Caps Recruit Sports Management Fellow

Erica Sandidge '19 understood that a career in sports management would be competitive. After all, she had applied to nearly 50 internships during her freshman and sophomore years at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. It wasn’t until she was working for the Washington Capitals and was on the other side of the hiring process that she realized just how competitive it could be.

“There were more than 400 applicants for the internship,” she says of the same position she scored the year before. As a result of that internship, she went on to become a marketing assistant while only a junior at Maryland Smith. 

Sandidge says she had an edge on other students. Growing up in Calvert County, Md., she started working with the marketing manager of the minor league baseball team, the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs. Sandidge was the player personnel coordinator who managed the All-Star game, booking hotels and organizing schedules.

Once she arrived at UMD, she started working as an ice hockey and football recruiting manager, which gave her resume the needed boost to attract the Capitals in the National Hockey League. She also interned with D.C. United, a Major League Soccer franchise, and continues to work with the marketing street team.

As a sports management fellow at Smith, Sandidge focuses on marketing for a more well-rounded experience. She can bring her classroom learning to the job, and her work experience to the classroom.

She also shares her insights with incoming students. “Don’t be afraid to try anything that gives you experience,” she says. “Each thing I was involved in, I could make connections and network. It’s all about who you know and getting connections from the inside.”