Blog Post 1: Introduction of Myself, My Goals For The Semester, and The Company I am a Part of

Who Am I?

Hi everyone. My name is Matthew Hanley and I am a sophomore attending Saint Michael's College located in Colchester Vermont. Currently, I am a Business Administration Major, and I may pick up an Economics minor, but I am not positive yet. Along with my academics here at Saint Mike's, I am a member of the lacrosse team. This semester, I will be composing a blog based off my experiences this summer as a Marketing Representative for the Maverik Lacrosse company, along with translations of material from my current Marketing class. Through this blog, I hope to connect my many experiences professionally with Maverik to this Marketing class' teachings, which will benefit me when I work with them again next summer. My goals for this upcoming semester are to balance and excel both academically and athletically, all while keeping up with the social aspects of college life.

For this first post, I've decided to give an overview of the company I work for and explain what I did for them this summer. This will set the ground work for the rest of my posts where I will then connect my experiences to class material.

About Maverik Lacrosse

As I said before, this blog will mainly focus on my time at Maverik, and how this class will shadow my experiences as a Marketing Representative, giving me the tools and knowledge in marketing to help me strive. Maverik Lacrosse was founded in 2005 by John Gagliardi and Jay Jalbert. The company both designs and develops Lacrosse equipment and apparel, such as heads, shafts, shoulder pads, elbow pads, and gloves. In 2010, Maverik was acquired by Kohlberg & Co, the parent company of Bauer Sports and is a partner company with Cascade Lacrosse, who specialize in lacrosse helmets. Maverik Lacrosse partners with many Collegiate lacrosse teams including Notre Dame and The University of North Carolina, along with Professional teams like the New York Lizards and Florida Launch.

Below I've attached a link of a commercial Maverik ran recently. This commercial really shows what the company is all about and how their goals aren't just to make a profit, but help grow the game of lacrosse for the future.

Maverik Lacrosse :: The Making of The Future is Here

So What do I do for the Company?

As a Marketing Representative for the company, I travel around the east coast, attending youth and high school lacrosse tournaments. I am responsible for a Ford F150 truck, a small trailer, and a team of two other employees. At these tournaments, I set up a tent and a table, displaying new and upcoming products that Maverik and Cascade have to offer. While I am working at these tournaments, My team and I need to be engaging with the consumers. We want everyone that comes to our tent to leave better informed of our products, and happy with their overall experience. Even a normal conversation with young lacrosse players and their parents about how they are doing in their games or anything else that happens to come up at that time goes a long way for the brand. Since we don't actually sell any product at these events, it is crucial for my team and I to give the potential customers who are interested in our product a reason to go to their closest lacrosse retailer and purchase our product after meeting us. To me, theres nothing better as an employee than hearing young players say they have a ton of Maverik gear and love it.

Below is a few pictures of my truck and tent set up: