— According to a St. Bonaventure University and Siena College survey, 70% of Americans “consider themselves sports fans.”
Indeed, one wouldn’t have to look far to find someone ready and enthusiastic to discuss a game from the other day, the state of their favorite teams’ seasons or a sport in general. Especially if they are a member of The Echo’s sports writing section, a group of avid sports fans who happen to be talented writers.
A staple of every Echo issue, the sports section’s work includes interviewing various people and writing features on outstanding figures, reports on the latest scores from the Taylor Trojans, explanations of processes (such as recruitment) and more.
The team is led by Jack Mulkey, a senior and sport management major who joined The Echo to improve his writing skills. Mulkey made the decision with the advice of Joe Hernandez, a former associate director of Ball State athletics and interview subject whom he was required to interview for an assignment in the Intro to Sport Management class.
“His best advice for me was to learn how to write,” he said, “To be successful in any industry was to learn how to write.”
Now in his third year of writing for The Echo, he finds himself the editor for the sports section. Accordingly, he leads a team of writers, with each member he oversees having their own writing style and personality traits. As described by Mulkey, the roster includes the “creative” Payne Moses, the “very cool” Dalton Jones, the “enthusiastic” Conrad Otto, the “funny” Caleb Terry and the “outgoing” co-editor, Caleb Heffron.
Among these writers, some of them dream of having a high-profile career in the sports media industry, such as being the star of a radio show or having a career in broadcasting.
“Ideally, I would love to work for ESPN, FOX Sports, CBS, ABC,” Heffron said, “Either being a live sports broadcaster or having my own radio show.”
Others, however, are simply content to write about sports.
“I want to be a sports writer,” Moses said, “(Professor Amy Stuckey) thinks I would thrive in the sports information world.”
For now, they are sports writers for The Echo. However, they are improving their writing with every story they write. In the future, they might have their ambitions come to fruition.
“I'm open to correction and open to learning”, Jones said, “So through that process, I feel like I've definitely become a better writer.”
Matthew Harman is a freshman multimedia journalism major.
