Lehigh field hockey junior Lindsay Alvarez got some advice at an internship, advice that's also very applicable to the playing field.
"One of my bosses said to work hard for what you want because it won't come to you without a fight," said Alvarez. "You have to be aggressive all the time and always have that drive to be successful. Don't take no for an answer."
This past summer, Alvarez was a production intern with The Walt Disney Company in New York City. As part of her internship, she worked with the shows The View, The Chew, Good Morning America and Eyewitness News.
"My responsibilities included assisting with the supervision of the production set and movement of personnel on and off the various sets for the shows," she said. "I also performed various functions in the coordination and preparation of guests and show hosts, making sure they were prepared and had all the resources they needed."
A friend of Lindsay's father works for Walt Disney and nudged her to apply for the company's internship, which was related to marketing.
"I'm in finance with the marketing track," said Alvarez. "I had a phone interview, then I had a face-to-face interview in the city with a production team member at Disney, which was very exciting and also nerve-racking."
Alvarez was asked what she could bring to the table. Even though she didn't have a lot of work experience related to her major, being a Division I student-athlete proved beneficial.
"In my interview, I said I'm an athlete in my second year at Lehigh so I don't have a ton of work experience, but I could bring many different things to the table," said Alvarez. "I'm younger and I'm familiar with Disney. I watch many of the shows and grew up watching ABC, so I believe I could bring a lot of new ideas."
Alvarez's pitch must have worked… she was offered the position. She went on to work approximately 20 hours per week - working Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
The internship included office days and show days. The office days featured plenty of hard work and research to make upcoming show days a success.
"Office days were focused on research," said Alvarez. "What can we create a segment about? What kinds of topics are hot to talk about? Ideas were presented in a meeting where everybody throws ideas on the table."
In many ways, office days are like film (and practice) days with Lehigh field hockey - all to prepare the Mountain Hawks for game days.
"If we watch film on a certain team, we look for what we can do to give ourselves the best chance for success," said Alvarez. "Meanwhile, with office days, the question is what we can do to draw more viewers. What can we do to make people tune in and watch this episode?
"On both show day and game day, everything comes together and all the ideas are meshed into action."
The "action" of show day and game day is the reward at the end of the tunnel, making all the hard work pay off. Alvarez remembers one especially rewarding show.
"On one episode of The View, we had on soldiers from Afghanistan who were in a helicopter crash together and hadn't seen each other since the crash," she said. "The challenge was to have them tape separate tapes before seeing each other for the first time on the show."
Alvarez and the staff needed to figure out many logistics. If everything wasn't timed perfectly, they'd risk ruining the surprise reunion before they walked on stage.
"The end result was so gratifying because they were all so surprised to see each other," said Alvarez. "They talked about how they all survived this crash together and how it brought them all closer.
"All the planning that went into it was so worth the outcome of how the soldiers felt at the end of the show."
Alvarez has experienced a number of similarly gratifying moments on the playing field. Last season's 6-0 win over Colgate really stands out, and it's something the Mountain Hawks can look back to as an example of hard work on film and practice days paying dividends.
"That win was so gratifying because all the work and all the 'office days' that went into that game were unbelievably stressful and hard," said Alvarez. "Then, when everything was put together, it was something I had never really imagined would happen for us."
Following that win, Lehigh defeated Towson 5-0 for its fourth straight victory. The entire streak was a reward for a lot of hard work, much like Alvarez would go on to feel with the soldiers from Afghanistan.
Through all her experiences, Alvarez has learned that it's important to never be satisfied and always strive for more.
"In field hockey, I have to ask more of myself all the time because that's how teams grow and that's how teams get better," she said. "This summer really helped me realize that I need to ask more of myself if I want people to trust me and want people to consider my ideas."
Never being satisfied on an individual basis, in turn, raises the level of success of the collective group.
Alvarez (middle) and her Lehigh field hockey teammates
"No player is ever successful without putting in the work before game day and if you can't make yourself better first, your team will never prosper as a unit," said Lehigh head coach Caitlin Dallmeyer. "Our program is living in these moments daily and working to understand that we can't expect to win just because we show up to practice and do what the coaches ask of us."
Field hockey helped Alvarez be more confident, and disciplined, in the workplace. She took on a high-profile internship, meeting celebrities like Will Ferrell, Michael Bloomberg and Kevin Hart, yet the moment wasn't too big for her.
Having been through the rigors of a Division I field hockey season pays dividends on a daily basis.
"Our field hockey team is a disciplined group, which helped me be very disciplined in the office space," said Alvarez. "I was an intern, so I had to be ready for anything. I think being disciplined field hockey wise helped me be disciplined in the workplace - knowing my role, but also going beyond my role and asking more of myself."
In the office, Alvarez also learned about team dynamics, which she can apply to the playing field.
"I personally never had to dig deeply to find energy in the workplace. The people (at ABC) have been doing it for so long and they know energy has to be constant," she said. "That's what our (field hockey) team is trying to do. We're trying to become more disciplined with everybody having energy all the time – not letting it be the responsibility of one person or two people to bring energy."
No matter what you're doing in life, success will come if you have an unrelenting drive. Always stay persistent and success will come.
"The fight that I want to find in myself, I also want our team to have," she said. "My boss telling me to never give up and always have that fight and will to win is something that's stuck with me."
That "fight" needs to be present every day, not just game day (or show day).
"As a team, we must ask ourselves if I'm doing what I should be doing when the team is not together, when the coaches are not watching and I'm not being fed the right actions and behaviors from those around me," said Dallmeyer. "When you have experienced the work that goes in behind the scenes, the reward is so much sweeter."
