SUMMARY OF EXPERIENCE

During the fall semester of 2017, I was a Fitness & Wellness intern at Mackal Field House and Gymnasium, located on the University of Rhode Island's campus. Participating in this internship was a fantastic opportunity for me to get a foot-hold in the health field of athletics, and establish a solid foundation for me to begin building a career off of.

During my time at Mackal, I was able to get to know not only the staff working besides me, but also took the time to get to know the members, clients, and other alumni that would come in to exercise, creating relationships that I hope will carry onto next semester, and hopefully for years to come.

As an intern, I had a plethora of daily tasks and objectives that required my attention, aside from the normally scheduled exercise sessions with clientele. When I was not preoccupied with a client or other exercise class session, a lot of my tasks trickled down to the maintenance of the weight and cardio room’s exercise equipment.

This entails doing rounds through both rooms, hopping on the machines from time to time to test whether they are operating to their full capacity or not. If certain pieces of exercise equipment were dysfunctional, it would be my job to attempt to remedy the issue myself, or if it were out of my control, catalog and report the issue to the maintenance crew.

Also, whenever the gym got new pieces of equipment in, such as new barbells, a new squat rack, or additional weights, it would fall on me to unpack, set up, and install the equipment for regular gym use. In addition to maintaining the functionality of the equipment, I would police the area to ensure that the gym was in as sanitary of a state as possible at all times.

Since I was a now a part of the FitWell staff that worked and managed not only Mackal Field House, but also Fascitelli Fitness & Wellness Center, it was my responsibility to attend all mandated monthly FitWell staff meetings, and contribute to the focus of the meeting wherever possible. Each meeting encompassed the need for the staff as a whole to work better in cohesion, and gave insight as to how staff members should react and respond when confronted with either a problematic situation in the workplace, or how they can make the most out of their time in the gym.

These meetings also consisted of ways to help the members who would come into the gym, such as improving customer service, maintaining the quality of the gym, and how to properly spot a member if/when they ask for assistance. It was my duty to walk the entire staff through the proper technique, execution and spotting of a flat bench barbell lift, in addition on the correct form, technique and spotting of a squat in the squat rack. While this may be common knowledge for some, to a number of the FitWell employees this was new and valuable information, so they can improve their versatility and usefulness when on the job.

Overall, my fitness and wellness internship at Mackal was a fantastic experience for me, I was finally able to apply everything I have been learning during my time at the University of Rhode Island into real life scenarios, which was an invigorating experience for me. Working with real trainers and clients here has given me a nice first look at what the athletic training field looks like, and i must admit, I am hungry for more. The ideals, methods of exercise, and different ways to adapt and modify my plan to meet the needs of those around me that I have learned during my time interning has given me a strong foundation to work off of going forward in my health career and life in general. I wish the best for my colleges and trainers in the near and distant future, and hope that we all may find success in any and all future endeavors.