There is a collegiate baseball team in nearby Marysville that gathers players from all over.

I was lucky enough one day to stumble upon a Marysville Gold Sox flier placed outside of Common Grounds coffee shop on campus. I had been trying to find a summer internship for three months, and this seemed like the perfect one to get my foot in the door of sports PR and marketing.

After contacting the manager, I had one interview that was mainly informational and I was told they had a spot for me. A week later I met with team owner Tom Lininger and was given the position for the summer. The internship was unpaid, but I got paid in experience, friendship and love.

I did a number of tasks for the team, but mostly conducted the on-field activities and found the children to participate in games between innings of the baseball game. I made sure the person who threw the first pitch was ready with a ball and that the players rolled out the red carpet for him or her.

I had the microphone ready for the national anthem singer right after the first pitch. I was also given a walkie-talkie because I was working closely with the press box to make sure they had the correct names and knew what was going on.

I took photos of the team during games and for fan giveaways. I worked at all of the sport camps the Gold Sox put together and took pictures of the individual teams that every camper worked with as well as the players who coached.

I was also the social media person uploading pictures to the Gold Sox Facebook and Twitter feeds, and posting on behalf of the team.

There were a number of things that I learned from the experience, and the biggest one was how fast a life in sports actually is. I was going nonstop all summer and I loved it, but it was an eye-opener.

I applied all of the photo skills that I gained from photography classes at Chico State, and I also used a lot of my PR class skills when it came to talking to fans and pitching ideas to my bosses.

A summer with the Gold Sox provided me with a secondary family that I’ll have for life. I would highly recommend checking out a game or applying for a position. Tell Tom or Karyn I sent you!