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Interview with Kevin Green- A Professional Baseball Coach
Memorandum
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To: Shelley and fellow classmates
From: Angie Aguiar
Subject: Interview with professional individual
Date: 9/19/06
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On September 5, 2006, I interviewed Kevin Green who is a professional baseball coach for the Chicago Cubs baseball organization. Our interview took place over the telephone around noontime before an evening game was to be played. Kevin Green is not only a professional baseball coach, but was also a former professional baseball player for the Florida Marlins baseball organization. I chose Kevin Green as the individual that I wanted to interview because I am currently finishing my college degree up to become a Registered Dietitian and I feel that I will one day like to work with professional athletes, primarily baseball players. I thought by interviewing a professional baseball coach then I would learn the technical aspect of the business and I would have a good idea as to what may be expected of me if I was to be hired as a team Dietitian for a professional baseball team.
After the interview was finished, I took some time to carefully reflect back on the comments that Mr. Green had made to the questions I asked him and overall I feel that I learned a lot from this experience. An average person may think to themselves how does coaching a professional baseball team have anything to do with technical writing? Well, to my surprise, it has a whole lot! As you read the transcript of the interview, you will begin to understand how important technical writing is to professional baseball.
When you are finished reading the transcript, I hope you will be able to learn what I learned from this interview. I learned that different technical writing aspects are used daily in professional baseball from writing memos to communicating through emails. I also learned that in professional baseball, you come into contact with many different audiences and you have to be able to adjust to their different communication needs. This was an interview that I felt gave me an insight to professional baseball that I never knew existed.
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Transcript of Interview with Kevin Green
1) Angie (Interviewer): “How is technical writing used in your profession as a professional baseball coach?”
Kevin Green (Interviewee): “After each game that is played, I have to submit evaluations of each player that participated in that game and write a brief memo including what all the players did for that particular game. I also have to point out all the players strong points as well as their weak points and whether or not they will become players that will ultimately move up to the Major Leagues.”
2) Angie (Interviewer): “What types of professional documents are used in your profession?”
Kevin Green (Interviewee): “There are two types that I use on a regular basis: The first is an organizational document that is submitted over the internet and read by all the coaching staff and managers of all the teams within the Chicago Cubs franchise. The second is a memo form document that I use to send out to the higher ups in the organization, including the owner, informing them of how each player is doing after each and every game.”
3) Angie (Interviewer): “How has technical writing impacted the game of baseball today vs.10 years ago?”
Kevin Green (Interviewee): “With the technology of computers constantly improving, I feel that technical writing is now a standard part of the game of baseball vs.10 years ago when computers were just starting to become a way of communicating to others and they were not used as frequently as they are used today.”
4) Angie (Interviewer): “What would happen if technical writing were to become non-existent in your line of work?”
Kevin Green (Interviewee): “Well, I feel that I would not be able to perform my job on a professional level because technical writing is a big part of my daily routine. Many important people within the Chicago Cubs organization rely on my memos and reports that I submit to them on a daily basis to receive the vital information that helps these minor league players advance to the top level and if I wasn’t able to communicate to my bosses then perhaps these players would never get a chance to play higher baseball.”
5) Angie (Interviewer): “Do you work with a team Dietitian? If so, what types of technical writing would that position require?
Kevin Green (Interviewee): “Yes, we do have a team Dietitian. He works with the players who have weight problems and helps them on getting their eating habits corrected so they can continue to work to hard to get to the big leagues. As a Dietitian for a professional baseball team, you are required to perform individual evaluations that are submitted to the team doctors as well as to the bosses of the organization so they can read the improvements that are taken place by the players who may suffer from eating disorders and to decide if these particular players will need further assistance on getting better.”
6) Angie (Interviewer): “What types of audiences do you work with?”
Kevin Green (Interviewee): “I work with two types of audiences: formal and informal. An example of a formal audience would be my bosses who include: the manager of the team I coach with, the Director of Baseball Operations, the General Manager as well as the owner of the Chicago Cubs. Having these particular people as my bosses, it is important that I make sure that when I am sending them my daily reports and evaluation memos, that I use the proper language as well as writing styles necessary to inform my audiences on the information they are looking to review. Also, working with this type of audience allows me to be more in depth with my information and I can elaborate on certain situations that only these people would understand.”
“An example of an informal audience would include: newspaper reporters, front office assistants and website designers. Working with these types of audiences allows me to be brief and offer only general information necessary for my particular purpose of why I am communicating with them.”
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Thank You Letter:
September 5, 2006
Dear Mr. Green,
I would like to take a few moments of your time to thank you for allowing me to interview you with questions regarding your professional career. I know that in your line of work you don’t get much free time for yourself, so I truly appreciate you finding time in doing so for this interview. I admire what you do as a person as well as a professional baseball coach. You sound as though you truly are doing a job that you love and not every person can honestly attest to that.
I did not realize until after I was reviewing your answers to my questions how much technical writing is used in you field of work. As I reach closer and closer to my goal of becoming a Dietitian for professional athletes, I now feel that I have a good sense of what types of technical writing skills I need to master as well as the different types of audiences I will be working with. Thank you again for your time and shared experiences and thoughts with me. I wish you and your baseball team much success for the future!
Sincerely,
Angie Aguiar