Feature Stories 2018: Andre Olivier '18: internship with the Newport Gulls

This summer I was the official scorekeeper/statistician for the Newport Gulls, a collegiate summer league (NECBL) baseball team.

My job consisted of scoring the game both in a book and on a program that would load the live stats to the league website. I made rulings—hits/errors, wild pitch/passed ball, etc.—on all plays and informed the announcers of my decisions.

I learned quite a bit this summer, including many rules in baseball that I wasn’t aware of. I now feel much more comfortable with my knowledge of baseball and all the rules that are needed to be a professional scorekeeper or statistician.

Experience in a professional environment

The internship provided me with experience in a professional environment and allowed me to meet and talk to a lot of people who have been involved in sports for a long time. The Gulls are a premier organization in summer college baseball and having them on my resume, I believe, has greatly increased my potential for future jobs in sports.

I originally went to school as a liberal arts major and had plans to go with either English or math, but I decided on math after taking an intro to statistics class with Angeliki Kouma. Everything clicked, and I truly enjoyed her class. It was after that class that I had the plan of becoming a sports statistician.

Math professors who connect with students

Gary Davis was another professor whose classes I greatly enjoyed. You could tell he actually cared about the students' learning and understanding the material—and not just knowing it for a test, which is what students need more of. Scott Field and Bo Dong are other teachers who put in a lot of extra effort for their students and helped me a great deal both in class and during office hours.

Great start for a statistics career in sports

I have plans to continue in the realm of sports professionally, and I believe this internship has given me a great start. I believe that internships should be a requirement.

I would like to thank Amelia Alburn, Director of Experiential Learning & Internship Development at the Career Development Center. She gave me a ton of resources—not only for internships but also for searching for jobs in the future. She directly told me about the internship position with the Gulls.

More information

• NECBL: Newport Gulls
• Mathematics BA or BS
• Career Development Center

I now feel much more comfortable with my knowledge of baseball and all the rules that are needed to be a professional scorekeeper or statistician.