The last issue of Sports News focused on athletes who have gone on to television sportscasting careers. This issue discusses a few strategies athletes might adopt in anticipation of such a move.
One way is to study communications in college.
Three notable athletes who did: gymnast Mary Lou Retton (1984 Olympic gold medalist), football player Desmond Howard (1991 Heisman trophy winner and 1996 Super Bowl Most Valuable Player), and swimmer Janet Evans (four-time Olympic gold medalist).
Other ways involve gaining some practical experience:
1. If you're still competing and are being asked to do interviews, do them and pay attention to what goes on around you.
When you're on camera, be professional. Think of these interviews as a chance to audition. If you're especially good, television producers will remember you and will likely seek you out when they need comments from athletes.
When you're not on camera, get to know the reporters and crews
and ask questions.
2. When your interviews are broadcast, tape them and then review
them to find ways you can improve.
There are always ways to improve: Are your answers interesting? Did you avoid talking in a monotone? Were your clothes right? If you were wearing make-up, were the colors flattering?
If you're unwilling to critique yourself and are unwilling to get feedback from others, you'll never make it in broadcasting.
3. If you're not being asked to do interviews, get some hands-on experience by seeking some volunteer or part-time work at local television stations.
Some stations will even let popular or colorful local athletes do some reporting.
Mary Carillo, who covers tennis for several different networks,
gives hopeful television commentators this advice: "You've
got to work, be hungry. Don't just go after the job you ultimately
want. Start in the P.R. department or cover some other sport,
anywhere you can learn the business. Create a job if you have
to." (1)
A number of athletes have done or are doing what Carillo suggests.
Examples:
In time ABC assigned her to cover other Olympics sports. "My trial was Sarajevo [site of the 1984 Winter Olympics]. I was there by myself, no producer, no assignments. I hustled everything myself. I just went out, grabbed a crew, did spots and wrote stories." (2)
Mill then produced a feature on skiers Phil and Steve Mahre and was able to sell it to CBS. That eventually led to a job doing commentary for CBS's coverage of the World Cup and the 1992 and 1994 Winter Olympics. He also did recreational features for ABC's Good Morning America. At the same time, he continued to do his ski show, syndicating it to stations in approximately 80 ski towns.
Butler started public speaking at age 10. He represented a charitable foundation for underprivileged children, run by former Los Angeles Laker Happy Hairston. "We'd go to a Rotary Club or a black-tie dinner and I'd be the keynote speaker. Whenever we went out I always did some type of speaking, whether it was to a group of 20 people or a group of 500. It was a situation where I just came off very well." (4)
While getting a communications degree and playing basketball at UCLA, Butler was able to do some postgame Final Four analysis for a Los Angeles television station. Later, he filmed and narrated a Bullets road trip video which was shown at half-time during home games. He also filled in as host of a Bullets pregame show and had roles in several movies. For extra training, Butler visits television studios to practice speaking and to check how he looks on camera.
4. Learn what will be expected of you in terms of on-camera skills.
Be prepared to work at them. Examples:
In 1996 Walton was still striving to improve. "There are
nights I go back after broadcasts, look in the mirror and tell
myself my effort was a disgrace to broadcasting. But I keep pushing
on. The next game is right there.
Thomas took such advice to heart. Later in the season he said, "When I hear criticism, I say: 'Isiah, you're doing something wrong. Change it.'
"There were no files for me to go to that said, 'This is how you do this.' I set up a training course for myself so I could have a file to build on." (8) He hired two media experts to analyze his broadcasts and each week he submitted self-evaluations to the president of NBC Sports and to his producer.
"It's always going to backfire. So what do you do? You go back and go, 'Yes. No. Yeah. They're great.' That becomes your personality."
He discovered how difficult the job was going to be shortly after he signed up for it In 1995. "It's like being a rookie all over again. ...
"They try to tell you what to expect, but until you get in there and experience it, you don't know.
"We've been doing some taping, watching tapes of last year's shows, talking about how it happens, how fast it happens, the things you could be hearing in your ear, about extending, shortening, going over the things to prepare me for the things that will come up during the show." (9)
In 1990 she was hired by NBC as a tennis analyst. "I've only done two matches in 15 years and that's when I took sabbatical some time back. I plan to spend three or four days looking at taped matches and calling them, sort of do a dry run." (12)
A few months later she commented on the challenges which came with the job. "I remember when NBC would ask me to do an interview, and if I wasn't in the mood or if I had to practice or if I had to get mentally prepared for a match, I'd just say, No.'
"Now, I find myself telling the players, 'Hey, come on, it's television. It's great exposure and experience.' But it's like pulling teeth to try to get them to come to the booth and talk. They're very preoccupied, but I can understand that because I was the same way. ..."
"You have to check yourself. You can't let it all hang out like you're talking to your buddies over a beer. You have to know the right time for wise-cracks. But the most important thing is telling people what happened. ..."
"I have problems with those instant replays. All of a sudden they come on, and I say. 'Isn't that nice?' NBC wants me to be a little more technical during the replays." (13)
Several years later she said, "When you're a player, you're just playing points and relying a lot on instinct. You don't think that much. Tennis players turn their brain off a lot. Then, all of a sudden, you're an analyst and you have to comment on almost every point, on the strategy and what people are thinking. Now, when I play, I'm terrible, because I think too much. " (14)