Panazzolo 'All In' After Under Armour Internship

In Dominic Panazzolo's mind, he just fit a semester's worth of education into one week.

Thanks to an internship promoted to Texas Tech student-athletes through the J.T. and Margaret Talkington Leadership Academy, Panazzolo returned from Baltimore, Maryland, last week where he worked as a sports marketing intern at Under Armour's world headquarters.

"If you were to condense that week, you could have taken it to a semester class," Panazzolo said. "They stuffed us with information. What a lot of people would have learned in a semester, I learned in a week."

Panazzolo, who enters his senior season as Texas Tech's primary punter, was one of 17 student-athletes from across Under Armour's network of collegiate partners to travel to Baltimore for the sports marketing internship.

While Panazzolo, a marketing major, may have been familiar with Under Armour's products after a year as a Red Raider, he quickly learned of the prep work that goes into developing each new line of clothing.

"It was amazing how much pre-planning they do," he said. "They showed us products that are coming out in 2020. That's how far ahead they are in their planning. It was really impressive how they thought that far ahead."

Panazzolo and the rest of the collegiate interns were separated into different working groups soon after arriving in Baltimore. The teams were tasked with developing a campaign strategy, focusing on specific demographics in various parts of the countries.

Throughout each day, Under Armour rolled out its top executives to speak on several necessary skills to join the athletic apparel industry: networking, resume building, interview skills among others.

The list of speakers included what Panazzolo described as the "tier one team," which primarily works with Under Armour's top endorsers such as Steph Curry, Cam Newton and Jordan Spieth.

"Networking," Panazzolo said of his biggest takeaway from the internship. "A lot of the people from Under Armour got their jobs through networking. That was one of the big things they pushed throughout the week.

What Panazzolo also learned is that much of the material covered by Under Armour executives is strikingly similar to the presentations he's heard through the J.T. and Margaret Talkington Leadership Academy Suited for Success Career Series, which Panazzolo participated in last spring.

"Going through the resume and interviewing skills we do through the Leadership Academy, when I was sitting through those (Under Armour) presentations, it was like I was doing that all over again," Panazzolo said of the similarities. "What they were telling me in the Leadership Academy followed through at Under Armour. We were learning the same thing, which was nice."

At the end of the week, each group presented Under Armour's full-time sports marketing staff its campaign. Panazzolo's group, in particular, was focused on selling an upcoming shoe line in New York.

The task was to take everything each group had learned through the speaker series and put it into a competitive advertising campaign. Panazzolo's group was able to do just that as Under Armour's team of judges declared their campaign the best.

"We were responsible to use all the information (from the speakers) and our visits to the Under Armour house and put it into our campaign," Panazzolo said. "My group was lucky enough to win the whole thing."

Now back in Lubbock, Panazzolo is focused on building off a strong debut season on the gridiron, while maintaining a strong commitment in the classroom. He is slated to graduate next May and already has his sights on his professional career.

"I'm already keeping in touch with people I've met, and they want to keep in touch there," Panazzolo said. "That's a way for me to get my way in."

Texas Tech University Athletics

Panazzolo 'All In' After Under Armour Internship

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