Podcast Summary:
If you’re heading to college and wondering how to turn an interest into a career, Dawson Haag’s story is one you won’t want to miss. A sports management student at the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse, Dawson shares how internships with the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers and the Minot Hot Tots gave him hands-on experience behind the scenes of baseball, from stadium operations to creating unforgettable fan experiences. He explains how networking, LinkedIn, Teamwork Online, and support from State Services for the Blind helped him land opportunities, succeed in college, and build confidence. Dawson also discusses accommodations, assistive technology, balancing internships with coursework, and the value of taking initiative—including founding his university’s Cornhole Club from scratch. Whether your dream is in sports or another field, this conversation is packed with practical advice, encouragement, and proof that sometimes the best opportunities are the ones you create yourself.
Links from this episode:
Official Site of the Minot Hot Tots
Links of interests:
To find out more about the services provided at State Services for the Blind, and what they can do for you, contact Shane DeSantis at shane.desantis@state.mn.us or call Shane at 651-385-5205.
Thanks for listening!
Full Transcript:
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Jeff: Welcome to Blind Abilities, I’m Jeff Thompson. Today we’re talking about turning a passion into a career. Joining us is Dawson Haag, a sports management student at the University of Wisconsin La Crosse who’s building real world experience through internships with collegiate and professional baseball organizations. We’ll talk about how he found these opportunities, what it’s really like working behind the scenes at the ballpark, how state services for the blind helped along the way, and what advice he has for other students looking toward internships and careers. Dawson, welcome to Blind Abilities.
Dawson: Thanks for having me on.
Jeff: You’re spending another summer working in baseball, and this time you’re with another uniquely named organization. Tell us about the team you’re with this season.
Dawson: The hat I’m wearing right now is the softball team, the Minot Honeybees. The baseball team is the Minot Hot Tots. They are both in the Northwoods League. The Northwoods League is a summer collegiate league for summer ball that college students who probably didn’t get a lot of playing time for the college they play for. So this is a league that it’s able to hone their craft and just get better at the sport.
Jeff: That’s a pretty unique league and a great opportunity for college athletes. Last summer you were with another organization, right?
Dawson: Yep. I was with the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, who are the High-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers.
Jeff: Oh that’s cool.
Dawson: Which is located in Appleton, Wisconsin.
Jeff: That’s quite a jump in the professional baseball. Very nice. Before we talk about finding these internships, tell us a little bit about what you’re studying. What’s your major and the university you’re attending?
Dawson: My major is sport management. I am also going for a business administration minor as well as a competitive coaching athletics minor.
Jeff: And where is that?
Dawson: It is at the University of Wisconsin La Crosse.
Jeff: That seems like a natural fit for someone that’s interested in sports. So how did you actually find these internship opportunities? Where did that process begin?
Dawson: My professors had told me about this website called Teamwork Online that has a bunch of job listings or internships for sports ranging from baseball to like working in MLS or like MMA doing operations or something like that.
Jeff: Walk us through what your day looks like. What’s your responsibilities with the Hot Tots organization?
Dawson: Presently, it is working with other interns and my supervisor to have food and beverage ready for the fans in attendance, and making sure that their experience is the best experience at a baseball game that they can get.
Jeff: How does this compare with your internship last summer? What kind of responsibilities did you have with the Timber Rattlers.
Dawson: For stadium operations in Appleton, Wisconsin? It was the upkeep of the stadium, whether that’s like getting the bathrooms clean and ready or getting the counters wiped off, as well as basically parking showing people where they need to park when they come to the game. Other things were opening the bullpen door, was one of the in game tasks we could have done. Running the pitch clock was another one.
Jeff: Oh, cool.
Dawson: One of the interns was able to work the scoreboard for some of the games, so I mean, there’s a lot that you can do. One of the things we had to do was concessions during the Wisconsin state baseball tournament for high school.
Jeff: Oh wow, that’s a lot more variety than a lot of people probably realize goes into game day operations. It sounds like those internships give you experience with just about every part of running the ballpark. Let’s back up a little bit and talk about how you got the UW La Crosse in the first place.
Dawson: The choices I had were, I mean, it’s a funny story, and I keep telling people, like sport management. At least when I started looking at colleges wasn’t my first choice. At first I wanted to do video game design, so my first choice was Dakota State University. But then when Covid hit and we didn’t have sports going on, that’s when I realized that I couldn’t live without sports. I had managed football, wrestling and baseball in high school, so I had always been around sports ever since I was little. And then when Covid hit and sports wasn’t there, I felt like I was missing a key part of not just myself, but someone that I knew would keep my future going. So after I had changed my idea from video game design to sport management, I looked at Winona State La Crosse Western Technical College, which is also in La Crosse and Viterbo, and La Crosse was my first choice. I had family that went to La Crosse, and I also had my high school counselor also go to La Crosse. So there was pretty good connections to getting into La Crosse. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t get into La Crosse right away. I got waitlisted, but then later on I ended up getting in. I believe SSB had a little bit of help within that to get me in, so I ended up getting into La Crosse and freshman year was entertaining. I mean, SSB helped with like some of the visual stuff like telling me, oh, you should go to the Disability Resource Center, which is what it’s called now, like go there, get accommodations. And then I would be taking my exams in there instead of in the classroom. The thing you can do if you go to like whatever colleges Disability Resource Center, you can get accommodations such as extra time using some sort of assistive technology. My freshman and sophomore year, I used a recording pen that I could have it recording, but also like write down class notes like it was supposed to like after you were done with class and you replayed it, it was supposed to transcribe it onto a special piece of notebook paper.
Jeff: These internships are a big commitment. How do you balance them with your coursework and still stay on track with your graduation?
Dawson: At least with the sports internships, it’s been in the summer, so I wasn’t taking any classes last summer and I could just focus on the internship. This summer. I’m taking one class, but it is a class where I’m just supposed to be doing it for field experience. So it’s like you have to record X amount of hours, record like what you did, how it connected to these skills. And it shows like you might need to work on this part of your like mentality, work ethic, or just like becoming a better person. And for this class, I only have to work on a few things. So most of the time I’m just focusing on the job. But in a week, the last section of the class opens up where I need to do a special project, which I’m currently working on, creating a standard of procedure for the sections I had worked at the stadium. Once I have that done and submitted, then I’ll be done with the class.
Jeff: For someone thinking about a sports internship, what kind of time commitment should they expect?
Dawson: It depends on the internship itself. Like working in operations in sports. Last summer, it was, we were pretty much the first ones in and the last ones to leave because we had to do a lot of prep before games. And this is the same one for this year, too. Where it’s like we’re the first ones at the ballpark and we have to prep all this stuff, and then we don’t get it out of the ballpark until like 11:00 at night.
Jeff: Oh, wow.
Dawson: Last summer, the latest we had to be at the ballpark was 1:30 in the morning after a game. So it really depends. But working in sports, you need to be willing to work long days, which is putting in 14, maybe 15 hours every day.
Jeff: Wow, those are some long days. But I imagine that’s also where you gain the most experience. Looking ahead a few years, where would you like all this experience to lead?
Dawson: It all depends on what I can get after I graduate, which I’ll have to do another internship for college next summer before I’m officially done with college, unless I want to go back and do graduate school, which at this point in time, I don’t see graduate school as being a benefit to me. I think if I find the right fit for a job, then just working towards that. As of right now, I would want to do stadium operations for a minor league team or like be an equipment manager. I had done that in high school, so that was something I felt like I could revert back to, and maybe I’d enjoy it working at a higher level with a little bit more responsibility.
Jeff: Earlier, you mentioned state services for the blind played an important role during college. In what ways have they helped you reach these goals?
Dawson: SSB has helped me With college expenses. They’ve helped me in the job search. They’ve helped me with writing a cover letter, helping me like, adjust my resume to better suit what people would be looking for. And they’ve just all around helped me improve myself so I can make sure that my writing is clear for people to understand.
Jeff: For another student who is listening and thinking about pursuing an internship, what advice would you give them.
Dawson: If they’re considering getting into anything, at least my college has told me,. make a LinkedIn profile. Connect with people. They have a job tab in the app where you can look for jobs, internships. But if you’re looking to go specifically into sports, my best advice would be create a Teamwork Online profile and then start applying to those. Another thing I think a lot of people have are or just like looking on InDeed. Or like family and friends have also helped get jobs for me. And it’s been like, okay, here’s a job I think you’d like. You should apply to it.
Jeff: You talked about accommodations at school. What assistive technology do you rely on day to day?
Dawson: Most of the time, the assistive technology I use is magnifiers, just so I’d be able to read something, whether that’s on a computer screen or a phone.
I remember back to like my elementary days, there was this old like magnifier where you would put whatever reading material you were trying to read under the lens. It would show up on the bigger screen, and then you just have to slide it back and forth once you were done. In essence, it’s like a it was like a typewriter, but you’re not typing.
Jeff: It’s amazing how assistive technology has evolved, whether it’s a CCTV, built in magnification, or software on a computer, today’s technology gives students and professionals a lot more flexibility than even a few years ago. Before we wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with students who might be headed off to college?
Dawson: I was going to say another thing, like just getting into the sports topics, Starting my own club. It’s like, that’s one thing, if you see something that’s not on the college campus you’re on, sometimes you just have to go out and find someone to help you create it. I started the University of Wisconsin La Crosse Cornhole Club second semester of my freshman year. I reached out to the American Cornhole League for help creating a constitution and bylaws.
Jeff: Oh, wow.
Dawson: I know it’s not like vision stuff, but I think that would also help people that might be going into college, and they’re looking at all the clubs and organizations that the college has. And they’re like, oh, there’s not something that I like on here, but I’d be willing to start a club. Honestly, just reach out to a bunch of people. I know I did and I had a lot of interest. So I was like, okay, I’m gonna start it. And now we’ll see where we’re going. The biggest thing that has happened with the club, we had a sponsorship deal that I made this past academic year. The American Cornhole League also hosted an event in La Crosse that I was able to participate and volunteer with. So you never know what’s going to happen. Sometimes you just have to take the leap and create something, even though you won’t know how it’s going to go.
Jeff: That’s impressive. You didn’t just join an organization, you built one from the ground up. I have to ask one purely personal question. Since you’re the expert now, how far apart are regulation Cornhole boards?
Dawson: 27ft front end to front end.
Jeff: Perfect. Now I can finally settle that debate. I’ve heard every distance imaginable, so it’s nice to hear it from someone that’s actually running a club.
Dawson: Yep. No problem.
Jeff: I really like that story because it shows that if the opportunity isn’t already there, sometimes you can create it yourself.
Dawson: Yep. There was an intramural league and I played it the second and third quarter and I was like, um, why isn’t this a club that we can play year round? Because Cornhole is one of those sports you can play indoors or outdoors, so you can play it year round. And then I started with one of my partners I had for intramurals. I was like, hey, would you want to be my vice president and help me with this? Luckily, they said yes, and so far the rest is history. Hopefully we keep growing.
Jeff: Dawson, it’s been a pleasure talking to you. I appreciate you sharing your journey from discovering sports management to finding internships to navigating college with the support of state services for the blind and even creating your own campus organization. I think your story shows that opportunities don’t always appear on their own. Sometimes you got to go looking for them and sometimes you have to build them yourself. Thanks again for joining us on Blind Abilities, and we wish you continued success both at the ballpark and wherever your career takes you.
Dawson: Yeah, well, thanks for having me on, Jeff. It was great to share what I’ve experienced, and I hope for your listeners that the knowledge helps them in their journey. And I mean, if they have any more questions, you can have them reach out to me and I’d be happy to answer.
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Jeff: We’d like to thank Dawson Haag for joining us on Blind Abilities and sharing his experiences with college internships and pursuing a career in sports management. Be sure to check out the show notes and check out the links mentioned in this episode. Jeff: Be sure to check out and subscribe to the spectacle newsletter and learn about all the upcoming events and opportunities. And be sure to check out the numerous podcasts on the news for teens page, and you’ll find the links right in the show notes.
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Jeff: To find out more about all the programs at State Services for the Blind, contact Shane.DeSantis@State.Mn.us
That’s Shane dot d-e-s-a-n-t-i-s at state.mn .us.
Be sure to contact your State Services for the Blind, your Voc Rehab and find out what they can do for you.
Live, work, read, succeed.
[Music] [Transition noise] –
When we share-
What we see
-Through each other’s eyes…
[Multiple voices overlapping, in unison, to form a single sentence]
…We can then begin to bridge the gap between the limited expectations, and the realities of Blind Abilities.