By JOHN JACKSON, Staff Writer
For some young adults, summer is a time of rest and relaxation. For others, it is a time to make some money– and for college students, summer is a time to gain experience through an internship. Kenza Hall, a member of the Manhattan College volleyball team, chose the latter. She made it to the big leagues, as she was able to land an internship in her hometown with the Oakland Athletics.
“It was awesome. It was fantastic! I met so many great people. The atmosphere was super cool. Obviously working in Oakland, being from Oakland, was super nice,” she said.
Hall, a junior, started playing volleyball in the eighth grade. She came from an athletic family as her father, Efton Hall Jr. played football for Stanford, and her cousin, Taiwan Jones, currently plays at the NFL level for the Buffalo Bills.
She played club volleyball, and high school volleyball. In her third year of high school, she knew she wanted to play at the collegiate level and decided to pursue it.
Before coming to Manhattan, she first attended Middle Tennessee State University during her freshman year of college. She transferred over to Manhattan for her sophomore year where she played in 10 games (six starts).
Hall is a management major who strives to go into sports management after she graduates.
“I either want to be an athletic director at the collegiate level or I want to work in player development or player operations,” said Hall.
Hall has a close friend whose mother works for a catering company that deals with the A’s organization. Being aware of Hall’s career aspirations, she was able to help her get an interview with the A’s. From there she was hired as an intern for ticket services.
During her internship, Hall worked at the box office window on game days, worked in the ticket services office, dealt with season ticket holders, and shadowed the people who worked with special season ticket holders (i.e. player’s families).
The internship was beneficial to her future as she got to see who does what and how pro sports runs from the inside. While interning she got to network with a variety of people from different departments.
“It was a great experience overall, especially a great learning experience. I’m hoping to go back this summer and maybe either move up or move around and just keep trying things out.”
Top-tier internships like the one Hall did do not come easily. According to the people around her, her work ethic and leadership abilities made her more than qualified for the position.
Olyvia Chaltas, a junior at Manhattan and teammate of Hall, praised her leadership qualities.
“I think Kenza is kind of a natural-born leader and someone I respect in a management position,” said Chaltas.
She felt that Hall is not only passionate about her team, but also her education. Although they’ve only been on the team together for one year, she noticed that her confidence has grown over that period of time. For Chaltas, it is hard to think of someone with a better work ethic than Hall.
“She has one of the best work ethics I’ve seen on our team and even my years being at this school,” said Chaltas.
Manhattan volleyball coach Lora Sarich has only been the head coach since February 2017, but has also observed Hall’s strong work ethic and considered it contagious.
“Her work ethic is contagious on our team which is awesome,” said Coach Sarich. “It’s something that you can’t teach. You either have it or you don’t.”
Coach Sarich looks forward to what Hall will bring to the team throughout the rest of the season and what she can accomplish through the sport.
“It’s cool to see her truly be empowered by the sport,” said Coach Sarich. “Through the sport she can empower her teammates and even people that are coming to our matches to watch.”