, 2016

     The FGRE survey is integrated into Stop It Goaltending's work on Constant Contact.  Survey development is an asset on the website, providing users with the ability to pick and choose between templates, question formats, and create customizable questions and responses.

     The survey's purpose intends to reach out to parents and ask why their son or daughter has chosen to become a hockey goaltender.  Parents can respond as to whether their child has begun playing hockey as a goaltender as a mite, squirt, peewee, bantam, or other.  Beyond that, questions go into alternative aspects relating to reasoning, for example: Did playing goalie begin due to a role model, a coach, a parent suggestion, more ice-time, etc.

Monday, January 11th, 2016

     Mr. Daccord will not be available, in person, for week two of the internship.  Brian Daccord is a goaltending consultant to Mannheim Adler in the DEL, meaning he will be spending the week in Germany.  However, he has provided me with my tasks for the week.

     For today, as well as Tuesday and Wednesday, I will be asking parents of goaltenders to complete a short survey for FGRE's research project.  FGRE (Foundation For Goaltending Research & Education) is a non-profit organization researching the physical and psychological development of goaltenders, as well as health, safety, and environmental factors that they experience.

   FGRE has an outstanding board of directors including names such as, first and foremost Brian Daccord.  Former NHL goaltender Brian Boucher and Team USA and two-time Olympic Silver medalist Molly Schaus.  I will be asking parents of goaltenders to take a short amount of time to complete a survey asking parents why their son or daughter chose the goaltending position.  It includes the alternative directions such as a older sibling playing goalie first, parental influence, increased ice-time, and much more.

A Look Inside Stop It Goaltending's Camps & Programs

Thursday, January 7th, 2016

     All of the Summer of 2016 invitation construction and editing was completed with the use of a marketing platform called ConstantContact (www.constantcontact.com).  Stop It Goaltending is preparing for a variety of programs including AAA Youth, Bantam, High School, and  Total Skills. Constant Contact is high-end online marketing tool that enhances the development of professional emails, invitations, social campaigns, events, surveys, etc.  My internship will entail a large amount of Constant Contacts use, a beneficial resource to use in the future.

     Concentrating on the invitation development, an editing template is included in Constant Contact’s software.  There, I formed a document that required photo cropping, media sharing, webpage linking, layout designing, and data attachments.  With experiences along the lines of what I have been involved with lately, I am adding an assortment of valuable skills that will enrich my knowledge moving forward.

     Constant Contact contains a survey development page that allows users to create their own questions and answers.  Questions vary in form, for example, one-answer multiple choice, multiple-answer multiple choice, ranking items, scaling items, entering personal dialogue, etc.  My task was to create my own survey, becoming fully aware of the alternative options and editing assets that are available.

Wednesday, January 6th, 2016

     The third day of my SIG internship got off to an interesting start.  I got settled in, making minor edits to my personal webpage, blog, and the SIG summer program promotion email that I had been working on for the past couple of days.  At 10:30 am, Brian had asked that I joined in on a meeting that had been scheduled.

     Two gentlemen, representing a digital, social, and mobile marketing brand named Tentacle out of Charlestown, MA made a pitch to Stop It Goaltending.  The premise of the business made sense, performing to increase brand awareness and activity through online marketing.  It was a valuable experience, not only sitting in and observing the conversations, but also including my own personal insight and suggestions.

Tuesday, January 5th, 2016

     Second day at Stop It Goaltending began by finalizing and confirming the finished product of my personal, professional website.  President Brian Daccord was able to see the additions and progression from the beginning.  I quickly jumped into my next task, creating my own blog webpage.  It is an enjoyable experience, building my own site and having the opportunity to be creative in making a resource for future references.

     The rest of the day was spent focusing on my first marketing piece, using ConstantContact, an online email marketing software, to create and edit Stop It Goaltending's 2016 Summer program page.  It involved linking information together online, building an organized webpage that is easy to navigate, and including information for each programs purpose.