Capturing content for our social media accounts on Instagram and Twitter

Hello, I am John Paul Caire. I am a 2023 graduate of the School of Communication Studies with a focus on Leadership Studies. I interned this summer for the Ventura County Pirates Baseball Club. The VC Pirates are a Southern California-based collegiate baseball team that plays an independent schedule. The organization consists of three teams that compete against opponents in Southern and Northern California, Alaska, and Wisconsin. Southern California boasts a highly competitive and talented baseball community that is well-known around the country. Not only did I intern, but I also played for the organization, which provided me with insight and access not typically granted to ordinary interns. My position was managing the pregame, in-game, and post-game social media coverage. I created posts to announce game times, field locations, in-game score updates, and final score updates, and filmed and photographed new content.

Starting Lineup

 

 

I found the internship through playing for the Pirates baseball organization over the past two summers. This internship provided me with the unique experience and opportunity to work and play alongside the coaching staff, players, and other interns, collaborating to produce new content tailored to the team’s busy schedule. I utilized various programs, including Canva, Photoshop, and a film editing program, to create posts for live game announcements, score updates, and post-game scores and interviews. My job was to keep our followers updated on our game scores. This was challenging at times when I was also participating in the actual game I was reporting on.

Score update

The internship taught me a lot about picture and video editing. It also taught me to create effective and appealing graphics that were easy to read and understand, while adhering to the team’s aesthetic. Collaboration skills were heavily used when communicating with other interns during the very busy game days. When creating graphics and new content, we were given specific team colors and logos to use. From there, we were assigned to make pregame announcements, in-game updates, and post-game updates. We had to create an organized system of graphics that were creative yet clearly stated information regarding the games. Once we had a defined structure in place, we were able to refine the designs and create even better graphics to be posted. There were even times when I had to create original graphics on the fly, using only my phone, due to game delays or a loss of internet connection. The social media position enabled me to utilize my creativity and knowledge of baseball to deliver information directly to team followers in an engaging manner.

Final score

Interning for the VC Pirates baseball organization was a rewarding experience that has provided me with a body of work that I’ve already had an opportunity to share with individuals working in professional media. Hopefully, this work will provide an opportunity to launch a successful career. I am looking forward to what is next in store.