An Inside Look With Katie Sack!

Happy Tuesday Steel Fans!! 

Today we talked with Katie Sack, 
Director of Community Relations and Assistant to the GM.
Check it out!!!

Born and raised in Plainfield, Ill., Sack is in her tenth season as the director of community relations and the assistant to the General Manager. She initially began as a game day intern during the 2003-2004 season, while working towards a degree in marketing at the University of Illinois at Chicago. During her time at UIC, Katie was a member of the nationally ranked Cheerleading team for four seasons.

As the Director of Community Relations, Katie is responsible for scheduling player appearances within the community and handling all communication between the Steel staff, housing families, and player families. Her favorite part of the job is that she gets the opportunity to interact with families and fans on game days and in the community. Additionally, she likes being a part of an organization that gives the players tools for their future success on and off the ice. Along with working at the Steel, Katie is also the Head Coach for competitive cheerleading teams at Team Illinois Cheerleading, Inc.

What is your primary role (what do you do) with the Chicago Steel?

I organize community & player appearances throughout the year.  I also handle most of the communication between the Steel front office/coaching staff and the player & housing families.  Throughout the season I also run game day operations and organize Steel selection camp in June.  I also take care of making sure the front office, interns and coaching staff receive their fair share of cookies and brownies J

How did you first get involved with the Steel?

I was doing research for a paper in my marketing class back in college and reached out to one of the Steel staff members at the time, Kevin Erlenbach.  After the interview I got involved in helping out on game days and I’ve been here ever since… haha

What is your favorite part about working for the Steel?

I love the people I work with… all 5 of the front office members were all interns with the Steel at one point in time.  Most of us have been together for a number of years.  We’ve had our highs and lows but in the end we all have a great working relationship.

I love getting the opportunity to interact with families and fans on game days and in the community.  I also enjoy being a part of an organization that gives the players the tools they need to grow as a player on and off the ice so they can be successful at whatever it is they choose to do in the future.

What would you say is the hardest part about your job?

I would say the hardest part of my job is getting people to understand who the Chicago Steel is and what the USHL is all about.  The popularity of hockey has grown tremendously in the Chicago-land area over the past couple of years however many “new” hockey fans don’t understand what a great opportunity they have to see the up and coming hockey players right here in Chicago.  Chicago is a HUGE sports and entertainment market where fans have many different options to choose from on any given night.

What are you looking forward to most this season?

I am looking forward to seeing the team grow on and off the ice.  We seem to have a great group of players who have been great to work with out in the community.  They seem to be coming together as a team on the ice as well and hopefully we can continue to build and put up some more wins.

What is your typical day like at the Steel for you?

Every day tends to be different but typically I come in check my email and voicemails first.  During the day I am usually working on things like ticket documents for RJ and Dan, roster information for the coaching staff, scheduling community appearances, updating social media, etc.  Every day varies… some days start off with player appearances while other days are geared towards getting things done for an upcoming game.

What is a typical game day like for you?

I start my day off like I normally do by checking emails and voicemails.  Then I get to work on all of the game day paper (Rusty’s Reports, Media Guides, Team Agendas, Public Address Announcements, Game Script, etc.) as well as I help with set up of the arena.  The staff dinner & meeting normally happens around 5:00 pm and from there I change into game day attire and I normally run around like crazy collecting linecharts from both teams, making sure groups are in the correct spots for the pre-game activities and help out in the box office if need be. Once the game starts I run all of the in game promotions and activities… and when we win myself and RJ take care of the 3 stars of the game.  Depending on if we have another game the next day or not, the madness starts all over again that night doing prep work for the game the next day.

Join us next time as we talk to Tom Kobel who is the 

Director of Off-Ice Officials.