I was lucky enough to help out in the media room at the Olympic (swimming) trials in Omaha …
In my first week, I covered the Washington Redskins and the Washington Nationals …
I never would have imagined it would include … working in the TV truck at Fenway Park …
Members of AWSM’s 2012 internship class were afforded these opportunities, and more, after being placed at USA Swimming, the Denver Post, the Washington Times, Sports Illustrated, MLB.com and ESPN this summer. We asked each of the AWSM interns to share a little about their experiences:
Paige Curtis, U. Virginia
USA Swimming
While working as a media relations intern at USA Swimming in Colorado Springs, Colo., I was lucky enough to help out in the media room at the Olympics trials in Omaha, Neb. The press conferences were filled to see seasoned veterans like Michael Phelps discuss his excitement for his last Games, and newcomers like Missy Franklin, exuberant with energy for her first Olympic experience.
Olympic preparation also included reaching out to the small hometowns of many Olympians so that everyone could be updated on the exciting conquests of Team USA.
While you may think that the swim season journey ends after the Olympics, USA Swimming was gearing up for the U.S. Open – its national competition, held this year at IUPUI Natatorium in Indianapolis. On non-Olympic years, the Open is the selection meet for the world championships. In Indianapolis, I worked as the media coordinator – sending out press releases and staffing the media room.
I gained a lot of experience from USA Swimming but, more importantly, I gained a greater pride in Team USA and the swimmers’ amazing feats as they represented our country overseas. Being a part of that team is a feeling I will never forget.
Ros Dumalo, U. Illinois
Denver Post
I couldn’t have imagined a better time to be a summer intern at the Denver Post. The Peyton Manning era was taking over Tebow-mania. Colorado’s Missy Franklin was becoming a world-wide swimming sensation. The Rockies were on the road to 100 losses – that’s probably a low point for the city, but still.
The best part was when they let me get my feet wet. When told I was in charge of getting Peyton Manning quotes, I squeezed my way to the front of the media horde to put myself in a good position to ask him a question. When they asked me if I’d go to the mountains to cover an off-road triathlon or military-style mud race, I couldn’t resist. I never realized covering outdoor sports involved trekking through the hills in a four-wheeler and sprinting to catch the athletes! Some links:
Broncos training camp: QB Peyton Manning draws cheers on Day One
Boulder-based Ironman specialist Ben Hoffman makes strong switch to Xterra
I got a true taste of Colorado sports but I can’t ignore the non-sports news of the summer: the Waldo Canyon fire and Aurora theatre shooting. I saw the sports staff step outside its department to help, and admired how they handled the unexpected.
Editor’s note: Dumalo was placed through AWSM’s partnership with the Sports Journalism Institute.
Kelly Parsons, U. North Carolina
Washington Times
As I near the end of my internship at the Washington Times, I think back to everything I’ve experienced in the past 12 weeks, and I feel beyond blessed. Before I accepted the position, sports editor Mike Harris promised I would be treated like one of the staff – and I saw on my first day just how true that was.
In the first week of my internship, I covered the Washington Redskins and the Washington Nationals. In June, the paper sent me to Omaha, Neb., to cover the U.S. Olympic swimming trials. During the trials, I wrote the main story for the Times’ Olympic preview section.
I will leave Washington a better journalist and have everybody at the Washington Times and AWSM to thank.
Kimie Bunyasaranand, CUNY
Sports Illustrated
I was watching the NBA Finals during my first week at SI – if the Heat won, I would have an NBA assignment the next day; if the Thunder won, I would be working on college football previews. The magazine has to prepare the commemorative editions for the NBA Finals for both teams simultaneously and switches back and forth each day. That’s pretty much the gist of my time at SI – constantly bouncing between topics, and loving every minute of it.
I’ve worked on MLB, MLS and NFL as well as the Olympics. Most of the work consisted of research and fact-checking though I’ve had some opportunities to do on-the-ground reporting (interviews at a pool in the Bronx for a story on Michael Phelps) and a little writing (profiling a USC football player).
One of the most rewarding aspects was working with some of the top writers and editors in the industry. On a day-to-day basis, I saw the process of getting a story published and learned from journalists who have been covering sports for decades.
Chelsea Janes, Yale
MLB.com
My summer covering the San Diego Padres has been amazing. I spend a few hours in the clubhouse each day, and gain an understanding of what it takes day in and day out for these guys to get on the field. My respect for baseball players and their endurance, pain tolerance and mental toughness has gone way up – as has my respect for the same characteristics in baseball beat reporters.
I’ve learned a lot about just how much there is to cover on a day-to-day basis. Procuring injury updates, family stories and the little things that surround a team make for a constant workload and stories evolve quickly and are reported even more quickly. I’ve had the opportunity to handle those responsibilities myself, and I’ve really enjoyed it.
Tori Petry, U. Florida
ESPN
If you told me to picture this summer one year ago, I never would have imagined it would include standing on pit road at a NASCAR race, chatting with Shelley Smith or working in the TV truck at Fenway Park. Little did I know, those things would be just a few of the incredible experiences I would have as a production intern with ESPN.
I started my internship working with the Euro 2012 production crew. It was incredible to be a part of an international production. I was able to help in many different ways, including aiding in producing the rollout videos for games and shadowing in the studio for tapings of Euro Tonight. Watching the celebration of Spain’s victory was an inspiring reminder of why we are passionate about sports.
After Euros, I moved to work with Major League Baseball where I made incredible friends and learned invaluable lessons. My first task was to simply log a game, but by the end of the summer – I was the primary production assistant for ESPN’s Wednesday Night Baseball. I met with producers to discuss content, searched archives for specific video records of baseball’s big moments and produced packages for air. I truly got to be a part of making live TV happen.
I spent my free time working on the NBA Draft and in NASCAR – traveling to work at two races and producing content for air. I also submitted an article to espnW. My internship at ESPN taught me so much about how sports television comes together. But even more than that, it taught me how to make the most of an opportunity and turn it into the experience of a lifetime. Because of ESPN and the amazing women of AWSM, I had the most incredible summer an aspiring sports broadcaster could ever dream of.
