Uncategorized – Tom Talks Sport

What have I learned in my first term as a student sports journalist?

In my first term as a student sports journalist, I have learned a great many skills that will help me to pursue and, hopefully, achieve my goals. Along the way, there have been some moments that were not quite as simple as I thought. This included the photography module of the course.

I found photography challenging because, although the practical aspect seems quite easy, the theory behind it took a lot longer to grasp. As well as this, there was a far more technical side to photography which I had never really considered before. Framing, shutter speed and aperture were all new things to me when I started at USW, but I think I’m slowly getting to grips with it.

Law is an essential part of being a journalist, knowing what you can and can not put in print or take photos of, it’s not always the most enjoyable subject to learn about but it is extremely crucial for us in our careers and it can be quite interesting to learn all of the case studies regarding various aspects of legal and ethical issues.

Going to the Sport Park and reporting on the games has been a thoroughly enjoyable experience, minus the weather, and it is always fun to watch the games and write match reports or quotes pieces on them afterwards. It may not always be easy to get the team sheets to find out which players have scored or been influential players, but that just gives me an idea of what the real world will be like.

Overall, being a student sports journalist is setting me up very well for the future, giving me all of the basic skills which I need. It’s now up to me to do everything I can to develop those skills and make myself the best possible sports journalist that I can be.

My First Blog Post

Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.
— Oscar Wilde.

This is the first post on my new blog. I’m just getting this new blog going, so stay tuned for more. Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates.

Introduce Yourself (Example Post)

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
What topics do you think you’ll write about?
Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.