Maddie Lamb, a junior sport management and communications major with a\u00a0concentration\u00a0in public relations at East Stroudsburg University, had always heard the same message in her classes: to succeed in the sports media\u00a0industry,\u00a0networking is key.<\/p>\n
A native of Long Valley, N.J.,\u00a0and midfielder on\u00a0the\u00a0ESU\u00a0women\u2019s soccer team, Lamb knew that\u00a0devoting\u00a0the necessary\u00a0time to\u00a0academics and athletics made it harder to\u00a0follow that advice and\u00a0seize\u00a0opportunities to grow her professional experiences.\u00a0That\u2019s\u00a0why,\u00a0when the chance arose to attend Super Bowl LIX in San Francisco in February through\u00a0LivingSport, she decided to step out of her comfort zone.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou miss 100 percent of the shots you don\u2019t take,\u201d\u00a0Lamb\u00a0said, echoing\u00a0the\u00a0advice her\u00a0mother would share with her growing up.<\/p>\n
LivingSport, founded by ESU\u00a0alumna\u00a0Alicia Marinelli,\u00a0uses\u00a0sports\u00a0as a catalyst for\u00a0students like Lamb to gain real-world experience.\u00a0Marinelli earned her master\u2019s degree in sport management from ESU\u00a0and has\u00a0remained\u00a0deeply connected to her alma mater\u00a0by serving as a member of the university\u2019s Alumni Advisory\u00a0Board.<\/p>\n
When Lamb first arrived in San Francisco, the\u00a0initial\u00a0days\u00a0of her experience\u00a0were filled with workshops and networking sessions. Industry professionals led discussions and actively engaged students, reinforcing lessons she had heard since her first sport management class.<\/p>\n
As part of the digital media team, Lamb practiced interviewing guest speakers, recording podcast\u00a0segments\u00a0and producing news-style reports. One session that resonated\u00a0with Lamb\u00a0featured\u00a0Chicago Cubs\u00a0play-by-play broadcaster Alex Cohen, who emphasized the importance of reviewing mistakes to improve \u2014 advice that struck a chord with Lamb as an athlete\u00a0accustomed\u00a0to\u00a0watching\u00a0game\u00a0film.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven though watching myself mess up might make me cringe, it\u2019s what you have to do to grow and get better,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
By midweek, students were split into interest groups and sent across the city for hands-on experience.\u00a0First,\u00a0Lamb helped market QB54, a backyard sports game that had appeared on Shark Tank, filming\u00a0content\u00a0and engaging fans \u2014 quickly learning that energy and enthusiasm can directly influence a brand\u2019s success.<\/p>\n
At a Lumify event\u00a0later in the week, she\u00a0helped set up merchandise and bag charm stations flown in from\u00a0Miami\u00a0and\u00a0later\u00a0assisted\u00a0influencers customizing beaded purse charms.\u00a0Both events\u00a0illustrated\u00a0how detailed planning and teamwork bring an event to life from start to finish, Lamb said.<\/p>\n
Finally, on Super Bowl Sunday,\u00a0Lamb\u2019s\u00a0day\u00a0began at 9 a.m. inside the stadium, where she worked in break room management alongside fan services staff. Stationed on the service level near the\u00a0New England\u00a0Patriots tunnel, she could feel the energy building long before kickoff, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing that close to the action was unforgettable,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
In a leadership role, she managed security members\u2019 lunch distribution, stocked refreshments, and ensured operations ran smoothly until her shift ended that evening.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0opportunity, she said,\u00a0was about\u00a0more than adding a line to her r\u00e9sum\u00e9 \u2014 it was about how she could\u00a0articulate\u00a0to\u00a0future employers\u00a0why the experience\u00a0made her better.<\/p>\n
With a U.S. Open internship in New York on the horizon this summer and plans to graduate in spring 2027, Lamb is focused on pursuing a\u00a0sports\u00a0career in public or community relations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was a career-changing experience,\u201d she said. \u201cAs someone looking to get my foot\u00a0in the door, I was able to network myself,\u00a0meet new connections and gain professional\u00a0experience that will help\u00a0me\u00a0further\u00a0my\u00a0future\u00a0in\u00a0the\u00a0sports industry.\u201d<\/p>\n
Learn more about ESU\u2019s\u00a0sport management<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0communication<\/a>\u00a0programs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Maddie Lamb, a junior sport management and communications major with a\u00a0concentration\u00a0in public relations at ESU, had always heard the same message in her classes: to succeed in the sports media\u00a0industry,\u00a0networking is key.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":24742,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[143,42,58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-news-release","category-slider"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24740"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24740"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24740\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24744,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24740\/revisions\/24744"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}