South Milwaukee grads merge love of sports with careers, working in the NFL
Making it onto an NFL team as a player is challenging. Getting a job or internship working behind the scenes of an NFL team is just as challenging because of how few opportunities there are available.
Two South Milwaukee High School alumni, who both graduated in 2018 — best friends — managed to earn such hard-to-get opportunities.
Kelsey Tehan recently started a full-time position with the Kansas City Chiefs as a social media coordinator. Noel Kruse recently completed a summer internship with the New Orleans Saints' athletic training department.
Their journeys started during their time growing up in South Milwaukee.
Passion for sports growing up
Growing up, Tehan said, she always was around sports. Her dad was "the biggest sports encyclopedia" and her mom worked for the Milwaukee Admirals hockey team. Tehan also grew up watching the Brewers and Bucks play, followed SportsCenter on ESPN, listened to local sports radio and played volleyball, basketball and ran track at South Milwaukee High School.
"It was definitely a huge part of my life. I didn't always know what I wanted to do, but I couldn't imagine not having sports in my life," Tehan said in an Aug. 25 phone interview.
She also recalled a time when she announced a JV track meet at her high school and the encouragement she got about her performance doing so.
"That was like 'hmm, maybe I can combine my passion for storytelling and speaking and writing with my passion for sports,'" Tehan said.
Kruse also had a passion for sports. While a student at South Milwaukee High School, she took a class about sports injuries.
"I've always had a passion for sports and the science behind sports injuries, behind the body. Athletic training just really merged those two really well together," Kruse said in a phone interview Aug. 29.
From UW to the Green Bay Packers to the Kansas City Chiefs: How Tehan made it to the NFL
After graduating high school, Tehan went to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she took classes in journalism and joined the university's chapter of the Association of Women in Sports Media (AWSM) her freshman year. She eventually became president of that chapter. Tehan also earned an internship with the university's athletic department.
Tehan's internship was in the brand communications department, which was focused on social media, writing, statistics, videography, photography and media.
"(I) knew I really, really wanted to work with the football team. Come my junior and senior year, I was the lead student for the football team, and I loved it. Nothing compares to the atmosphere of football games, especially in Camp Randall," said Tehan.
A chat with her supervisor gave her clarity on her next steps.
"After sitting down with my supervisor and talking a bigger picture, where do I see myself, I knew it was the NFL and I knew that was the goal," Tehan said.
Once she knew her post-graduation plans, and knowing her interest in social media, Tehan set out to research opportunities in the NFL. She ultimately received a social media internship with the Green Bay Packers in summer 2022. She worked in that internship with the Packers throughout the 2022 season and most of 2023 before taking a full-time social media coordinator position with the Chiefs in August.
"I made it, I feel like, finally. I still have a lot to prove. I have a lot to learn and I'm so excited for the experiences to come, but I just feel gracious and thankful for the people along the way who were my teachers, coworkers and supervisors, friends, family who supported me," said Tehan about getting the job with the Chiefs.
From Marquette to the New Orleans Saints: Kruse's journey to the NFL
Meanwhile, Kruse headed off to Marquette University, where she gained experience in the university's athletic training program while studying exercise physiology.
Before graduating with a master's degree in athletic training, she worked as a student trainer with nearly all of the university's sports teams. She also served as a manager with the school's men's and women's lacrosse teams.
"I just fell in love with working with athletes, being around sports. You're working one-on-one with high-level athletes. There's not a lot of other opportunities out there to do that. Athletic training merged that love of science aspect, but also that love of the game, love of sport really well," said Kruse.
Also during her time at Marquette, Kruse did a year-long athletic training internship with Whitnall High School's athletic team. She said it was her first opportunity working in football.
"I loved working with the kids, working with the football team. I had already had experience working ... (with) the men's lacrosse team, and then going from there to working football paired well," Kruse said.
Before Kruse finished her internship at Whitnall, Kruse applied for athletic training internships with half of the NFL's teams. At one point, she was referred to the Saints because its director of sports medicine, Ben Stollberg, is a Marquette alumnus.
Kruse recalled that conversation with Stollberg from last December.
"It ended up being a full-blown interview on my way home driving after high school sports at about 8 o'clock at night, driving home in a rainstorm. It was insane. I was not expecting that," Kruse said.
Kruse said Stollberg told her after the interview he would call after the holidays and said he had to talk to the team about it.
His call arrived earlier than expected, and Kruse feared she wasn't getting the internship.
She was wrong.
"I was at the high school, and he was like 'Hey, we just wanted to make sure you were still interested. We would love to have you' and I was like 'Oh, 100% I'm interested! Sign me up.' It's only December. I'm signing up for something that doesn't start until mid-July. I come in and tell my boss at the high school 'so I guess I'm going to New Orleans,'" Kruse said.
Working with the Kansas City Chiefs
With the Chiefs, Tehan works with the team's football and non-related social media accounts on the platforms X (formerly known as Twitter), Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube.
"Working on those things, whether that's very football-related content like going to practice or going to training camp or obviously game day social coverage is huge," Tehan said.
Tehan also helps produce non-football related content for the accounts, such as covering charity events, player-attended events and citywide events.
"The list could go on and on. It's so much more than just covering the football side of things, which is really fun and something I don't think people always realize," Tehan said. "Whether that's capturing the content on my phone or posting it, copywriting, sharing links from our digital team, press releases, coaches' streams, stuff like that is all encompassing of what I do."
Tehan said she likes the variety in her job, saying no day is the same. She said she likes the fast-paced and exciting environment of sports, attending practices and games, as well as the emotional side of sports storytelling.
"There's so many storylines in the NFL that people don't realize because, at the end of the day, these people are humans and have lives outside of the game when they take their helmets off. So once you really get to know the players and some of the hardships they've gone through or knowing their kids and family and then seeing them go out there and have a killer game, you're so happy for them. I think that's really cool to see," Tehan said.
There are also challenges, Tehan said, such as seeing players get traded or cut.
"That's tough. That's never fun, especially when it's a player who you know is a great person, and you're rooting for them," Tehan said.
The work/life balance is a challenge too, as she has to work weekends.
"You don't get weekends off. For instance this year, we've got a game on Christmas. This will be my first year not spending Christmas with my family," said Tehan.
Overall, Tehan said the pros outweigh the cons, saying she hopes to work in sports for a long time.
"It's one of the most rewarding jobs, I think, when you see all the hard work and time that goes into just a game day. When I think of all the individuals that have to do what they do to make a game day happen at the NFL level is insane, across all different departments.
"You see that all come together, and you see the smiling, yelling fans, that's got to be one of the coolest things ever," she said. "And to get to be that median in between the team and fans — I was a little girl, I was the fan growing up, and now I get to be the person who gets to tell that story to the fans; (it) is so fun for me and so rewarding," Tehan said.
Working with the New Orleans Saints
Kruse graduated in May and in July headed to New Orleans, where she was one of six athletic training interns for the Saints.
"That's how it works with the athletic training side of things is get a summer under your belt, see if you like it, see if they like you being there," Kruse said.
Kruse said the Saints gave her and the other interns lots of responsibility. Their days would start at 5:15 or 6 a.m.
"We would have to set up everything. We set up water. We set up inside in the athletic training room, making sure the tubs were all good, the whole nine yards. From there, we would start up treatments," Kruse said.
Kruse said she and the other interns worked one-on-one with the Saints' players.
"We got to work with them in their rehab, work with them getting ready for practice. I was able to do a lot of taping, ankle tape, wrist tape," Kruse said.
Kruse and the other interns would work with players throughout the day, setting up for the next day or prepping for a preseason game. There were some days where Kruse and the other interns didn't get done until 8 p.m.
"I'd say the longest week was probably two weeks before the first preseason game. We were working about 95 hours a week," Kruse said.
Even with the long hours, Kruse said the internship was worth it.
"Looking back, it was really tough some days. You'd wake up and be exhausted every day, especially not having the preseason games yet. Once you got to those games and you got to see those guys play, you think 'I got to help those guys just a little bit for them to go out and perform.' Those exhausted days make it all worthwhile," Kruse said.
Looking ahead
In her role with the Chiefs, Tehan will have the opportunity to be at both her team's home and away games. The regular season kicked off for the Chiefs on Sept. 7 with a 21-20 loss at home to the Detroit Lions.
When looking at the calendar for the away games, Tehan said she's most looking forward to Dec. 3, when the Chiefs travel to Green Bay to play the Packers at Lambeau Field.
"It'll be a new experience for me in the sense that I'm working for a completely different team," Tehan said.
As for Kruse, after her preseason internship with the Saints, she is now taking part in a year-long athletic training internship with the college football team at Bowling Green State University in Ohio.
Kruse is looking for a seasonal internship in the NFL while also looking for full-time jobs.
"Usually it's the seasonal internship you have to do before you get a full-time job in the NFL. But if I really wanted, I could find a full-time gig with a college or pretty much anything after next year, even this year. Some of my classmates have full-time jobs," Kruse said.
Contact Alec Johnson at (262) 875-9469 or alec.johnson@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @AlecJohnson12.
Our subscribers make this reporting possible. Please consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to the Journal Sentinel at jsonline.com/deal.
DOWNLOAD THE APP: Get the latest news, sports and more
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Two South Milwaukee grads spend time working in the NFL
