National Sports Journalism Center

Graduate student Kate Guerra is gaining experience in sports public relations during her summer internship with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Legions of sports fans across America would undoubtedly jump at the chance to hear racecar drivers rev their engines every morning before they hit the track. They would kill to hear the thwack of a baseball smacking into a glove while interviewing pro baseball players. Most couldn’t even begin to imagine the feeling of reading their byline in Sports Illustrated. 

But for a significant number of Indiana University sports journalism students, those experiences are reality.

Students from both the Bloomington and Indianapolis campuses are spending this spring and summer working at some of the nation’s premiere sports news outlets and sports organizations through the National Sports Journalism Center’s internship program.

Justin Albers, an intern at the Chicago Sun-Times who will be a junior at IU-Bloomington, is covering pro sports across Chicago. His assignments range from helping cover the Cubs and White Sox to arena football and professional softball.

In just his second week on the job, Albers profiled Miami Heat guard and Chicago native Dwayne Wade. For the feature, he interviewed Wade’s brother and high school coach during the Eastern Conference Finals.

“It was sort of a test with the paper, and they were very pleased with the result,” Albers said. Albers tallied 14 stories in less than a month’s work at the Sun-Times.

Albers is one of more than 20 IU sports journalism students gaining invaluable experience in internships this spring and summer. Students are working at newspapers, websites, television stations, radio stations and sports organizations across the nation. They are working at organizations like Sports Illustrated, USA Today, MLB.com, the Chicago Tribune, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, NCAA New Media, ESPN Radio, Indiana Pacers and the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association.

In addition to fieldwork, interns are honing their journalism skills, researching, editing, fact checking and writing for both print and online editions. Within those day-to-day assignments, each intern is gaining valuable knowledge in the sports journalism field.

Indiana Pacers intern Sam Rogian, a graduate sports journalism student, is doing double duty. The increasing demand for journalists to be multi-faceted has Rogian not only covering Indianapolis’ NBA team, but also the WNBA’s Fever.

Sam Rogian, a graduate student at the National Sports Journalism Center, is writing for the Indiana Pacers and Indiana Fever during his internship.

I am responsible for contributing content to pacers.com and feverbasketball.com,” Rogian says. “So far, this has included compiling mock draft information for the upcoming NBA draft. We have a list of potential draftees, according to many websites. The gist of my work is on Fever game days. I sit courtside for the games and conduct post-game locker-room interviews (video) and post to the website.”

IndyCar public relations intern Kate Guerra, also a graduate sports journalism student on the IUPUI campus, says her first two weeks on the job were an eye-opening experience to a new aspect of sports media.

“I hadn’t had any public relations experience before this internship, and I really wanted that to give me a well-rounded experience background,” Guerra said. “A sports journalist’s job is made much more difficult without help from PR staff, so it’s nice to get the other perspective. It gives you more appreciation for what they do.”
 
Students are benefitting not only from on-the-job assignments, but also from the invaluable contacts they are gaining throughout the sports journalism profession.

“They’ve told me that there’s nothing better than working in sports,” Connor O’Gara, an intern with the Indianapolis Indians, said. “If you’re willing to put in the hours . . .that comes with working in sports, then you’re in the right place.”

While the real world experiences are crucial to preparing for a sports media career, the interns are finding their journalism education is a critical foundation.

“Honestly, I wouldn’t have even gotten in the door at WISH-TV for an interview without my sports journalism degree,” Rob Hughes said about his internship with the Indianapolis CBS affiliate this spring. “It showed my dedication to the field, and the seriousness that I take toward making a career out of sports broadcasting.”

Whether it’s help from a professor, a guest speaker or learning basic skills, their IU experiences have guided their success in the professional world.

“I’ve learned the most about sports journalism through the experiences given to me by Tim Franklin and the National Sports Journalism Center covering events like the men’s and women’s Final Four, interning at daily newspapers in Indiana, now Florida and working for the Indiana Daily Student’s sports department,” stated Stepanie Kuzydym, an intern at the Orlando Sentinel and an upcoming senior.

These sports journalism interns have worked diligently to ensure they capitalize on each experience.

National Sports Journalism Center graduate student Brian Hendrickson spent his spring interning with Sports Illustrated.

For Brian Hendrickson, his hard work interning at Sports Illustrated this spring paid off when one of his very own stories was printed.

“Seeing my byline in Sports Illustrated for the first time would have to be the most exciting experience by far,” said Hendrickson, a graduate sports journalism student who wrapped up at SI late last month and now is working in the NCAA’s New Media division.