Sixteen students in the Sports media certificate program At Grady College, cover the action of the NCAA tournament, first -round games in the Final Four Female in Tampa, thanks to a new partnership with USA TODAY SPORTS NETWORK.
The partnership gives students the opportunity to work as accredited journalists during major sporting events, to produce written stories and other multimedia covers for one of the country’s main media.
“Covering March Madness was the assurance that I needed to know that this is what I really want to do because of the atmosphere, the environment, stories … I was just on a rush to adrenaline all weekend,” said Sarah Sims, a fourth year journalism student who covered women’s basketball in the first round in Columbia, in South Carolina.
The partnership was launched on a test basis in January when three students worked with USA Today to increase the coverage of the National Championship match for university football playoffs in Atlanta.
“These are experiences that few will have on their curriculum vitae,” said fourth year journalism major, Gunter Schroeder, who covered both the PCF national championship and the recent male basketball from NCAA in Atlanta. “When you show people,” hey, I was lucky to get some stories in the United States today “, it will be a kind of eye opening.”
The teachers of the Carmical Sports Media Institute accompany students – who, for the first weekend of March Madness, included Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Columbia, South Carolina – to provide advice, to communicate history ideas to the editors of the United States TODAY, then to assign stories and make the first modifications to the work of students.
“Partnerships like this apply the learning they go through our courses in a way that we cannot simulate in a class,” said Vicki MichaelisThe John Huland Carmic Chair in Journalism and Sports Society, which was the editor of the USA TODAY Olympic Games before coming to the UGA in 2012.
The Carmical Sports Media Institute covers student travel costs, thanks to the support of the Carmical and Steve and Diane Horton Foundation.
Michaelis and Carlo FinlayDeputy Director of Carmical Sports Media Institute, collaborated with Rachel G. Bowers, graduate of Grady College 2011 and deputy sports director for USA Today Network, to create the partnership.
“We are really passionate about the facilitation of practical experiences for the next generation of sports journalists,” said Bowers. “It is an increasing experience to be able to cover something like March Madness in person for the first time, and it is also very precious to be able to see how the pros do it in real life.”
Bowers said the USA Today network, which includes more than 200 properties, has several objectives for the program. Among them: expanding the most important sports coverage for the network audience, familiarizing yourself with the Talent student basin before obtaining its diploma and expanding the digital presence of the network. Testing students in the required pace while covering major events is also essential.
USA Today also wants to help train young journalists to tell stories beyond the score, which is a main objective in the sports media certificate program.
“Everyone knows the results of the game, but we want to go further,” said Bowers. “What is the next thing? Is this an post-match comment? Is someone saying something bursting and viral? What is it like? We are always looking to the future and we ask:” How can we add value to the experience of a user? “We don’t want to tell them things they already know.”
Student experience
With the Final Four still to leave, the students wrote more than 70 stories published on the NCAA tournament. The stories have covered subjects ranging from the Southern Carolina necklace Dawn Staley received from a rapper in why Star Guard Hailey Van Lith I chose to transfer to TCU.
“The ability of these students to work with these publishers and other journalists and columnists at this level is invaluable,” said Michaelis.
For the opportunity of March Madness, the students submitted requests detailing their experience in basketball and by covering sporting events on the deadline. They also passed a test, producing live coverage in the UGA female and male basketball matches that simulated what they would do for USA Today.
“It was so cool to be able to take everything we learned from our lessons and put it in motion,” said Sims. “I think it’s really a big problem to learn to cover other teams, and it made me push myself outside the box.”
Tatum Esparza, a second year student of journalism and sports management, covered female basketball in the first and second round in Baton Rouge and said that all the preliminary preparation had given her confidence. She recalled an interaction when Kim Mulkey, female basketball coach at the Louisiana State University, thanked Esparza for attending a press conference when they left the room.
“It’s like,” wow “, and then it was like” hey, you know I’m a journalist and I can do it, “said Esparza.
Esparza logged in with an ESPN photojournalist who gave her some tips to take sports photos and another journalist from USA Today, with whom she was able to share notes.
“It was so reassuring to know that this is the path I chose and I am happy to have chosen it,” said Esparza. “I love what I do and what I can do in the future, especially in sports.”
For the CFP national championship, Schroeder was responsible for identifying the angles of unique history in the quarterrier of Ohio Will Howard. He searched and wrote part of the story before the game, then added first -hand reports and observations.
Schroeder said that working on the deadline was the best part of the learning experience. The game ended at 11:08 p.m., and the first version of its last story published at 11:11 p.m., an update that included quotes from the final press conference was published the next morning.
“Obviously, you do a lot of analyzes all the time during the game to understand what is the most important part or the most necessary to include in this,” he said. “And, at the end of the game, you must essentially follow each movement of this player.”
The partnership could develop to include other university sporting events such as baseball or softball matches in the playoffs. It could be integrated into a class of sports media certificate in future semesters.
“We are in this community all the time covering sporting events, which expands this philosophy we need to go where learning occurs,” said Michaelis.
Sims is grateful for experience. “It’s really cool to have these opportunities thanks to the sports media program and how they establish these connections and really help us to succeed,” said Sims.
Michaelis, who accompanied students in the NCAA women’s region in Birmingham last weekend, said that the biggest advantage of a program like this was to watch the students apply the lessons learned in class to a much larger scale.
She calls it “to tear off the dressing” because students know what to do, but they sometimes need encouragement. For example, once they asked this first question during a day in the media in the national championship, they have a new feeling of confidence and accomplishment.
“To be able to scam the dressing in these spaces … guy … I love to watch it happen,” said Michaelis.
Authors: Sarah Freeman, Freemans@uga.edu; Vicki Michaelis, vickim@uga.edu
