Graduation Year: 2024
Majors: Sport management and marketing management
Activities: Pacific Tigers Women’s Tennis
Hometown: Sacramento, California
Klara Kosan ’24 found at Pacific opportunities to pursue her passion for sports by studying sport management and continuing her tennis career. An internship with Sacramento Republic Soccer Team opened her eyes to new opportunities she had not considered before. She was able to take classes to explore her new interests and took up a second major in marketing management.
Why Pacific?
I’ve played tennis since I was little, and I was always competing and traveling. One of the places that I came to a lot was Stockton where I actually played at Pacific. I got to know the coach and when I was applying to different universities, he reached out and gave me a great deal. I also took a tour of the campus and talked to professors. I just thought it was a perfect fit for me.
What kind of college experience were you looking for?
I wanted a school with a good athletic program. But I also really liked the idea of smaller classes and getting more one-on-one attention from professors. I think, that makes it easier to connect with the professors and get to know them on a somewhat personal level. Also, I wanted to be close to home so I could visit.
Why did you choose the sport management major?
I wasn't sure what I wanted to study when I first came to Pacific. I knew I wanted to stay in sports, but I didn’t know if it would be science or business. I saw that Pacific had a lot of different programs that involved sports, so that drew my attention. I wanted to work either for a professional sports team or a sport club. But I think sports team is what I am definitely looking for, specifically soccer or tennis.
Sport management involves learning different ways to run an organization or just different aspects of it. In the four years at Pacific, I’ve learned about event management and globalization of sports, and just different aspects of what it takes to understand how to run a team.
How did you find an internship with Sacramento Republic Soccer Team?
An internship is a requirement for my degree. Since I played soccer for six years when I was younger, I did have some experience in this field. My father, a sport coach in Sacramento, put me in touch with Sac Republic and I applied for an internship in their marketing department. It was a paid position in the summer of 2022.
How did you prepare to apply for this internship?
My Pacific adviser did a great job at helping me get ready for it. He also helped me during the process, reassuring me and giving me feedback. I also learned about the interview process in the Business 110 seminar. And then, Eberhardt Career Center helped us with resumes, and we did mock interviews as well. We learned what to wear, what to say, how to be confident.
What did your internship entail?
On weekdays, I worked with social media content doing video and photo editing, looking through the social media and posting content. On the weekends, when we had matches, my role most of the time was to take control of the social media. I would post about the presenting partners on the concourse and did live streams from the field. Once the game started, I would stand behind the goal and record whenever I thought there would be a chance for or when they scored a goal. I basically took control of the Instagram, Facebook and Twitter during the game to do live updates.
Where did you learn the skills that you needed?
It’s actually funny, because I hadn't taken any classes that were related to what I did during the internship. Instead, I started taking them after. And it's also why I decided to pick up the marketing major so that it would help me with my new interests.
Going into the internship, I had some experience, but nothing major. My boss gave me the opportunity to basically learn everything on the job which was a great experience. She showed me how to do a lot of things, but she also wanted me to explore it on my own. She was always open to questions, and that was very helpful.
I was honestly a bit nervous going into the internship because I didn't know much about it. So that’s why afterwards I took a sport marketing class where I learned a bit more about social media.
What was the most important benefit of your internship?
This internship opened my eyes to something I could consider doing as a career. I think learning all those things was definitely helpful to me. Knowing those basic skills will help me if I do decide to pursue that career and help me to get more advanced skills. It will also look great on my resume.
What else would you like to tell students interested in sport management or in marketing?
I would say that Pacific is a great place. If you want to have this special attention and learn what you want, this is an amazing program. Our professors are great with the students and really engaging during classes.
