July 13, 2010

Now in the fourth week of my internship at Nike, I continue to be amazed everyday by this company. Two weeks ago the company held the Nike Maxims Awards, which is their version of the ESPYS. Hosted by Randy Jackson from American Idol, the awards show featured appearances from golf superstar Michelle Wie and world champion sprinter Allyson Felix. After the show I was able to meet and talk with Mark Parker, Nike's President and CEO.

Last week I was able to play catch with Dennis Dixon, former University of Oregon quarterback and current quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers. And just today I met Tim Tebow, who is one of the NFL players on campus for Nike's 7on event, featuring the top 25 high school football teams. Other NFL players who were on campus taking a photo shoot included Chris Johnson, Desean Jackson, and Troy Polamalu.

While it is very easy to get star-struck by all the big name athletes who come through this campus, it simultaneously motivates me to continue training hard for this upcoming fall season. I've started the NIKE Training Club class with one of my fellow interns who plays quarterback at Virginia Tech. And while a lot of my teammates know I'm somewhat of a gym rat, I will even admit that this class makes Mike Hill's Sleeveless Fridays look like a walk in the park.

With all these things going on at the Nike campus it would seem that getting things done in the office would be near impossible. And while the soccer marketing department sets aside time to watch the World Cup - things must get done. It goes to show the great balance between business and sport. This morning I was able to sit in on a meeting where we discussed contract negotiations for some of the biggest US soccer stars. Having always been interested in sports marketing, I was pretty excited to participate in a meeting about sponsoring some of the biggest names in the game.