Sports Communications have become an integral part of American culture. Everywhere we look - we see, hear, or read about sports. Restaurants and bars have what seems to be an endless amount of flat screens, every newspaper has a sports section, and reels on social media often show sports highlights or interviews. Because sports are so prominent in today's culture, it is vital that we place the same focus of importance on those who report said sports communications.
(Source: HuffPost)
In this week's course lecture for the VCSU COMM 415 Sports Information course, it was said that there has been declared a projected 3.4 percent growth rate from 2016 to 2026 for sports writers. Being that there will be 9,300 sports writers needed within the field throughout this same time period, one should definitely consider going into this field. So, I have a question for you: What makes you think you can or cannot go into this sports communications? I have had to ask myself about this option before, and I am so glad I said yes to the opportunity.
I have thought a lot about the future of what I could do with my experience in this area. I never envisioned myself working directly within sports. Don’t get me wrong - I love sports - but for the longest time, I didn't envision myself working within the sports field. I only envisioned myself playing within the sports field. I was brought into the field in an interesting way, being a previous college athlete who got injured and was diagnosed with disc herniation and slipping discs shortly after I began playing collegiately. I wanted to stay involved with the program and, fortunately, was approached about working as a sports information intern at VCSU upon completion of a local news reporter internship in the Summer of 2019. While my major programs of study contributed to this new position, I still had plenty to learn. My job is almost a combination of many sports communication responsibilities. Let's look into the main areas of sports communications.
As mentioned in the class lecture, they are many positions that can be filled within sports communications. Looking at the array of possibilities mentioned within the lecture, I (or you) could go many different routes upon graduation this spring. While I don’t particularly see myself working in sports for the rest of my life, I do not consider it to be out of the question. The course lecture mentioned the following sports communications positions:
Subeditor, Public Relations Executive, Club content producer, Social media executive, Photographer, Press officer, Radio host, Regional newspaper reporter, Chief sports reporter, and Website editor. Wow - that's a lot! It just goes to show the opportunity that is out there.
Something I loved from the assigned reading this week comes from the article, Sports Journalism is a Relevant, and Important, as Ever in 2018. Kevin Robbins, an educator of sports journalism at University of Texas, made the following claim about sports journalism:
Sports journalism to me isn’t so much delivery as it is substance. I teach sports reporting classes at UT, and I encourage people who don’t like sports to take the class, especially the entry-level class, because you use the same journalistic skills. Data mining, public records, dogged (Source: JobMonkey) research. Sports happens to be the occasion for the journalism, but it doesn’t have to be a specialty. – Kevin Robbins (Solomon).
I greatly appreciate this comment, because just like Robbins said, you use the same skills in sports journalism as in typical journalism. I didn’t have any sports journalism experience before my internship, and I feel that because I now do have that experience, I will be considered a more well-rounded writer and marketer in the future. I have also worked as a reporter, and I find that some of the work is similar, but of course – it has a different focus.
I also found the article What is the Difference Between a Marketing Degree and a Communications Degree from a College? to be particularly interesting because I have a broad course of study with an English Professional Writing major, two different Communications majors with focus areas of journalism and digital media, and a marketing minor (Aarons). I often find my programs being quite interchangeable, discussing the differences between marketing and communications, but the two can intertwine in certain ways. I am currently enrolled in the Public Relations course – a course for the Communications major. I am learning how to use both my communications skills and marketing skills to reach a specific target market and succeed in different promotional activities. PR is yet another BROAD line of work – filled with many responsibilities.
All in all, sports communications is very broad term of work, but it actually is broken down into some specific focus areas. If you're wondering if working within sports communications is right for you, I hope that this post has helped offer you clarity and inspiration to pursue such work.
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Works Cited
Aarons, Andrews. "What is the Difference Between a Marketing Degree and a Communications Degree From a College?" Hearst Newspapers LLC. seattlepi. (n.d.) https://education.seattlepi.com/difference-between-marketing-degree-communications-degree-college-2371.html
Solomon, Dan. "Sports Journalism is a Relevant, and Important, as Ever in 2018." TexasMonthly, TexasMonthly. 24 Sept. 2018. https://www.texasmonthly.com/the-culture/sports-journalism-relevant-important-ever-2018/
Hi Hannah - absolutely agree with what you're saying. I never thought I would have a career in sports, and yet here I am teaching it. :) Okay, jokes aside - the very nature of sports demands fast-paced and changes. I think that is what makes it such an exciting field to look into. I appreciated your conversational tone and inclusion of images. Makes for a great blog page. I look forward to reading throughout the semester.
Kyle
Haanah,
Great post! I love how you intertwined your personal experience with the course material. I actually didn't want to take this course because I'm not a sports person. I don't follow sports or play sports but I do tend to enjoy watching, from time to time, racing or hockey however, I'm not a huge fan. I took the course because I needed a couple communications courses so I could graduate this summer. I'm glad I did take this course because it expands my writing skills and will give my a well-rounded communication background. What sport did you play at a collegiate level before getting injured?
Hannah,
I also find it amazing how many different routes a person can take with sports communications. I really like the quote from Kevin Robbins that "Sports journalism to me isn’t so much delivery as it is substance." To me as a sports journalists you are always looking for good information and while I do believe delivery is important, being able to have a meaningful story is what really will allow someone to be successful in this field. I myself am looking to get into the marketing side of sports but I agree that marketing and communications are different but can be intertwined.
I have not thought much about going into sports communications before. Since I was 13 I have wanted to be an Athletic Trainer in a high school. Though this class won't change my mind, it has already been beneficial for seeing different perspectives I have not seen before. I also really like the quote you shared because I am a first year here at Valley and though this is for my minor (coaching) I am glad I took it early because it will give me a much better knowledge base for the rest of my degree.