Final Countdown

I’m down to my final hours as the NIRSA National Center student intern. As I prepare for my move back to the Midwest I’m reflecting on what I will miss most about the NNC and Corvallis:

Working with an experienced and motivating team
Fun co-worker outings and competitions
Kent’s motivational sayings of the day
Koko workouts
The diverse Oregon landscape
Seeing lambs and lamas grazing on my drive to work
Bikram Yoga classes
Having a food coop two blocks from my house
The friends I’ve made along the way
Fresh seafood
Full network of bike lanes
Saturday Market

Thanks to the NNC staff for giving me the opportunity to grow and experience the inner workings of NIRSA at the national level. I appreciate your support, guidance, and most importantly your friendship.

Special thanks to those who helped me make a smooth transition from Iowa to Oregon.

Kookoo for Koko and the NNC Healthy Step Challenge

I’m down to my final two weeks as the NIRSA National Center Intern. As I wrap up my involvement with the Champion, Powerade, CBS College sports work on the NCCS Championship events, more fun events begin to transpire at the NNC.

The NNC has a renovated fitness center with new exercise equipment, compliments of Star Trac. This week the team is getting trained on the new Koko machine. Each total body workout on the Koko takes 30 minutes or less. It is customized to each individual user’s strength level on each exercise. Each person that uses Koko receives their own Koko key loaded with an 8-week/24 session program, such as:
-Weight Loss
-Fat Burner
-Fit to the Core
-Fit Mom
-Forever Strong
-Performance Golf
-Total Body Conditioning
-Born to Run
-Sculpt and Tone
-Muscle Building
-Strength and Power
-Sports Conditioning
-Beautiful Bride
-Quick Fit

I choose the total body conditioning program which was loaded onto my personal Koko key. The Koko trainer directed me on what exercise to do, in what order and at what weight. The smart trainer also helped monitor proper form and pace using its interactive software.

In addition, starting May 1st, the NNC starts its NNC Healthy Challenge, which is measured by individual pedometer readings. Awards will be given to weekly winners for the highest seven-day step average, a winner for the highest one-day step count, a winner for the most improved weekly count and a grand prize for the highest four-week step count total.

Back in Action

As signs of spring slowly appear, NIRSA is putting together a “NIRSA National” softball team. The NNC players will look pretty snazzy decked out in their matching gear and gloves. There is also talk about a bowling league and LEET exhibition tournament for those not softball savvy.

With the 2008 NIRSA Annual Conference, Powerade Intramural Invitational and NCCS National Volleyball Championship all wrapped up, things may start to calm down around the office.

Great volleyball teams from around the country remained determined to get to the NCCS National Volleyball Championship even when many found out American had cancelled their flights into Dallas. Regardless of the obstacles, the teams played outstanding volleyball and exhibited good sportsmanship throughout the tournament. The championship culminated with Lakeland College’s defeat over Illinois to win the Men’s DI National Championship. As well as Marquette’s victory over the three time defending champion, University of Texas-Austin. We’re looking forward to next year’s tournament in Kansas City, Missouri.

The POWERade Intramural Invitational was an exciting, memorable and action packed event. I enjoyed watching fellow Hawkeyes compete in the tournament. The tournament was an extreme success not only for the players and student officials but also for the growing relationship between POWERade, CBS, NIRSA and NCCS. Ten players won tickets to the men’s final four semifinals provided by Powerade. Tickets were distributed to players based on how their team placed in the Powerade Invitational Hot Shot competition.

The Annual Conference was my favorite part of my 15 day tour of Texas. There were inspiring speakers, innovative exhibits, and great music. I had the opportunity to attend board meetings, present an educational session about the NIRSA national center internship, meet NIRSA members as they checked in at registration, and spend time with friends.

Bound for Texas

There was another new bell ringer at the NNC announcing that more than 140 exhibitors (and still counting) will be at the NIRSA annual convention in Austin, Texas. That’s more than 100% of what NIRSA set out to achieve this year. If you are going to the conference be sure to make it though the exposition hall to see all the exhibitor demonstrations.

On another note, event planning for the Powerade Invitational Tournament in Hoop City is in full swing. Eight men’s intramural basketball teams will be competing in the national invitational tournament during the weekend of the Men’s Final Four tournament in San Antonio, Texas. At Hoop City, there's fun competitions, basketball clinics, prizes, autograph sessions with NCAA coaches and great players of the past, surprise appearances and more. Visit http://www.hoop-city.com/mens/ for more information about Hoop City.

During the first two weeks of April I will be taking a grand tour of Texas. On Monday, March 31st I leave for Austin to go to the NIRSA annual conference. On Friday, April 4th I will travel to San Antonio for the Powerade Invitational Tournament in conjunction with the NCAA Final Four tournament. And finally, I will be in Dallas for the National Intramural Volleyball Championships on April 7th-April 13th. Then it’s back to Oregon where I will be finishing up the final month of my internship.

March Madness

Once again this week has proved both busy and exciting! Below are some new developments happening at the NIRSA National Center.

• Everyone that works at the NNC gets certified in adult CPR, AED, and First Aid. This week I worked with Matt from the Oregon State University to conduct a Red Cross CPR/AED and First Aid Class for those who needed to obtain or renew their certifications. Everyone who took the class passed and are properly prepared with the skills to potentially save lives.

• To measure the effectiveness of the sponsorships we’ve implements during this spring’s basketball season, I am collecting and tabulating control surveys from 20 institutions around the nation.

• Just today I was named March Employee of the Month! This is very exciting and surprising since the entire NNC Team works hard to provide excellent programs for the NIRSA community. In addition to being extremely honored, I get a reserved front row parking spot for the rest of the month!

Fun Fact of the Week:
Oregon’s state flower is the Oregon Grape! A low growing plant, the Oregon Grape is native to much of the Pacific Coast and found sparsely east of the Cascades. Willamette Valley is widely known for producing quality wine. Since grapes can be used to make wine, it may seem natural for the Oregon Grape flower to be one of the official state’s symbols. However, this flower is not an actual grape and is not used for making any of Oregon’s famous wine here in the Willamette Valley. On the other hand, the flower is often used in food.

Week 6

My efforts this week were focused on arranging hospitality needs for the Powerade Invitational Tournament players coming to Hoop City in San Antonio, Texas this spring. One perk the players have by participating in the tournament is having the chance to win tickets to the NCAA Final Four.

I have also been working on a couple articles for the efast and preparing presentations for the annual conference. I am especially excited about going to the annual conference this year because I will be able to see old friends and finally meet the NIRSA members I have been working with from a distance.

NIRSA National Center Fun Fact of the Week:
Kent Blumenthal, the NNC Executive Director has a fun way to recognize and celebrate outstanding NNC accomplishments. Everyone in the office knows that something exciting is about to happen with Kent rings the gold bell three times. When we hear the bell, everyone rushes to his office to hear about the newest exciting developments. Recently we have had a couple of very exciting Bell Ringers:

-The first campus recreation textbook, Campus Recreation: Essentials for the Professional, produced by NIRSA is now published and available for classroom use!

-Multi-year sponsorships are now in progress for basketball and football intramural programs at institutions nationwide. Powerade and Champion are a couple of the partners, with more on the way!

Week Four and Five

Currently, NIRSA has partnerships with POWERade, and Champion. With the NIRSA Champion partnership program now underway, the program photos are rolling in. It is exciting to see all the basketball players in their Champion hoodies as they get recognized for being the team of the week! NIRSA works with the participating schools to support them throughout the program.

As the 2008 NCCS National Volleyball Championship begins to approach some of my responsibilities have begin shifting to organizing event management details for the tournament.

In addition to the NCCS National Volleyball Championship, I am gearing up to help with event planning for the 2008 POWERade Invitational Championship to be held at Hoop City during the Men’s Final Four in San Antonio, Texas. Each school participating in the 2008 NIRSA-POWERade partnership have the opportunity to send one of their basketball teams to the tournament.

NIRSA National Center Fun Fact of the Week: This week the NIRSA staff held their monthly Fitness Walk. Not only was it great exercise but it also provided a great opportunity for our team to build relationships with each other and support our NIRSA values.

Week Three

This week 20 NIRSA member institutions became participants in the Champion sponsorship program. As you can see I am busy this week packing up each school’s hoodies, posters, banners, and additional program material. By learning how to use the Webinar technology, I get to host and facilitate the online training sessions.

NIRSA National Center Fun Fact:
Bring your dog to work! Playing with my colleagues dogs around the NNC center is always a morale booster since my dog Alex is in Nebraska and my two pet turtles are in Iowa.

Week Two

Job Assignments
After a great three day weekend in honor of Martin Luther King Jr., I am back to work on my projects for this week. One includes evaluating NIRSA’s involvement in social media, for example, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, etc. Social media is increasingly popular with our student, staff, and faculty members and NIRSA is considering how to incorporate more social media into its operations. If you have any suggestions feel free to leave comments on my wall.

I am also working with campuses nation wide to implement exciting intramural sponsorship opportunities with POWERade and CSTV!

Oregon Fun Facts:
Oregon has no sales tax. So everything I get at the dollar store is actually only $1.00!

Oregon businesses are very trusting. Recently I got a flat tire while riding my bike. After making a complete mess in my living room by trying to fix it myself with a can of Fix a Flat, I stopped in at Bike N’ Hike. I did not have my wallet on me at the time but they fixed it anyway. They said since I looked trustworthy I could just come back later and pay. :)

10 States in 10 Days

It was not a direct route from Iowa City, Iowa to Corvallis, Oregon but in order to see friends and family during the holidays, I took various detours along the way.

With everything I would need for the next several months tightly packed into my ‘99 Chevy Lumina. I traveled through the following 10 states in 10 days.

Iowa
South Dakota
Nebraska
Colorado
New Mexico
Arizona
Wyoming
Utah
Idaho
And finally Oregon!

My First Day: Monday, January 7th
The morning of my first day at the NNC, Corvallis got hit with a snow storm, or what Iowa would call “light flurries” which put the town of Corvallis on standstill for a few hours. Regardless, I was welcomed by George Looney, the Accounting and Network Director who gave me an orientation to the NCC.

Prominently displayed on my desk is the NIRSA National Center Staff Creed.
"We believe in our team. We commit to professionalism. We strive for excellence. "

Next to the creed is the 2008 Recreational Sports Directory with NIRSA’s mission statement.
"The mission of the National-Intramural Recreational Sports Association is to provide for the education and development of professional and student members and to foster quality recreational programs, facilities and services for diverse populations. NIRSA demonstrates its commitment to excellence by utilizing resources that promote ethical and healthy lifestyle choice. "

My first assignment is to coordinate the Red Cross CPR/AED and First Aid training for NNC employees. Being a Red Cross certified CPR/AED and First Aid instructor has proved very useful.

Oregon Facts and Lessons Learned
Don’t tip the gas attendant in Oregon. Pumping your own gas is not required, actually it is prohibited. Not being used to this ritual myself, I naturally and naively tipped the gas attendant. At least I stayed dry!