Diary of an Intern at Cricket India Academy
Post:
2
Commencement
of Business Development Work………
We are done with the
summer camp tournament the last event of the Season, now its time to switch the
focus on to Business Development, it is a new field, I will be working in to.
Before Summer Camp Tournament I had done some research work related to Cricket,
but now I had to devote my maximum time to business development as I was
supposed to start off with its project as well.
In the entire span of
Internship I did a lot of researches on different sports academies &
Schools in different cities. The purpose of the research was always to
understand the current scenario of cricket in that particular city. In the
initial days all the research was internet based but as the days went by, the
research level started going in depth. While doing this research, I was collecting
information such as background of academy, programs offered, fees structure,
coaches, location etc. So in the whole process I learned which points should be
considered while conducting a research and what information is relevant.
Life
at Kohinoor Corporate Office & Regular Office Activities………
I
was done with Summer Camp Tournament & in next couple of days brought all
the KIT BAGS from different venues back to the office. I had already started
basic work of Business Development i.e.
research on potential school & venues. Now it was a period wherein I
was not supposed to go outdoor & work but to stay back in office &
focus on the office work.
In Operations the office
work was to take stock of T-Shirts, caps, different books for coaches &
participants, cricket equipment which we brought back from all the venues. It
was fun to do all these things. I use to have a different feeling every time
when I was working on the same. Sometimes I felt like I was working in a garment
factory while stock take of t-shirts & Caps as hundreds of t-shirts were
around me, sometimes felt like working in a library while stock take of
handbooks, manuals, assessment books etc & sometimes felt like I was
working in a sports equipment outlet while taking stock of cricket equipment.
In Business Development,
I was supposed to continue with the research work on the different sports
academies & school. While doing these researches I became aware about the presence
of many interesting sports academies & sports firms & it was really
helpful to study their functioning & other details of these
organizations.
But other than this work
the most interesting thing was the celebrations of birthdays & farewell
parties of the Kohinoor group employees. It seemed like every week some or the
other person was having birthday resulting in good snacks in the morning & some great
desert at the lunch provided by that specific person. We also had farewell
parties for Abhishek Shekhawat (Operations Executive) & Anusha Sanghvi (Marketing
Executive). So Office life was becoming more & more interesting & happy
due to such things.
Tele-Calling
Sessions the real test………….
In the later period of
my Internship I was supposed to start tele-calling sessions in Operations as
well as Business Development. In Operations, Tele-calling was done to the
existing participants to inform them about the Assessment schedule towards end
of the season & in Business Development Tele-calling was done to the
schools about which I had collected information.
On May 28, 2012 Sanket Sir
told me to schedule a re-assessment for the students who missed the previous
assessment. After making schedule I started calling them. The second
re-assessment was also scheduled on June 17 when schools were reopened so that
participant will be available but as it was the start of monsoon season, that
session was washed out due to heavy rains throughout Mumbai.
We rescheduled the final re-assessment session
on June 24, in an indoor space at Kohinoor International School. Many parents
confirmed their participation for assessment but only few students showed up.
Usually we have assessment scheduled on Sunday. Due to vacations, poor
attendance & rains we lost two Sundays. Even after working on an off day
i.e. Sunday the regret was lack of attendance resulting in waste of the
scheduling.
On Jun 2, 2012 I went for my 1st
Business Development meeting along with Greg. We reached there before time but yet
meeting was delayed by 1 hour 30 minutes. Finally principal called us. We
started off with the meeting & after entire discussion we came to know that
school doesn’t own a ground resulting all our efforts in vain. After that, 2 –
3 weeks passed without a meeting as some of the schools were yet to open.
In the last week of June
I restarted Tele-calling but still there was no confirmation regarding meeting
as the schools replied in the same manner “if
we are interested we will get back to you” so I had nothing to say other
than “thank you ma’am. I felt very
disheartened, because setting up a meeting was only possible if the schools gave
us an appointment but it was not happening due to same story “if we are
interested we will get back to you”.
Last
Week at Office……….
It was July 2, 2012 the
last week of my internship at Cricket India Academy, still my Operations
Project: “COACH OF THE YEAR” was yet
to be drafted & I was also supposed to setup some meetings with schools, so
two major tasks were pending. I started calling some schools who told to get
back this week & it was a miracle…… In last 1 ½ month I was able to setup
only a single meeting & suddenly two schools are ready to hold a meeting in
the same week, Hurrrrrraaaayyyyyy I said. I quickly called Greg & asked him
for his availability, then called the schools & confirmed the meetings.
Then I started working
on Coach of the Year program, in entire span of two months of internship I use
to note down the points regarding it in my book. It took two days for me to
complete the program designing. I mailed it across to Sanket Sir; he gave some
of his inputs towards the program design making it much better than the one I had
designed. This is where experience helps, an experienced person like Sanket Sir
could quickly think about certain points which I missed out. So I made the
necessary changes & on July 3, 2012 I was ready with Coach of the Year
program.
On July 5, 2012 we went for the two meetings &
they were successful as both schools had good quality of ground, On July 6,
2012 my entire team & I went to Hotel Jai Hind in Dadar as it was my
farewell party from my entire team. It was a mixed feeling at that time as I
felt tomorrow was my last day in the office, I will not be working any more
with a group of great people of Cricket India Academy who helped me in these 2
months of Internship.
Finally it is July 7, 2012
the last day at office, only finalizing work to do. The day passes quickly
& at 5.30 pm I hand over my temporary access card to Varsha (HR &
Admin) as I would not require it anymore. I come to the ground floor meet the
security person (Mr. Jyotiba) who daily wished me Good Morning with a nice
smile on his face, I told him about end of my internship, had a last look at
the office building from outside as many thoughts quickly run through my mind
……. No more getting up early, no more catching crowded 9.12 CST local from
Dombivli, no more Birthday celebrations at Kohinoor Corporate office
………………………..& it’s an end.
In this entire span of
two months entire Cricket India Academy team always treated me as if I was a
regular employee & not an intern which created a good bonding with all of
them. So I would like to sincerely thank all the team members of Cricket India
Academy & all the coaches for the support, coordination & guidance
provided to me during my internship. I
must say that I really have a very strong desire to work with same organization
after completing my MBA successfully.
Written By: Naresh Vijay Patil
July 7, 2012
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