��������

The Department of Sport Management held its second annual professional development week with two internship symposia and a sport business conference.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, more than 60 seniors gave presentations to underclassmen on their internships from the last year. Internships are a requirement in the program, and students gain course credit for opportunities varying from Tampa Bay Pickleball, UTampa’s Athletics Department and professional sports teams.

Ariana Griffin ’26 interned for the Tampa Bay Sun FC, the first professional women’s soccer team in Tampa. The team was founded in 2023, and Griffin said it had a start-up feel, and she was involved in several different aspects of operations. A couple of Griffin’s responsibilities included setting up locker rooms before games with equipment and food for the players and planning community events like sunset yoga on the field to build brand awareness. She realized that she excels at event planning, and her dream job would be doing something similar for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, she said.

Luca Zanghi ’28 and Gradon Sosnowski ’28 were both in attendance at the internship event to network with the seniors and learn about the directions they can take within their major. Sosnowski is interested in the event management side of the industry, but he ultimately hopes to get into basketball coaching. Zanghi said he used to be set on operations, but in the last couple weeks has spoken with professionals involved in sports broadcasting and marketing and is now shifting his focus.

Both Zhangi and Sosnowski met with and were inspired by Madeline Smith ’26 who interned with the Chicago Cubs last summer. Smith said one of the highlights of her summer internship was meeting business partners and their families on game days.

On Friday, the sport business conference started with a panel with Marc Bluestein, founder and CEO of Aquarius Sports and Entertainment, and Alan Zucker, partner at Excel Sports Management. Neither of them started in the sport industry immediately after college, so both shared lessons they learned through their careers as they found their passion. They encouraged students to take chances and make lasting impressions. Afterward, the next sessions included business insights from the Tampa Bay Sun FC, the story behind the Valspar Golf Championships, and an inside look into college athletics.��