Learning From The Best

Last weekend I had the pleasure of being a part of one of the "most successful" Awards Weekend in National Sports Media Association history (from my boss's mouth not mine!)

As an intern, it was one of the most rewarding and inspiring weekends I've ever been a part of, and the people I met and the words of wisdom they shared with me were invaluable. As many of you know, I am an aspiring sports broadcaster with a passion for both storytelling and sports. To have had the honor of meeting some of the best in the business was nothing short of a blessing. I wanted to write this blog not only to share how absolutely incredible this weekend was but also for others who are looking to work in sports media to hear what I learned. We are all in this together, right?!

Out of almost 100 sportswriters and sportscasters, one particularly stood out to me. Her name is Lesley Visser, a pioneer for women in sports media (and the first female sideline reporter). She was extremely kind, passionate, and inspiring and provided me with excellent advice that I am so excited to share.

She told me three things that helped her in the industry:

Passion

We must have PASSION! She explained that this was probably the easiest to achieve because those who want to work in sports know that it cannot always be easy, and the grind doesn't ever really stop. She explained that there are going to be times in our career, early on, in the middle, and towards the end that it's going to get tough, but it's the passion that will help us aspiring broadcasters move forward when the going gets tough. She drew parallels between being an athlete and being a sideline reporter; nothing is ever easy, when we fall we get back up, but what gets us back up is how much passion we have for sports at the end of the day.

2. Knowledge

She explained this subject was slightly more difficult, but like any other job, it's a learning process. She told me that obviously those who want to work in sports probably feel that way because we think we understand sports really well. I told her plainly that I didn't know much about some sports and was more focused on others. To that, she told me to READ!! She said that learning starts with reading.. (duh!). I remember her saying, "you're watching a football game and you don't know why the flag was thrown, you hear the ref make the call and you don't know what it is? LOOK IT UP!" Essentially, books and the internet are there for us to learn. Luckily, we have the internet literally at our fingertips. I will say right after the weekend concluded, I went on the internet and went to the 2021 NFL Rulebook and just started highlighting things with which I was less familiar. She told me it starts with questioning aspects of sports and going from there!

3. Stamina

She told me is that we have to have stamina because sports are year-round and things are always changing. She said this was one of the hardest things about the job, but that as aspiring broadcasters, we will understand as soon as we get our first job. She told me to always put my head down and keep working because there are going to be times when things aren't going to go as planned, and you'll be forced to pivot under an extreme amount of pressure. This is quite daunting, but I really do appreciate her telling me that there was no way around this. The best thing we can do is to believe in ourselves, our ability, and work hard!

The final thing she told me that was not included in her three pillars was to make every quality you have a quality at-bat. I found this super interesting because obviously, every person is different. We all operate differently, we learn differently and we behave differently. She told me it was extremely important to own the special qualities we have and run with them because each person in this world has something extremely special to give. We can do this, people!

I am extremely fortunate to have spoken with such a strong and inspiring woman who changed the course for women looking to enter the sports media field. I am so thankful to have met everyone who I did, and I hope that this blog helps those looking to break into the sports media industry as much as it is helping me as I navigate my way through the upcoming job hunt. Any advice is extremely valuable to me, so if anyone reading this has more insight, I would love to hear any and all advice and suggestions. I'M ALL EARS!!

Thank you again to my boss, Dave Goren, for providing me with the opportunity to have been a part of this weekend. I could not have even been in this position if it wasn't for him and I am incredibly thankful.

Here are a couple of pictures I snagged from the weekend!

Thanks for listening!