Flyers inspiring young women through Next Shift mentorship program

PHILADELPHIA -- Grace Swider and Quinn Medico are like many young women who want to work in professional sports, but aren't quite sure how to find their way in.

The Philadelphia Flyers started the Next Shift program with people like them in mind.
Next Shift is a mentorship program that paired 24 women between the ages of 14 and 22 with a woman Flyers employee. The young women shadowed various Flyers leaders and executives to receive a behind-the-scenes look at the different roles they play before, during and after the game against the Florida Panthers on Tuesday. They crossed the spectrum of departments, from game presentation and ticketing, to public relations and community relations.
"If you had asked me a month ago how many women worked for the Flyers I probably wouldn't be able to tell you," said Swider, a 22-year-old sports management major at Bucks County Community College in Newtown, Pennsylvania. "But now knowing how many truly do, it gives me so much like joy to know that like I do have a place in the sports world."

The Flyers received more than 170 applications for the program.
"I know for myself, when I was that age I very much wanted to work in sports and entertainment, and was constantly looking for opportunities to learn more about the industry, to meet women working in the industry, to learn from them," Spectacor Sports & Entertainment President and CEO Valerie Camillo said. "And quite frankly, there was just no opportunities that I was ever able to find. So when we sat down to think organizationally about what we wanted to do to celebrate Women's History Month, we're kicking around a lot of ideas about these moments in history that we want to highlight or these great players or contributors to the game, to the organization. We started to think about not just looking back but creating something that goes forward. And that's how this mentoring program was born.
"This idea that we could find opportunities for young women, opportunities we would have loved to have had for ourselves, and have them shadow us and come in and see what working for a hockey team is all about."
Swider was one of two women to spend the evening with Camillo. After having dinner together, they watched the game with her from a suite and also walked the concourse.
"There's so many things that happen in a game that you could point out, whether it's like, 'Hey, do you see what's going on with game presentation? This is why we do it that way,'" Camillo said. "This is why Gritty is at this location in the arena at this moment. This is why the sponsorship is presented in this way. Here's what's going on with the players on the ice. There's so many things that I could talk to them about."

Swider provided a rapt audience, because Camillo has the role she envisions for herself someday. In addition to overseeing business operations for the Flyers, Camillo also oversees operations of Wells Fargo Center as president and CEO of the Flyers parent company, Spectacor Sports & Entertainment.
"My dream and my goal has always, since I started college, was to be at a high level," Swider said. "I want to be the one that other people have to email when something's going wrong. I want to be up top."
Medico, a 20-year-old sophomore at La Salle University in Philadelphia, had a longer experience than some other mentees, splitting her day with manager of hockey communications Megan Kogut and game operations coordinator Allie Samuelsson.
Medico attended the Flyers morning skate with Kogut, sat in on press availabilities with coach John Tortorella and players. She then watched Samuelsson handle credentialing before the game, and was with Kogut during and after the game as she worked through postgame press availabilities.
"This is a really great experience for me because it's the path that I do want to take in my future," Medico said. "Just having this opportunity is really awesome."
It was just as meaningful to Kogut, who is in her first season with the Flyers after spending 10 seasons working in public relations with the Minnesota Wild.
"I think it's amazing where we've come in even just my 11 years," she said. "I see more females coming into PR and I think it's fantastic. ... This is actually my first opportunity that I've had in my 11 years in the League where I've actually had somebody come and follow me."