Get experience with the Turner Ashby High School Boy's Basketball program

The Turner Ashby High School Boy's Basketball program (located in Bridgewater, Virginia) is looking for motivated individuals to fill a variety of coaching positions. Positions include: Varsity Assistant, Junior Varsity Assistant, AAU feeder program coach or assistant, Scout, Statistician, Game DJ, and more. 

Qualified applicants must have a passion for the game of basketball and be very reliable. Applicants should also be detail oriented, able to think quickly on their feet, and have a willingness to follow direction and learn new skills. Experience playing or coaching the sport of basketball is a plus.

You will have a chance to do a variety of tasks such as schedule camps, assist at practice and on game days, help in the weight room, and learn almost every facet of what it takes to run a successful high school program. 

Our main season runs from November through March. We also have opportunity with our AAU program from October through February, and our summer program from June to mid-July.

Interested candidates should contact Chad Seibert at CKSeibert33@gmail.com or 540-908-6394.

"Pro-marijuana ads pulled from NASCAR’s Brickyard 400"

From the New York Daily News

Review by Kolbie Owens in SRM 435 (section 2)

This past July, the Marijuana Policy Project created a pro-marijuana advertisement that was supposed to be seen at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on the jumbotron. However, the constant criticism from anti-drug groups caused the company who owned the jumbotron to take it down. The ad called “New Beer” specifically targeted beer and alcohol consumption. Within the advertisement, people are being violent, are hungover, and in depression from drinking alcohol. Then it cuts to individuals that are happy and smiling because they have smoked marijuana. The Drug Free America Foundation, Inc and Save our Society from Drugs had the biggest problem with the advertisement. They complained about how this ad was making false statements that say marijuana is safer than alcohol.

From a marketing point of view this advertisement should have not been shown in Indiana. It should have been shown in another state where marijuana is legal, such as Colorado or Washington State. In these states, the advertisement would be less criticized, and more publicized. Indianapolis does not even allow medical marijuana, so to pick a NASCAR audience in this location was a bad target audience to choose.

From a sales point of view, I find this advertisement very effective. Targeting alcohol, beer specifically, was very smart because alcohol is an extremely popular drug that is advertised with little criticism. Also, beer is very prominent in the sports world. It is sold at almost every sport event, and publicized tremendously. Therefore, showing the negative affects of alcohol, with the positive affects of marijuana, cause the audience to think marijuana could be a better option. This article is a great representation of what we will learn in class. Marketing and sales are all about consumer behaviors, and creating effective ways to sell products. This controversy with the pro-marijuana advertisement just shows what problems can occur when a product is not sold or marketed in the right way. This class is going to give me the skills to create strategies, and develop effective marketing plans, so that I will become successful in this field.

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Review by Jennifer Luck in SRM 435 (section 2)

A commercial “touting marijuana as an alternative to beer” was pulled from displays outside a NASCAR race after just a few airings. The ad was purchased by the Marijuana Policy Project-the nation’s largest pro-marijuana legalization advocacy group-“and was celebrated by the organization as the first time a pro-pot campaign would be seen at a major sporting event.” However, the boards set to display the commercial were not technically on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s grounds. An independent media company, Grazie Media, owns the jumbotron. When officials with the company that had allowed the Marijuana Policy Project to purchase airtime caught wind of its pro-marijuana message, they scrambled to take it down. “We decided to pull ultimately because it’s not obviously a great fit for the NASCAR audience, for the family kind of oriented audience, that’s why we decided to pull the ad,” Grazie Media CEO Vanessa Wojtala said in a released statement. 

Mason Tvert, Director of Communications for the Marijuana Policy Project, jabbed back at the advertiser’s decision, accusing the company of being hypocritical in supporting alcohol-related content while denying the marijuana ad. “We find it odd that this company is willing to run ads at an alcohol-fueled event, yet unwilling to run an ad that simply highlights the ways in which marijuana is less harmful than alcohol,” he said.

Marijuana is not legal in Indiana, for medical or recreational use. The ad was scheduled to play 72 times throughout the weekend.

From a marketing standpoint, this ad should not be played at a major sporting event. No matter what one’s opinion is on marijuana, this pro-pot ad is promoting an illegal drug. Marijuana is not legal in Indiana, for medical or recreational use. I do not believe it is smart for a media company to allow a pro-illegal drug commercial play at an event where hundreds of thousands of people are going to see it. Marketing is used to communicate the value of a product or service to customers, for the purpose of selling the product and service. Marketing should only be used to promote legal products and services.

However, from a sales point of view, this commercial is a new opportunity for companies to make money. It is probably not the smartest idea to have this commercial play in a state where marijuana is not legalized, but in the 18 states where medical marijuana and two states where recreational use is legalized this ad can be played. As marijuana continues to be legalized in the United States, it is going to be advertised more in the public eye. Just think about how much money FOX is going to make this year off of beer commercials alone in this year’s Super Bowl. Who knows, maybe one day these major TV networks will have a new source of commercial income.
This class examines how promotional activities and sales efforts are closely intertwined and impact upon the success or failure of the sport and leisure industry. This promotional ad was not approved by the sports industry, and NASCAR is lucky they were able to dodge what could have been a major crisis.

"How Jason Sudeikis Learned to Love the Other Football for NBC Sports"

From Adweek

Review by Kara Beckley in SRM 435 (section 1)

NBC sports took a new approach to attracting audiences to a not-so popular sport. The English Premier League has given rights to NBC for three years to broadcast and promote Fútbol. NBC is mainly watched by United States citizens, in which do not have soccer as a high sport on their list of passions. The Television Company teamed up with an ad agency out of New York, The Brooklyn Brothers. Guy Barnett is the creative director for the agency and is given much of the credit for the five minute YouTube Web film staring Jason Sudeikis.

They use Sudeikis as a newly transferred coach of English Fútbol from American Football. He is seen coaching the Tottenham Hotspur team, in an amusing and inexperienced light. The film was segmented around a sit down interview with the Coach and how he is doing with the new transition and also includes what are clips from a press conference. The goal of the film was written out by the agency but ended up becoming a improvised act by Sudeikis. The Hotspur team was able to actually be in the film while they recorded for 10 hours on two days.

The use of something extremely amusing to the audience you are trying to capture is a huge a critical piece of gold. The more serious an ad gets, the less interesting it is with the generations today, causing a lack of attention. By having humor in the mix with promotion, makes so many different audiences want to understand what is going on. It’s brilliant, and in the case of the Brooklyn Brothers and NBC Sports, it worked tremendously well. Not only did the video have seen it, also. It was shown through short clips on NBC stating “It’s Football, Just not as we know it.” Adding the humor makes the viewer intrigued to find the film on YouTube and take in the entire picture. By doing this, it adds a spark to target audiences to watch the English Premier Leagues or even just give them a slight knowledge that a largely known company such as NBC is covering it. For marketers to have the chance to show viewers of NBC shorts of the Web Film is highly successful for the reason of each viewer gaining interest and wanting to find out more about the soccer league and simple watch the amusement itself. The media aspect was very well considered with this approach. The technology era is huge and incorporating YouTube, along with a Facebook app to help understand Fútbol increases convenience for newly gained audiences. 

This article is relevant to the class because it markets a new product to a new audience in an almost effortless way. Sport marketing can be done through all various types of sports. Many ways are effective and some are not. This relates to the class in a way that shows a good marketing strategy to the technological era and gives the class a good idea of success through promotion. It is a little bit different than the typical advertisements on billboards or in magazines, and makes it unique and very practical for the future in the industry.

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Review by Brett Ireland in SRM 435 (section 1)

NBC Sports has come up with a new way to promote professional football (Fútbol) to Americans. They have taken a new approach involving comedy that they hope will draw more American fans to the game of soccer. The created a five minute video starring Jason Sudeikis as the new Head coach of the Tottenham Fútbol team, having have had no experience in the “other football.” Through mostly improvisation, Ted Lasso (Sudeikis) faces challenges of the differences between football and fútbol. In a comedic manner, Lasso learns how there is only slide tackling as opposes to tackling in football, hands are only to be used by the goalie in the goalie box, and the rule of off-sides is very challenging to comprehend. T 

The video is only five minutes in length and was originally released in short segments on television. The campaign includes a Facebook application and the video has also received millions of views on Youtube. NBC created their own audience by creating a comedic video that could appeal to wider margin of people other than current fans of Fútbol. They were not only reaching out to American soccer fans, but sports fans in general and trying to promote that while it is a different sport, it is still very entertaining. It also attracted anyone who is a fan of Saturday Night Live (SNL) and of the actor Jason Sudeikis. This campaign has showed great success because it has had so many people watch it. The main purpose of this was to make Americans more aware of and interested in professional Fútbol, and it did just that.This article is relevant to Sport Marketing and Sales because it shows an example of a successful campaign in promoting professional Fútbol. I feel this article does a great job of introducing an innovative way to promote to different demographics. In order to run a successful sport marketing campaign, it is important to know your audience as well as what interests them. This promotion shows several things that we will learn throughout the semester including marketing plans for generating revenue and consumer behavior (the state of professional Fútbol in the United States).