People have said that I am a hard-worker, a perfectionist, and a leader. They have described me as successful, dedicated, and helpful. But these are only broad terms that outline the scope of my character. Those who really know me know that I am nerdy, overly enthusiastic, and passionate. They know that my excessive time management skills come from years of training for my black belt. They know my perfectionism and dedication to basketball come from getting cut from varsity my freshman year and coming back and making first team all league my sophomore year. They know I’d rather curl up at home with a blanket and a book or watch a movie with a friend than go to a party. But even most of my closest friends don’t know that I have had my career planned out since the day I covered my first football game.
I’ve been around sports my whole life. Whether it was watching games on TV with my dad or playing youth sports in grade school, I’ve not only developed a passion for sports, but have also come to understand the rules and strategies to every sport I watch. Every sport, that is, except for football. I hadn’t watched football enough to latch onto a team, to follow the season, or to learn the positions. Any football experience that I’d had up until this year had come from watching the Super Bowl every year with food and friends as a distraction. But when no one on my newspaper staff was available to cover the school’s first football game of the year, as Sports Editor, I had to step up.
Because my school newspaper had recently transitioned to an online publication, I had never actually covered a live game before. I was incredibly nervous, but the second I scribbled my first note onto my little reporting notebook, I was hooked. I loved everything about covering games. The sound of grass ripping out from under cleats, the jumble of players and coaches huddled on the sideline, and even the stink of well worn uniforms. I loved all of it. But my absolute favorite part about covering the game was producing an article that I was proud of, and at 2:30 that morning, clicking the ‘publish’ button on the website. From that moment on, I knew I wanted to be a sports writer.
Since then. I’ve covered everything from volleyball games to golf matches. I’ve drafted previews on teams and written features on athletes. Because no one on my newspaper staff is really all that into sports, my articles have become known as the “Kristen default” because I cover more events then anyone on the whole staff, let alone the sports staff. I cover sports games because I have not only a passion for sports, but also for writing, and when I combine them, I know it is what I want to do with the rest of my life.