Finally. That’s all I could think about before our second newscast. I was finally going to anchor my first show. It felt like I had been watching for years (which isn’t too far from the truth) and I was itching to finally be on set.

I remember watching my first semester in the Fall of 2015. Joe Lipovich, Sara Wells and Caroline Peters (who is actually in our class right now) anchor sports for that semester and wanting to be in their place. I also got to be in studio my second year in the Spring of 2017 when I was training to be an ESPNU TA. Again, I watched and took it all in. Then in the Fall of 2017 I took on my duties as the ESPNU TA and helped, watched and prepared for my time to finally come.

FINALLY. Here we are in the Spring of 2018, nearly three years in the making I am finally on set and looking right into that teleprompter and reading my lines. It was an exhilarating feeling. Were there nerves? Of course there were. It was my first time and there was no telling how I would finally do once the lights were on. I remember sitting in the chair listening to Megan and Mariah introduce my story and honestly after that I don’t remember anything. It all came so quick and before I knew it we were done.

What was my story on for this newscast? I covered the WVU Figure Skating Team and their addition of a synchronized group. They have been around for about 12 years and have never competed as a group. The biggest reason, they didn’t have enough skaters. To compete teams need a minimum of eight people, a number they finally reached this year.

I headed to the Morgantown Ice Arena at 10 p.m. on a Tuesday to film and talk to the skaters. They were so helpful and were honestly more concerned with making sure I got good footage than actually practicing. I also learned that they practice just as much if not more off of the ice since ice time is hard to come by.

All in all the process was incredible and it was certainly worth the wait. Now, on to the next story and the next newscast for even more sports stories to cover.