Theatre Girl Meets Sports World

I was never really into sports.

Actually, who am I kidding?

I was god awful when it came to understanding and having a real interest in sports.

In high school, I was known as the theatre kid. Fully decked out with caked on stage makeup and topped off with a shiny pair of black character shoes.

I could shuffle-ball-change like it was my job but when it came to gym class, or anything athletic, my body would completely shut down.

See that picture below? Yeah, that’s me.

You could imagine the look on my parents face when I told them I had an interest in pursuing a career in sports.

All my life I thought I would have a career involving show business, but nothing ever worked out. I always wondered why, or wondered what I was doing wrong when it came to my career path.

I felt my passion for showbusiness slowly dwindle.

Something in me needed to change, but at the time, I wasn’t sure what it was.

I started writing for my community college paper my sophomore year. There, I found a real passion for writing. It was something I was never into before but something just clicked when I started to write for the Hudsonian.

The editors decided to place me into writing for the basics; creative features, news, opinion, etc. I never thought to even touch the sports section.

My brother, John, was the sports editor of the paper at the time and he was running short on writers. He needed someone to cover the games. That someone became me.

The first hockey game I covered was in the spring semester of 2016. Let me tell you, I had no idea what was happening. I don’t even think I knew what a power play was at that point. But, I somehow made it work.

Here is the other thing, though, I didn’t hate it like I thought I would. I wanted to get better. Part of me felt determined to improve.

If there is one thing I love, it is a good challenge. I knew furthering my sports journalism career wasn’t going to be easy, but I was up for that challenge.

The constant struggle of the rotating thoughts of “am I really good enough?” or “what did I get myself into?” still spin on the wheels of my brain.

The first time I walked into the office of The Oswegonian, I told the editors I wanted to start writing for the paper.

With open arms they welcomed me in the room and with no questions asked they sent me to speak with the opinion and news editors. It took me a minute to work up the courage to blurt out that I wasn’t there to cover news, or opinion, I was there for sports.

The sports editor gave me the opportunity to cover women’s ice hockey for the 2016–2017 season; I loved it.

There is something about the excitement of being on a beat. Being around the athletes and the fans that can really get your adrenaline rushing while you’re sitting in the press box.

I continued to try to strengthen my writing throughout the season; progressively getting to know the game and the athletes.

I would be at the rink from 2pm-10pm on Saturday’s and some Friday’s. I felt like I was a part of something, something big.

There’s always something going on in sports. It’s like watching breaking news happen right in front of you. That’s what really attracted me to persuing a carrer in the sports industry.

It would be cliche to say that writing for sports changed my life. However, it did change my perspective on a lot of things.

I have gained a lot of respect for athletes. To see what they go through when it comes to training, practice, games, injuries paired with recovery and everything else takes more than just a love for a sport. It takes total and complete passion.

If I had to depict what it is that I love about sports writing is being able to watch someone throw their entire heart into their passion.

It’s a hard thing to describe, but it is an incredible thing to see the mixture of anger, frustration, compassion and pure love for a sport shine as a player takes the field, or in my case, the ice.

You can see it in their eyes and, in some cases, the feeling is so powerful that you can see it refelct in the fans and sometimes even in yourself.

When it comes to knowing the in’s and out’s of sports, I‘m not an expert, and I know I have a lot of work to do to before I get to where I’m going.

For now, this was exactly the challenge, the feeling and the change I was looking for.