Professional Spotlight – Scott George
- What is your current position and responsibilities?
- Assistant Director, Competitive Sports and Summer Camps with University Recreation at Central Michigan University. With this position, I oversee the staff and administration of Intramural and Club Sports. I am responsible for the development of learning outcomes for my program areas, creating and scheduling sports and leagues, working through Intramural governance, ensuring quality and fairness of nearly 40 sports offered and all of their leagues, servicing the 10,000+ participants in our IM Program, and advising and working with our 38 club sports teams. I also work with our facilities team in terms of helping coordinate summer camps that utilize our facility, primarily sports camps. In terms of student leadership and development, I directly supervise or assist in the supervision of 3 graduate assistants (1 in Intramurals, 2 in Club Sports), 1 program coordinator, 2 interns, 12 Intramural Supervisors, and approximately 50 Intramural officials. I would say that whether it is with participants or student employees, my main role is to create engagement opportunities for students, lead students, and assist them in their development for their future careers and membership in society.
- How did you get involved in campus recreation?
- When I was an undergraduate and graduate student at Central Michigan University, I participated in every Intramural Sport that was offered besides maybe 2 or 3. Whether it was basketball, softball, or handball, I could not get enough and always wanted to participate. Finally, in my graduate years, I decided to try and officiate basketball, softball and flag football – and I became one of our lead officials with those sports. During my time as a student, I worked in professional sport with the Detroit Pistons and Detroit Shock, I was a teaching graduate assistant with our Physical Education and Sport Department, and I worked with our Men’s Basketball team as a student manager and player development coordinator. My plan was to either go work in marketing with a collegiate athletic department or professional basketball team or coach basketball at a collegiate level. However, during my job search, I received a call from Stan Shingles, who I had developed a relationship with during my time as a student to talk to me about the soon to be vacant position of Assistant Director, Intramural and Club Sports. I went straight from an interview for an assistant coaching position in Magnolia, AR to Mount Pleasant, MI, decided to give this collegiate recreation thing a try and have loved it ever since.
- In your opinion, what is the value of recreational sports?
- Recreational sports connects so many students to the fabric of life and culture here at Central Michigan University. I am in a place where I can positively influence lives in a setting where people come for fitness, wellness, competitiveness and fun. I always wanted to teach or coach, and the fact that I can connect with students – participants, employees, club sports officers – and have a positive impact on development means the world to me. I think that recreational sports balances a student’s life here on campus between the “have to”s of going to class, of paying for rent, of working a job with the “want to”s of playing intramurals, working out, spending time with friends. Collegiate recreation is a place and experience that can fit each student uniquely and be a customized, transformative experience. At the same time, this place of leisure and fun doubles as a workshop for learning skills and characteristics that will transfer to one’s career. Students that participate in recreation learn how to effectively work in a team, how to communicate, and how to persevere. When I was a student, the Student Activity Center was the place that I felt most at home, it was a place that pushed me to become better, and it was the place that also I developed my fondest memories. That is the value of recreational sports.
- Which part of your job do you enjoy the most?
- Working with the people and the students. I quickly learned that I was not in a sports career that served a place of higher education, but rather a higher education career that served the students through the vehicle of sport. Being able to serve those students and participants has been the number one most joyful part of the position. The days I remember and that rejuvenate me include the day long officials trainings where I can be on the floor coaching up staff, the championship nights where students finally earn that coveted IM T-Shirt, the Unified Sports days where CMU student partners compete with and against Special Olympians and sports transcends intellectual limitations, and the end of the year banquets when I get to reflect on the accomplishments of and lessons learned from our wonderful student employees.
- Personally, how has being involved with NIRSA impacted you?
- NIRSA has impacted me in many ways. NIRSA has provided me a way to provide service to a greater community than just my Mount Pleasant home campus. I get to lend my skills to the region and nation in the world of collegiate recreation. Service is something I value, and NIRSA has allowed me to be a part of it – from working tournaments to presenting at conferences to being a part of the NIRSA/Special Olympics Unified movement that is sweeping through colleges and universities throughout the nation. NIRSA has also served me by challenging me in these roles so I have been able to develop. It has given me opportunity to experience projects and places that are not available in my every day life and it has made me better. I have been able to see places like Washington DC and Nashville and Phoenix and Dallas through my NIRSA experiences. Finally, NIRSA has connected me to some of the best people and friends that I know. You learn a lot about a person when you wake up at 6:30 am and work out at the fields with them under the blistering sun until it sets at 7 pm, and then you work four more hours. We have the most caring, humble and energetic membership and it truly makes the years lived valuable.
