My internship was with the men's and women's soccer teams of la Universidad Blas Pascal under their coach, Gustavo.   

This university is a private university that was founded in 1990 with several branches all over Argentina, but its headquarters is located in the Arguello district of the city Cordoba in the province of Cordoba. The university offers many careers to study and get a degree and the students who are part of the soccer teams study several careers and come from various parts of the country, something that surprised me when I arrived to train with them on the first day. The soccer team has won several championships in inter-school play in the past years, but the COVID-19 pandemic paused the sports program not only at la Universidad de Blas Pascal but throughout Argentina and the surrounding countries (Uruguay, Brazil, etc). Our goal was to reinstitute team practices and put together a team to compete with several other universities in the Cordoba area, such as la Universidad Empresarial Siglo 21, Universidad Catolica de Cordoba, and the Instituto Universitario Aeronautico. We wanted to put together a team that practiced several times a week to foster a sense of team spirit for the future. Our training grounds were located at Academia Arguello, a private trilingual school that is part of the la Universidad Blas Pascal schooling system. This school is within a two-minute drive from the university.

     My responsibilities included accompanying the coach to every practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays to go train. I arrived an hour early to pick up the necessary things for the day's practice (making sure we have all the balls, uniforms, and everything else) and then I started messaging our team via WhatsApp to make sure that those who said they were coming, come at the time we have to arrive at Academia Arguello. During practice, I set up the field with the necessary training equipment for the day's drills, including cones, hoops, and dug-in poles to practice dribbling, passing, and general conditioning of the team. With the girls, I set trained with them focusing on the basics such as learning how to dribble with the ball, how to pass accurately, how to take a shot on goal and much more. While the team was training, I was also put in charge of taking several photos and videos of them as well to then post to social media for the team.

      Being out on the pitch was something completely different than what I am normally used to, which was a welcome change from the other jobs that I have held in the past. Having to balance communication between teammates, and tourney duties when we were ramping up for that occasion. What kept me grounded was the fact that the atmosphere of the internship was very laid-back the people that I met there were kind and very understanding while I was getting used to the environment. This kept me at ease while I was navigating certain tasks during practice and learning to manage the team while the coach was working with specific people and I focused on the group at hand. Effective communication and efficient teamwork were the main takeaways that I was able to gain from my time working with the soccer team there in addition to forging bonds that traverse through the distance between us. 

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