The Better Part of Having a Job Is Enjoying It

Traveling a Distance to Achieve Success

By Miranda Milless

I have only had a couple jobs in my lifetime. When I was in high school my parents never forced me to get a job because they thought it was more important for me to focus on my schoolwork and sports. My first job was at a resort in the laundry department. This job had to be the worst job I will have ever worked, but that is a different story. My second job was at the Wide World of Sports in Orlando, Florida. This turned out to be the best job I ever had and was a great opportunity that was given to me by my uncle who works for Amateur Athletic Union (AAU).

AAU works with Disney and manages multiple tournaments for all sorts of sports, from basketball to la crosse. I worked with basketball tournaments where there were 12 courts on site at Wide World of Sports. The facilities were nothing but the best. Along with the 12 at Disney there were 12-14 more courts at local schools and community centers. The two main facilities, the Milk House and the Jostens Center, were both well air-conditioned. Half the time it did not even seem like I was in Florida because it got so cold. With so many courts available, one can imagine how many teams come to these tournaments from all across the U.S.

Being that I am from Minnesota, traveling to Florida was a great experience. I had driven down with my mother because I would need a car to drive to and from work. My aunt and uncle reside in a near-by town outside Orlando where I had the opportunity to save money and live there for free. My mom stayed a week until I was settled in, and we visited all the amusement parks and the beach. My aunt and uncle were more than welcoming and generous and could not have made the adjustment and easier.
My mornings did start early with a 40 minute drive, but all I had to do was sit at a table and run the clock or do the book for the games. No strenuous work was required, though my legs would get a little restless. Therefore, between games I could walk around and up the stairs to get my blood flowing.

With there being so many different teams of all ages and all different states, I was amazed at all the talent. The youngest teams were 9-years-old and some of them played like they were teenagers. I love to watch basketball, so this happened to be a great job for me. I also got to work with some great people. For some of the games we needed three people, one to run the clock, one to run the shot clock, and one to keep the book. There would be 8-10 games a day, often-times ending at around 11 p.m. The days were long but totally worth the paycheck. Another advantage to this job would be that I could wear whatever I wanted. Most of the time I would show up in comfortable yoga pants, a sweatshirt, and tennis shoes. It had been a very casual atmosphere working on the courts. One downside to the job would have to be the referees; every three games or so there would be a new set of three camp refs who were still in training so they were not that good.

The second part of my summer I worked in the office gathering the score sheets for all the games and putting them on the computer to be instantly uploaded to the Web site. The office was hectic and I was worried about making mistakes because my uncle had said, “The things you do, like show up late, reflects bad on me. I recommended you to work here this summer, so make me proud.” Although he said this with a smile and tender heart, it still made me a little scared and forced me to work extra hard.

Furthermore, with the long days, one could not be expected to work more than a week straight. I was able to have a few days off here and there where I could sleep in and rest by the pool. It did get a little lonely not knowing that many people and all. At the end of the summer, I did, however, make one pretty good friend who I got to work with everyday. We had a lot in common and were able to discuss the games we worked and comment on weird things. She was tough to say goodbye to after getting so close, but we keep in touch.

When work had ended my sisters had flown down to drive back to Minnesota with me. That drive would have been a terrible one alone. Getting lost was even an option with someone to help look at the map. They ended up staying a week where we visited the amusement parks and got to go to the beach a couple different days getting plenty of sun and people watching. It turned out to be a great thing that we were able to get along so well or it would have been one long week. The drive back had taken more than 24 hours, but once we got home it sure felt good. In the end, I had a terrific experience and met some really great people. So far, t his job had topped them all.