Saugus High students run video game tournament

SAUGUS – Close to 50 students packed the Saugus High School library on a recent Thursday night, but it wasn?t for the books.In fact, the library is the last place one would expect to find a huge, 32-student Madden NFL Football tournament.The tournament was a part of Jessica Lucier?s sports management class, where her students had to run the tournament themselves.?The class was learning how to run an event,” said Lucier. “They had to create the flier, market and advertise the event, and any money we raised is going toward our field trip to New York City. It gave them some hands-on experience. They got to run the tournament and run the brackets. They sold some concessions. It was like a smaller scale of what might be entailed in running an event.”Sophomore Justin Winn took home first place in the tournament and won himself a free trip to New York with the class, where students will tour Madison Square Garden and see a college basketball game between St. John?s University and Georgetown.Winn said he never expected to win the tournament.?I just beat him,” said Winn. “I watch a lot of football, and do fantasy and stuff like that. I own (Madden), but I don?t play it like he did. He was unbelievable. I was definitely the underdog. I was in shock.”Winn, who plays basketball, football and baseball, said he?s looking forward to seeing New York City.?I?ve never been to New York,” said Winn. “I?m looking forward to seeing Times Square. I?ve heard a lot about it, and I?ve never been to a college game either so it should be interesting.”Lucier, who also coaches softball at Saugus High, started the sports management class last year. Lucier said the class covers everything from marketing and ticket sales to facilities management, scheduling and networking.?Both of my degrees are in sports management,” said Lucier, who has a bachelor?s from St. John?s and a masters from Adelphi University. “So when I decided to change my career to teaching, I kind of thought of teaching this because it?s such a huge field now. So many students go into it and they don?t really know what it?s about. They just hear, ?Sports, I like sports, I?m going do to this.? So I thought, why not run an elective and kind of introduce what you would see in a sports management class.”The class gives students hands-on experiences, said Lucier, whether it be selling tickets for events at TDGarden or presenting marketing proposals to executives at Gillette Stadium.Lucier said 15 students helped run the Madden tournament.?We had eight TVs all lined around, and all the kids brought in their Xboxes and their games,” said Lucier. “Then the championship game we played on the big screen. We had about 40 to 50 students here and 32 that actually played.”Lucier also teaches athletic administration, as Lucier had the students create their own college, including colors, logo, mission statement and then take on the tasks of an athletic director.Lucier said she?s currently covering sports law with the class and will take on ethics in sports next.?It?s still a work in progress and I?m still fine-tuning it,” said Lucier. “I?ve had numerous students last year that went into business and sports management, and I get emails all the time saying how the stuff they learned they were able to carry into the college courses.”Matt Tempesta can be reached at [email protected].