It’s starting to become a comfortable routine for me. It’s not worry before shooting. It’s not nervousness for B-roll. It’s not complicating the process. Midway through the WVU news season everything is starting to feel familiar and it’s becoming more fun than a challenge. As in all things, news is best when fresh, and that’s what I went with this week. Sort of.

The West Virginia Rifle team is one of a kind team when it comes to collegiate athletics. They’re young, dominant, and have a special connection with those involved with them. Their 5th straight national championship is surprisingly only the 2nd longest title streak for the program. Winning six in a row isn’t natural, but again, this team isn’t either. Reporting a celebration isn’t something I’ve done before, but it posed as an opportunity to make things exciting. I came up with a creative standup simulating a barrel and/or scope for the camera where I would pop in and use it for effect. With the newfound comfort, I found innovation as well, and I couldn’t be in a better situation than with a bunch of happy people at the coliseum.                                                                                              

Let me start out by saying I am VERY appreciative and thankful not only for my WVU News family, but for a career path that allows me to work in a team setting with people who are always willing to help. But I’ll get back to that side of things later in the blog.

My story for show number 5 was a feature story on Robyn Bernard, a gymnast at WVU. Robyn’s mom was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was in high school and I got the chance to hear her story. 

Week 2 of WVU news was my first experience with the real-world problems one would have in the industry. West Virginia Baseball’s season was starting up as the weather warmed, and I wanted to do my next story following their awesome finish and high expectations for 2017. They won 17 of their last 21 games, and came within a gasp of the NCAA tournament.

I pitched my story on Monday and got approved; everything was going according to plan. I’m close with the Baseball SID, and shot him a text asking when the next media session would be. For most sports, a brief time with coaches and players is provided once a week where all types of media can come and get the scoop, from writers at newspapers to students doing reporting for a class. With calling games for WVU women’s soccer for three years, I was at Dreamswork (their practice facility) every Wednesday of the fall semester at 2:30 sharp for the inside info. I was able to build rapport with everybody. The only problem was that baseball wasn’t having a session this week, and I didn’t have a backup plan.

I feel like there is never a dull moment in life when you are a sports reporter. That statement held true for my second story of the semester.  I was SUPPOSED to be covering a wrestling match that was a benefit for breast cancer awareness. I talked to our sports TA/ my good friend Reghan Bailey, and she told me that when she went last year there was a huge turn out and everyone was wearing pink…Soooo I planned on there being a huge turn out and everyone wearing pink. It was advertised this way as well. 

I show up to the meet in a bright pink shirt planning on doing my stand-up walking through the huge pink crowds talking about the turnout. Well… to my surprise I was one of the ONLY people wearing pink and honestly one of the only ones there. 

It has been a whirlwind couple of weeks for me getting my feet wet in the sports news industry. It’s my first foray into this type of journalism and while I’ve learned a lot, I’ve still got miles to go. I’m just taking it one day at a time (which can actually set you back if you’re not out there getting after it!)

My passion is play-by-play. I’ve been fortunate enough to live that out for the last 3 years at WVU     with the soccer, volleyball, and hockey teams. I’m beyond grateful for the experience. With my dad being the sports guru of Morgantown (he serves as the voice of the Football and Basketball teams) I still think there’s a significant shadow I have to move out from. I can also use it to my advantage.

This will be my second semester with WVU News. In the fall I auditioned for sports as well as main anchor, and ended up main anchoring all ten shows of the semester. This was a huge deal and an amazing opportunity for me...but when picking classes for my final semester at WVU I couldn’t help but want another shot at covering sports.                     

January rolled around and I found myself in the same room... in the same spot... for my second first day of WVU News. I was in the class for a reason and was dead set on getting a sports reporter spot. I knew what it would take, and I had reporter experience now so I auditioned and got the news that I got it! I was so excited! I knew I would have always regretted it if I never got the chance to cover sports, which would then allow me to be able to apply for sports jobs.            

My time as a sports reporter/anchor for WVU News has finally come to an end. This semester was truly something I will never forget. This last time around was our special edition show on the heroin epidemic throughout the country and how it’s affected our state of West Virginia. As you can expect, sports had to take a different route but still tie it into the topic.                                                                                                           

For our show, I decided to learn about the effects drugs have on an athlete’s body and how the university helps prevent their athletes from falling under the influence. Taking this route allowed me to think outside the box and really get a different angle on sports that reporters tend to not focus on. WVU’s Sports Medicine Staff was more than helpful with providing procedure processes, more information than found through research and were accommodating – which allowed for an excellent special edition piece.

I knew the second time would be much smoother than the first. First time, I was stressing all week, no sleep and endless practicing beforehand. Of course the nerves were still there, but it was nothing near like before. I ended strong the first show I anchored, so now I wanted to start strong this time. Consistency is a huge thing for me.                                                                                                               

After I submitted my package featuring Daikiel Shorts Jr., it was out of my hands whether or not I would make show. When I got the news I didn’t make show, I wasn’t even that disappointed because I was so excited to anchor for this show. In my opinion, anchoring has been the most fun part of this entire class. This is coming from a guy who overly stressed about the first time, but it was one of the best moments of my life. So, after the news arrived, I focused solely on anchoring.

Round 2. That’s what happened this week, I had my second chance at being on set. I felt more prepared, less nervous, and just ready to go.

It was Monday, when we had to come in, do the final edits on our packages, that I found out one of the JRL 386 classes were going to attend the show this week. So to say that didn’t heighten the nerves, would be a lie. I didn’t want to mess up drastically and show these up-and-coming “broadcast brats” what NOT to do. First run through wasn’t bad all together, but went in to do our second take and?. THE FIRE ALARM GOES OFF.

I had a great time shooting this story with Kyle. I interviewed one of the most generous donors to WVU who