Written by Daisy Aguirre
Hello everyone! For my internship requirement, this semester I was a ticket sales intern for the Houston SaberCats. They are a Houston based rugby team that competes in the MLR (Major League Rugby). Here is the website if you are interested in learning more about the team: https://www.houstonsabercats.com/
As you can probably infer from my job title, during my time here I helped to sell tickets for game days.
This is the AVEVA Stadium above, which is where the team plays and where I go for my internship. The season started in March and will go throughout the summer ending in June I believe. Since game days only happen on Saturdays, you might be wondering what I did when we didn’t have games since I needed the hours for this class. In essence, I would be calling people and seeing if they were interested in buying tickets for our upcoming games. Now this might sound frightening if you have no experience and if you happen to feel like you have no people skills whatsoever, but it is actually quite simple. Yes, this is coming from someone who used to be shy and introverted. The reality is that in today’s world, we need to have excellent communication and people skills. How are we going to chase and attain opportunities and have your dream job without having these skills? When you go to a job interview you are essentially selling yourself. You’re giving them the best reasons as to why they should hire you. Being comfortable with communicating and conversing with others is a skill you can apply to any area of your life. Thus, practicing these skills often will set you up for success. On Mondays and Wednesdays I was there during the mornings (the internship supervisor works with your schedule and is very flexible) and he would give me a list of leads that he got during previous games to call. This was definitely unexpected and came as a surprise. I went on the ticket sales website, which he shows you how to use, and pulled up their profile. I would usually ask them about their experience at the previous games with open ended questions such as “how did you like your seats?” and “what was the highlight of the game?” However, most numbers would send me straight to voicemail and I would leave a general message. Patrick, the internship supervisor, teaches you how to make the calls so don’t worry about saying the wrong thing. On game days it was a different story. I was in the ticket box office or outside talking to others depending on where Patrick needed me that day. People usually came up to the ticket box office and bought game tickets and that was that. When I was outside I was able to see the team play as well as talk to the fans. Below is a photo of the Houston SaberCats in action!
The team was actually holding a raffle for a signed rugby ball and that was how we initiated conversation with the fans. Most of them are friendly and just come to enjoy themselves which I appreciate. If this sounds like something you want to do for your internship you can find the application on Handshake. I believe they accept applications during the fall, spring, and summer. Here is the link for positions in the summer: https://stedwards.joinhandshake.com/postings?employers%5B%5D=452753
If you want more information you can contact Patrick, my internship supervisor through email or phone number and tell him I sent you.
Email: patrick.prendergast@houstonsabercats.com
Phone Number: 832-690-7211