Perfect Game Super25/The Series 844-385-4833 Ex

Perfect Game is already baseball’s number one scouting service so it doesn’t need much promotion or publicity. However, to keep themselves at the top they need to continue to prove they’re the best. They do this by making their marketing plan all about the four P’s. The four P’s are Price, Product, Place, and Promotion. Price is an important part because since they are already a very well-known company they can make their prices a lot higher than they should be. People won’t hesitate to pay these crazy prices because they know that there is no organization that will do it better than Perfect Game. Next is product and this is the most important part of the marketing plan because it is where the content comes from. Perfect Game’s products are it’s very well run tournaments. What makes these tournaments so successful are its employees. Everyone that works with Perfect Game has a very deep background with baseball and knows the game inside and out. This obviously helps a lot when it comes to setting up and running these tournaments and as a result continues to make them larger and more popular. The place where the tournaments are held also plays a big role in the marketing plan. Perfect Game uses some of the best baseball facilities in the world which attracts more players to want and play in these tournaments at these extravagant places. As long as the facilities are in a safe area with a good amount of tourist attractions nearby then these facilities will help when it comes to marketing. Finally, although Perfect Game is already incredibly famous it never hurts to add more promotion. The promotion will almost handle itself when dealing with a company as large as Perfect Game. 31 of the 41 first-round picks in the 2014 MLB drafted had previously attended a Perfect Game event. When kids watch the draft and see these athletes representing Perfect Game it makes them want to start playing in these tournaments also. The top picks in the draft each year wearing Perfect Game attire is probably the best publicity that they could get. Being partners with Major League Baseball is also very helpful when it comes to promotion and publicity.

The Series biggest form of publicity and promotion is having Mike Trout, Centerfielder for the LA Angels, be there spokesperson. Mike trout is one of the best baseball players in the game right now so when kids see him take pictures with The Series gear on it makes them want to be a part of it. Mike Trout used to play for one of the co-founders so that is how a young company was able to get someone like him to represent them.
Organizational Structure: Advisory and policy making boards and their role and relationship to staff

The organizational structure of Perfect Game is tall while The Series is flat. Perfect Game is very large and complex with many management levels whereas The Series has much fewer management levels. Once a month the entire office would have a meeting held by the Human Resources Director where she would remind everyone of the policies and let everyone know if there were any updated policies. Any of the employees at the meeting are welcome to share any ideas for new policies or new ways to better the company in general. Each meeting would usually be for both companies’ combined since most of the employees in the office work for both companies. Unfortunately the interns never had a chance to attend the meetings however on the first day of work we were handed a sheet with all the corporate policies on it.

I don’t have an organizational chart picture for either companies but for Perfect Game the positions are as followed: President/National Director-Jerry Ford, Vice Presidents-Andy Ford, Tyson Kimm, and Jason Gerst, PG Super 25 National Director-Drake Browne, Mid-Atlantic Regional Director-Bob Barth, Human Resources-Danielle Foster, Scouting Department-Nick DelGozzo, Jim Birmingham, Dave Prager, and Rolando Gautier, Social Media-Justyn Carter and Gary Wilson, Administrative Assistants-Daniella Spera and Lorraine Hinchliffe

The organizational structure for The Series is as followed: Co-Founders/Managing Partners-Andy Ford and Bob Barth, Co-Founder/VP-Ben Ford, VP of Baseball Ops-Mike Nemeth, National Baseball Consultants-Joe Barth Jr., and Jerry Daniels, National Administrative Director-Coleen Greene, US Assistant Directors-Matt Kirchner, Bill Perry, and Ryan Normoyle, Player Assessment Director-Nick DelGozzo, Assistant Player Assessment Directors-Jeff Mazzola and Jim Birmingham, HR-Danielle Foster, Administrative Assistants-Daniella Spera and Lorraine Hinchliffe, Assistant Regional Directors-Dave Prager, Justyn Carter, Rob Rifkin, and Rolando Gautier, Social Media-Gary Wilson

Policies play a very important part in making a successful organization. They are guidelines that need to be followed in order to keep everything running in order. Each employee must go through training for multiple days in order to become fulltime staff members. We interns had to go through one day of orientation and then a week of training. The human resources director takes care of the training process. The main policies in Perfect Game are the following:

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  Excellent Customer Service-We expect your customer service skills to be professional and satisfying to all of our tournament players, coaches, and families.
  
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  Appearance-Please make sure to be groomed, showered, and dress to the code that PG Super 25 requires. Monday through Thursday is business casual (no jeans, tank tops, or sneakers). Friday we allow jeans and sneakers. During PG Super 25 tournaments the dress code is black shorts (athletic shorts, must be fingertip length for females), black yoga pants, and a PG Super 25 t-shirt. Your appearance and hygiene is to always be up the PG Super 25 standards.
  
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  Punctuality-PG Super 25 motto is if you arrive at your schedule time you’re already five minutes late (I would say that this is the only unusual policy). If you’re running late we ask you to notify your tournament director. Tardiness could result in termination.
  
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  Sexual Harassment/Harassment/Work Place Bullying-PROHIBITED
  
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  Integrity/Overall Professionalism-Be ready for each event and tasks that PG Super 25 management might give you. Ask questions when you don’t know the answer. Always be a team member. Respect all of your fellow employees.
  

Perfect Game makes a lot of its money by charging parents and other fans to watch the baseball games. They usually charge $10 for a day pass and $20 for a weekend pass if it is a three day tournament. Along with this they charge the teams an entrance fee of almost $1000. After each day, the gate keepers must hand in the daily logs that they were supposed to fill out during the day. The daily log consists of writing out how many wristbands you started with, how many you sold, how many you were left with, the amount of wristbands you sold (in tally form), and the amount of money you made in total. All of this must be split up into day and weekend bands as well. After completing this the gate keepers would hand the logs into the internship supervisor. Finally, they make the other portion of their sales from selling apparel. The employees who sell apparel also must fill out a daily log that looks similar to the tournament fee log and hand it in to the internship supervisor too. Inventory is very important to record when it comes to apparel. For the apparel money and fan fees there is no form of cash control but for the tournament fees the administrative assistants must sign off that the money was received and exactly how much there was. This is most likely because this is a much larger amount of money than what is received from the apparel or fan fees. I am unsure of the amount that is set for the agency’s monthly budget but I know that it is made aware in the monthly meetings held by the HR Director. Funding comes from our many partners as well as the other regions of Perfect Game. Finally, as an intern there was no specific purchase procedure when it came to buying things for the company. We were usually given either a company credit card or my boss’s credit card and were just told to bring back the receipt.

The Mid-Atlantic region of PG Super 25 holds almost all of its tournaments in various towns in Cumberland County, NJ. There are a lot of baseball fields in this area and they have a very good relationship with the city of Vineland, NJ which is where most of the games are held. Cumberland County is in South Jersey and contains very little attractions. However, it contains some of the best fields in the area. The fields that Perfect Game are able to use every year include St. Augustine Preparatory High School, Cumberland High School, Vineland High School, East Vineland Little League, Bridgeton Little League, and etc. Almost all of these fields have lights, a press box, large stands, and beautiful grass/dirt. These are just a few of reasons why Perfect Game continues to use these fields for their tournaments along with it being very convenient for the employees since it is only about 30 minutes away from the PG Super 25 Mid-Atlantic office. As for The Series, there main facility is the JetBlue Park complex in Fort Myers, FL. JetBlue Park is the Boston Red Sox spring training facility and is almost an exact replica of Fenway Park in Boston. Since most of Perfect Game’s national championships are held here they have a great relationship with the owners and therefore allowed The Series to start having their tournaments there as well. There are seven fields that they use with one of them being the actual field that the Red Sox play on which can hold about 11,000 fans. The other fields are in great condition as well since they are the home to all of the Boston farm teams.

I don’t have much information on the agency’s long term capital investment program however there are two main investments that they are involved in. The Series is there most recent investment and by my looks it has been a good one. This is the first year that the company has been up and running and I believe it was a very successful first year. It was a great environment for the players and parents and as they tell more and more people about their experience then the company will continue to grow larger. The best part about it is that most of The Series employees are also Perfect Game employees which makes everything easier. I would imagine that they had made a lot of money from this first year and will only make more as the years go on. Along with this, Perfect Game plans to expand their company into the softball side. They hope to eventually hold these highly competitive youth tournaments for softball in the future. This would also be a great investment because there is no type of tournament company like Perfect Game for softball out there right now. This means they would have no competition and as a result attract a lot of elite softball players (and their money).

Maintenance is a very important part of baseball. Fields and other various facilities need to be cleaned very often in order to create the best possible gaming environment. Perfect Game has numerous maintenance plans to help with this. For the most part they will make their own employees take care of maintenance if allowed by the field owners. Since Perfect Game does not own any of these fields personally they must get approval first. Maintenance was one of the main job responsibilities for the interns. We would have to groom the field after every game and at the end of the day we would have to clean up the entire facility completely. This would include handling equipment, cleaning out trash in the dugouts, locking up the gates, and etc. After each tournament was completely over the city would hire workers to take care of anything that we were unable to. Since The Series held their tournaments at very prestigious facilities their employees were not allowed to help with maintenance. JetBlue Park had its own crew that would take care of maintenance at the end of each day.

In Perfect Game’s case, its major programs are its tournaments. Perfect Game Super 25 holds 4 major programs year round. This includes Mid-Atlantic Regionals, Northeast Super Qualifiers, World Wood Bat Association (WWBA) tournaments, national tournaments and showcases. Mid-Atlantic Regionals are tournaments that take place in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland. Only teams within this region or teams from bordering regions are eligible to play in these regionals. Each tournament consists of usually about 30 teams and the age groups vary from 9u all the way to 17u. The champions from these tournaments earn a berth to the national championship for their age group. Northeast Super Qualifiers are very similar to Mid-Atlantic Regionals. They are also tournaments that take place in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland. The age groups are the same and the winners of these tournaments also get a berth to the national championship for their age group. However, the only differences are that any travel baseball team from any region is allowed to play in the Northeast Super Qualifiers and there are usually more teams in these tournaments. The WWBA was actually established by Perfect Game and the October tournament is the biggest scouting event in all of baseball. These tournaments are strictly for the age groups 15u to 18u. There are usually between 100 and 200 teams that play in these tournaments for each age group. It is considered to be the highest level of youth baseball with the best competition. Being the number one scouting event is what draws so many players and teams to these tournaments. Getting a chance to play in front of hundreds of college coaches and scouts is an amazing opportunity for any player looking to play at the college level. The PG Super 25 national tournaments are held in Marietta, GA, Emerson, GA, or Fort Myers, FL depending on the age group. These tournaments consist of 25 teams each (hence the name Super 25). Each team represents one of the various regions in the United States as well as the national champion from the previous year who also earns a berth to the tournament. These teams are the winners of each regional tournament and/or super qualifier. Since these are national tournaments they contain the best teams in the nation as well as some of the best players and therefore create a great baseball environment. Finally, the last major program is the showcases. Perfect Game holds over 100 showcases each year all around the country. These showcases attract many scouts/coaches as well. The showcases allow players to show off their skills in various skill tests as well as a scrimmage. The skills tests include things like velocity, pop time, batting, fielding, 60, 40, and 30 yard dash, and 10 yard split. After completing these things all of the players will get a chance to play against each other and show how their skills play out in a real game.

The Series has three major programs. This includes the combine, the challenge, and the classic. The combine is similar to the Perfect Game showcases that I mentioned above. Players will attend combines in their area and be evaluated on seven core skill sets for their position. Well respected coaches and scouts will help with the evaluation process and the combines. The athletes who do the best will move on to the challenge. The challenge gives them a chance to use these skills in real games against all of the other top players in their age group and region. The top 15 or so players to come out of the challenge will then finally advance to the classic in Fort Myers, Florida where they will get the chance to represent their region in a week long tournament against great competition from all of the other regions.
Job Description:

Perfect Game provides a great opportunity for college students to get hands-on experience in the game of baseball. You will learn about everything that helps to make a youth baseball tournament successful. This will include scouting, field maintenance, administration, gate keeping, and event coordinating. You will be required to travel to tournaments in the following states: New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware, and Maryland. All trips will be paid for including gas, food, and hotel rooms. Plan on working long hours at the fields while watching youth baseball at the highest level!

My special project with Perfect Game was making a roster book for an entire tournament as well as making the all-tournament team for the same tournament. Each weekend we would hold youth baseball tournaments so during the week we spent most of our time in the office preparing everything for these tournaments. One of the biggest things we needed to complete in time for the weekend was the roster books. These books were basically just packets of papers with each team and all of the players that were going to play in the tournament. We would include things like the player’s name, hometown, graduation year, position, height/weight, and what hand he bats/throws with. Along with this, we would leave a blank space beside each player for the scouts and college coaches to write notes. Usually each intern would take a few teams and type out the rosters in a table on Microsoft Word and after we were all finished we would combine them on one document. So my special project was to do all of this on my own. I did the entire 15u Mid-Atlantic Regional tournament roster book for about 30 teams. In addition to this, after scouting games all weekend I made an entire list of the best players I scouted and sent it to my boss for the all-tournament team list that shows up on our website. I chose to do this for my special project because I thought it was a good thing to demonstrate all of the skills I have learned throughout the internship. It was also a good mix of all different skills because I completed the roster book by using what I learned in the office and I completed the all-tournament team by applying everything I learned while on the field scouting. It was also very helpful to my company because of how busy that weekend was. There were three other tournaments going on that weekend along with the 15u one so completing my project made it easier for everyone. I took complete responsibility in this special project and completed it with very little help if any at all. I was confident in doing it because of all the skills I have learned prior to doing it. This in return made for a very successful special project and tournament as a whole.

Throughout my time with Perfect Game Super25/The Series my main jobs were scouting and field maintenance. However, I worked in an office for a lot of the time too where I would be responsible for many other things. A normal day at the office would begin at either 8 or 9 a.m. and last until about 5 or 6 p.m. Depending on when the tournaments would start, we would usually be in the office on Thursdays and Fridays. When we first got there we would sit around and listen to my boss tell us what we would be doing for the day. While listening, we got to eat breakfast that was provided for us by my bosses. After this the interns would break up into groups and complete different tasks that we were assigned. These tasks included calling coaches and letting them know what they need to submit for the upcoming tournament, creating roster books, driving to storage units to pack our cars with the needed equipment for the tournaments, and much more. We always got a lunch break from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. and all of the interns would usually go right across the street to the mall which had a huge food court.

As for the tournament days, they were usually all weekend and would last all day. The agency provided us with hotels near the baseball fields if we chose to stay. We would have to be at our field by 6:30 a.m. in order to be ready for our first game at 8:00 a.m. After all of the games were finished and we were done packing everything up, we would get done anywhere from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. depending on when your last game was done. While at the games, I had a lot of responsibilities. I would set everything up when I first got to my assigned field. This included signs, banners, tables, tents, and field grooming equipment. During the games I would sit in the press box (if the field had one) and scout the games. I would take detailed notes on all of the elite players. After the game was finished I would approach the elite player(s), coach, and/or parents and ask them for their contact information. I would use this information to submit them for a chance to represent their region in The Series Classic tournament in Fort Myers, Florida. In between games I would help groom the field so that it was playable for the next game. After each tournament I gave my boss a list of all the best players for him to review and possibly put on the all-tournament team.

Although these were my main jobs, I also had to do a few other things at times. A few times I took over the role as gatekeeper. I had to sit by the entrance of the fields and charge person that came to watch the games. Once they paid I would give them a wristband. Along with this, there were two times when I had to be the field director. This is a huge position because you are pretty much in charge of the entire field. You go out and do ground rules with the coaches and umpires, you keep score of the game, and if anything were to go wrong (injury, fight, etc.) you would be in charge of handling it.