Sports:
I grew up playing soccer. For ten years, my weekday nights and weekend mornings were spent in cleats and a uniform on the pitch, fueled by zeal for victory and love for my teammates. When the opportunity came to combine my love for soccer and student athleticism with my passion for student journalism, I jumped at it. These stories feature athletic successes, but also student journeys with the sport, incorporating the quintessential human interest aspect of any piece of journalistic work.
This game was not only the league opener for CK Girls' Soccer, but it was also the first season with this head coach. He had been involved in coaching for the program for years, but this season saw his debut as its leader. In addition to my passion for sports - specifically women's sports - I found the team's cultural shift a unique and necessary coverage piece. Besides defeating the opposing team by four points with a shutout result, the team's reignited spark and reinvigorated passion was palpable. In my coverage of the game itself and interview with the coach for his hopes for the season, I worked to incorporate that liveliness that shaped the team's culture and success.
I know nothing about basketball. However, as the girls' basketball team performed consistently well throughout the season, it became more and more evident that their games were something we should cover. Going into this game (which was also my introduction to covering a school sporting event), my heart was beating out of my chest, and for the first time I felt as though I would fail to produce something of publishable quality. Yet, as I sat myself in the student section around people who supported and understood the game, I found myself being able to follow the plays decently well, and with nervously sweating palms I interviewed the coaches and players after the game was over. Being able to identify and share the team's continuous successes in their athleticism and further connect with peers that I otherwise would not have felt like a major accomplishment, both personally and journalistically, and helped shape the way I approached unfamiliar or uncharted territory.
The cross country team had experienced a record-breaking season. From the girls' team placing first in state, third in regionals, and fourth in a national invitational, to the boys' team placing the highest they have since the 1980s, the team's collective determination and spirit more than deserved to be covered. In interviews with the coaches and later a runner on the team, I discovered just how close the team had become over the course of their triumphant season; their collective effervescence was undeniably a core tenet of the team's success, and a result of their athletic and personal philosophies.