Last modified: Tuesday, July 15, 2008 2:35 AM EDT Ryan Messier of Attleboro at the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, R.I. (Submitted photo) GOBIS: Messier switches up sports Having been a hockey player, he never gave much thought to tennis. Having headed out to Amherst, to enroll at the University of Massachusetts, he never thought about the campus at the University of Tampa. Having elected to enroll in the Turf Management program, with an inclination toward landscape architecture and designing golf courses, he never thought about being in the clubhouse instead of out on the course. The puck dropped for Ryan Messier one day at the Mullins Center at UMass-Amherst and it became a new game, a new curriculum, a new college, a new road to travel. "I love being around the 'event' atmosphere, the organization, the seeing things through," said the 2005 graduate from Attleboro High School, who found himself in Tampa after two years in Amherst, enrolled in a sports management program and spending his summer as an intern at the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, R.I. "It's work and it's stressful and it's so much fun," said Messier, virtually every day last week when the seven-day ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) event made its 32nd annual stop in the City by the Sea. If he wasn't lining up volunteers or securing shirt sizes for the ball-kids, Messier was being consumer friendly at the ticket window or even driving Hall of Fame inductee Michael Chang and his family to The Breakers mansion for a tour. "I get up in the morning and I love my job, I can't believe how quickly the day goes by," said Messier, who walks out of the family's Pike Avenue house around 7 a.m. with his dad, Mike Messier. The duo hightail it down Route 118 and over to Route 24, dropping off dad for work in Fall River. "My car's in Florida, so we're car-pooling," said Messier, who has been driving to Newport and back to Attleboro every day since returning from Tampa in mid-May. "It's a long day, but it's worth it." Messier had every intention of pursuing a career in the game of golf after graduation from AHS. The former Bombardier hockey player sought to be involved with the Minuteman hockey program in some way, so he sought out a position on the operations staff overseeing the rink. As fate would have it, rocker John Mayer was performing a concert at UMass and rented ice time at the rink so he and his friends could skate around and play some hockey. Later that year, pop singer Carrie Underwood was on campus for a concert, "so I got to see her up close and personal." But, for Messier it was more than hauling in cases of soda, making sure that the officials for the hockey game had towels and hot water in the showers and groups were all seated with tickets in the same section - it was hands-on management, not watching grass grow. He was accepted into the University of Tampa sports management program and transferred, now heading into his senior year. "It's a sports community and I get to see a lot of cool things," said Messier of the Tampa area, which has the NFL's Buccaneers, MLB's Rays and the NHL's Lightning. "My passion is hockey, some day I'd like to work in the NHL, for the Lightning," said the former Bombardier right wing. "Tennis, though, I never gave it much thought, even though we'd go down to Finberg Field or over to the high school to hit around." One of his first assignments in his first semester at Tampa was being an on-site, jack-of-all-trades at the PGA's Honda Classic in West Palm Beach, "I even got to meet Ernie Els," said Messier, whose first introduction to "events" was as an usher at the Comcast (then Tweeter) Center. "After I got to UMass, I kind of did a 180 and went in a different direction." Messier was searching New England for an internship this summer and landed the position at the mini-Wimbledon across the Atlantic in Newport. "I knew a bit of the history at the Tennis Hall of Fame, I knew that it was huge, but I never realized how much work goes on behind the scenes in getting things ready and seeing them through every single day. I've gained a lot of respect for the sport, it takes some serious talent. "I have been going non-stop since I got here. It's amazing how much work there is. Maybe this is a smaller size ATP event, but it's still a pro tournament no matter what. You want it to be perfect and the ATP wants it that way too - we get graded on everything. "We want to make it the best event that we can, you have to think of everything and be ready for anything. Everyone really cares and everyone works together. I had a headache the first week I was here, so much was going on. "Like at the ticket window, you never want to turn away a customer. You want to accommodate them, you do whatever you can to make them happy, to have a good experience." And because Messier's position is an internship, he does not get paid, reaping only a $20 per day stipend - barely meeting the gas tank demand. But, Messier gets a chance every so often to flick his wrists with a tennis racquet on the grass courts. "It's so different than hard courts, like at Attleboro High," said Messier. "You don't fall back to hit the ball, you have to run up, the grass makes it take low and crazy bounces." Messier helped coordinate the hundred or so volunteers, the applications, the disclaimers, the assumption of risk forms. Then it was working with the ball-kids. During the qualifying rounds, he was signing in players and making sure that Match No. 4 got played on Court No. 2. "I was surprised, having dealt with athletes in the past," said Messier of his initial contact with the wandering world-wide nomads of professional tennis, the nearly two dozen different countries of birth for the players. "I thought that players like to stay or be by themselves. "They all went out on a dinner boat cruise Tuesday in Newport harbor. The tennis players are so very appreciative of what you do for them. They're friendly, they're like every day guys - they talk to you like you're their friend." Messier can't place a premium on his summer education. "I feel like I've learned so much the past two months, being on this job, than I have the past two years. You learn by experience, by internships, by being on the job, by the makes that you make. "It's all about opportunity in sports, what you've done, what your resume says." PETER GOBIS may be contacted at 508-236-0375 or via e-mail at pgobis@thesunchronicle.com