Sophomore Markus Miller combines his passion for sports and writing through being The Echo’s sports editor.
Growing up, Miller was always surrounded by sports. He enjoyed watching them with his family or playing golf and basketball with his three brothers and father. His father even coached Miller and his brothers in basketball and baseball when they were younger.
In high school, Miller was on the golf team, and he played for all four years. He started out playing for fun when he was around five or six years old, but it was not until middle school when he began playing on a team competitively.
He highly considered playing golf in college but ultimately decided against it.
“I wanted to base my college decision off of college, not golf,” Miller said.
Since graduating high school, Miller continued playing golf for fun over the summer whenever he got the chance.
Throughout his time playing and watching golf and basketball, he discovered that he had a lot of fun studying and researching the statistical aspects, and he became inspired to write in the
sports section of The Echo.
Miller always enjoyed writing, and English was one of his favorite classes; he particularly found the writing side to be more enjoyable than the reading side of English.
“I always found writing to just be a little more fun because I can have ideas and I can express them; I can get creative with it,” Miller said.
While his school did not have a newspaper because it was small, he was able to delve into writing sports articles at Taylor. However, he was involved with his school’s yearbook and was able to gain valuable experience with taking photos of sporting events and gathering information.
When it came time to think about what he wanted to do, it made sense for Miller to choose a career that involved both sports and writing.
“I just enjoy getting to write and specifically telling stories about sports,” Miller said.
One of Miller’s favorite sports to write about is basketball.
He likes to dig into the advanced statistics and metrics surrounding basketball, especially because he knows the most about it, along with discovering new things he did not previously know about.
“I learned more about sports that I didn’t know much about before (through writing for The Echo),” Miller said.
Miller’s experience with writing in the sports section for The Echo has allowed him to cover various sporting events on campus.
He was able to write about Taylathon 2020, and Miller thought it was cool to learn about the event and talk to people who participated in it. Another story he covered was over last year’s Silent Night, and he said it was interesting getting to learn about the history of the event.
Through writing for The Echo, Miller has seen that it has helped him get out of his comfort zone through interviewing people, and he has also grown more patient from the process. By writing articles and interviewing, he has also become a better critical thinker, listener and analyst, as opposed to just rolling with something.
Overall, he learned how to be a better communicator.
Since Miller first began writing for The Echo, he has learned a lot about what responsibility means, especially with meeting the deadline for assignments. He has also learned the value of working on a team, and he has developed that skill through his time playing sports.
“I’ve learned a lot (about) organization because there’s just a lot for me to keep up with,” Miller said.
As a result of combining his love of sports and writing, Miller was able to develop valuable skills that he can implement anywhere.
