Advancing Her Passions

Gymnast Victoria Gatzendorfer embodies what it means to be a student-athlete at the University of Maryland. Aside from starring on the beam and bars for the Terps, she has shown a commitment to advancing her passion in the realm of sports management for not only herself but others as well. 

Gatzendorfer, a management major in the Robert H. Smith School of Business, has been involved in many experiences available to students who share the same interest in pursuing a career in sports management. Those experiences have been beneficial to her as many of them weren’t available to her at Missouri, where she previously attended college. 

“Maryland has a lot of great opportunities and resources for career development that I didn't have access to before,” Gatzendorfer said. “I wanted to take advantage of every resource possible so I could really set myself up for a successful future because there is life outside of gymnastics. So I just want to be fully prepared for that as best I can.”

The junior from Marvin, NC, was part of Maryland’s first Sports Management Program on campus. The program is a collaboration with the Robert H. Smith School of Business, the School of Public Health’s Department of Kinesiology, and Maryland Athletics. It’s a 12-credit set of classes designed to develop undergraduate leaders with the skills, foundational knowledge, and educational opportunities to pursue careers and professional opportunities in the sports industry.  

Gatzendorfer was a student who went through the program’s first cohort and is now on the recruitment committee, where she helps select individuals for its second cohort. People are chosen based on their passion for working in the sports industry and their ability to help grow the program. 

There was no program of its kind before its inception, and sports management is neither a major nor a minor at Maryland at the moment. But Gatzendorfer hopes the program will continue to grow so others will have the necessary tools to pursue their dreams.  

“With the market that Maryland is in with DC, Baltimore, all the major cities nearby, It's a shame that there wasn't a sports management program before this with all the professional teams around us and the great athletic department that we have here,” Gatzendorfer said.

The classes in the sports management program aren’t typical lectures, Gatzendorfer explained. They have guest speakers regularly and often take trips to various cities to see professional sports teams and their respective management offices. 

Dr. Sue Sherburne is a professor in the program and also works in the athletic department as the Executive Associate Athletic Director. She taught BMGT 383 - The Business of Sports in the fall and is scheduled to teach BMGT 483 - Sports Management Program Capstone in the spring. Her qualifications allow her to provide experience that she can tie into each one of her lessons.

“One of the things that I found those most valuable in my educational past has been when you can have people speak to you about the content knowledge and then also speak to you about the experiences that they've had, or here's some things that may be a little bit different than what we're kind of reading in the book or something like that,” Sherburne said. “And so that's been really valuable to me.”

Gatzendorfer is also part of the planning committee for the Maryland Sports Business Conference, an annual event that fosters a sports community and connects students with sports business professionals and organizations. The conference is entering its fourth year, and Gatzendorfer helps promote it to student-athletes who are hoping to work in the sports industry one day 

Another experience Gatzendorfer has admitted is being an intern with Maryland Athletics in the marketing department, where she has had the opportunity to see all the different sides of collegiate athletics. She was still determining which path she wanted to take, but the internship has allowed her to get hands-on experience working with different department heads in the offices. 

One of her mentors is Colleen Sorem, who is the Deputy Athletics Director and Chief Operating Officer for Maryland Athletics. She helped Gatzendorfer get in touch with the different departments so she could shadow them and visualize the interworking divisions. 

“It's been a pleasure working with Victoria. She is a student-athlete that I think when you think of students, when you think of athletics, she represents all that is good in college athletics,” said Sorem. “She is driven, she is somebody who knows what she wants to do, but she's also not afraid to ask for help and not afraid to ask for advice. And my experience [with her] has been great.”

Gatzendorfer was even part of Maryland Made’s career exposure tour in Atlanta last June. Maryland student-athletes were afforded many exclusive opportunities, such as touring the Georgia State campus and meeting with people in their athletic department. Student-athletes also toured the CNN Center facilities and studios and had a panel discussion with successful Maryland alumni.  

Gatzendorfer regards that trip as one of the most important events of her young career.  

“Seeing the impact that they had on their student athletes was really inspiring to me and got me really excited,” Gatzendorfer said. “When I got back from that trip shortly after the semester started I just dove into figuring out which part of collegiate athletics I wanted to pursue a career in.”

All the opportunities Gatzendorfer was involved in at the University of Maryland have been super helpful for networking purposes, which she acknowledges is important in the sports industry. She says each experience will help her in the future as they are all intertwined with her passion for sports management. 

“I've been able to meet some really great people, which those connections will help me in the future and it just gets me more excited,” Gatzendorfer said. “I won't be able to do gymnastics then, but I know my passion for student-athletes and providing a great experience for them will carry into my career.”