With news reports recently telling us that young people ‘feel they have nothing to live for‘, with regards to a lack of jobs and opportunities available to young people in the United Kingdom, I decided to take a look at one option that many young people are flocking to do, taking a gap year. Continue reading
The final day of experience I got was on well-established website Debatable Decisions, doing something completely different, looking at refereeing decisions, and deciding whether they were correct or not. This meant concentrating on decisions that have been made, and looking at them a few times in order to make sure we were correct and confident in our view of the foul.
I felt accountable to all the people who viewed our decisions, and so far, I’ve had no complaints yet. I’m hoping that guesting on this week’s decisions means I can get onto the panel for next season. Here’s the link:
http://www.debatabledecisions.com/debatable-decisions-week-36
Overall, my 20 days of experience wasn’t as great as I had hoped. Many newspapers didn’t get back to me, and I chose some places that would have been difficult to actually achieve (Such as Chelsea TV or Chelsea Football Club itself). However, with two days at BBC Radio 5Live coming up, I feel along with The Daily Telegraph I have got into two well-established parts of the media industry, which I’m pleased with. I have learnt many valuable skills such as transcripting live interviews, talking to other professionals, and talking to others on the phone, and image sourcing.
However I couldn’t get 20 days work experience so had to rely on blogging, though that has given me new contacts in the blogging world, and when the football season starts again, I’ll be better equipped to make my mark on the online blogging world.
One of the final pieces I did was a bit of build up towards the FA Cup Final between Chelsea and Liverpool, for my place of work, Coventry University Sport & Recreation Centre. I looked at the history of the teams, and it was nothing too taxing, but I thought it was good work nonetheless, trying to inform those about the history of both clubs. Unfortunately I wasn’t at work enough to do anymore, but here are the pieces that I did, both on the history of each club:
Chelsea – https://callummaclean.wordpress.com/2012/05/04/chelsea-a-brief-history/
Liverpool – https://callummaclean.wordpress.com/2012/05/04/liverpool-a-brief-history/
Days 15-18 were at The East Anglian Times. Another week in an office, and although it wasn’t as big as working at the Daily Telegraph (Just three of us in an office), I was given a lot more responsibility. I had pieces published in the paper, with my name on them, as well as editing pieces for the free Coastal Advertiser that goes out weekly.
Unlike at The Daily Telegraph, all of my pieces got into the paper, to which I, (And my parents) were very pleased with. I enjoyed the fact that I was given responsibility of editing, in such a short time, made me feel that they were confident of my ability. I was shown how to use the editing software, so I could just write straight onto the page, making sure that it fitted, before filing it.
Although that I didn’t get to do any sports work as I was based in the wrong office (The sports office was in Ipswich and I was in Framlingham), or get to go out to report anywhere, I still had an enjoyable time getting involved in local news, ringing up about allotments, and the upcoming hosepipe ban, which was quite big news for the rural area.
Both Craig and Tom were pleased with my work and welcomed me back to come in over the summer to do more work for them, so I must have made a good impression. I will no doubt be taking them up on their offer.
I went back to blogging for Lovely Left Foot, with another piece published on April 2 2012. This time it was in defence of Chelsea captain, John Terry. It was a response to a view that was being passed around the media and social networking sites, that John Terry was in fact Chelsea’s manager, and not Roberto Di Matteo, who was merely a face for it all, after John Terry was subbed off against Napoli and was put ordering about from the sidelines.
I rubbished those opinions in defence of the captain, but then looked at how he could be the Chelsea manager in the future. It got good feedback on Twitter, and the editor, Simon Furnivall, really enjoyed the piece. It was the first time that I had spoke about the club that I support in such a passionate way, whilst looking at pros and cons, and something I hadn’t seen anywhere else before, either in the papers or on the radio.
Here’s the link:
http://lovelyleftfoot.com/2012/04/02/john-terry-chelsea-manager/
On the 12th March I got a piece published in the Coventry Telegraph. I had been speaking with the editor, Alan Harris, as part of a partnership with the paper and the University, in order to get pieces published in the paper. I only managed to get the one piece done for them, however, and it was an interview with local band ‘The Espadrilles’.
I was meant to go and meet them to interview them, but unfortunately that morning I slipped over and pulled something in my leg, making it difficult to walk, so I had to email my questions over to them. Once I had got the answers back, I asked for some pictures (As I would have got some of them rehearsing had I been there) and they told me to get them off their Facebook page.
Ever since, they haven’t got back to me, and haven’t heard from them at all. However, Alan said it was a good piece and he enjoyed reading it. Even though I am the first to admit I could have done a bit more for them, I’m hoping to get more done for them in the future.
For my 12th day of experience, I took part in another podcast on Lovely Left Foot, this time talking about the following subjects:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Again, more research was done for this, and we chatted for the best part of an hour and a half again, with all people on the pod making some valid points.
Here’s the link:
My 11th day featured another blog piece for Lovely Left Foot – This time on whether short-term loan moves from the MLS (Major League Soccer) in America to the Premier League in the off-season helped the teams that received the players in the push towards the end of the season. This was almost like another look at teams’ forms, and required a lot more research, and helped me in making new contacts on Twitter regarding American football, something that I had never looked at before.
Link:
http://lovelyleftfoot.com/2012/02/10/short-term-moves-across-the-pond/
On January 24, I had my second piece published for Lovely Left Foot, and whether Martin O’Neill had turn around Sunderland’s form. For this I had to look at results before he came in, and results since he came in, and reasons as to why those results might have happened. It was another look at form, something that I enjoyed doing as I like to research results and look for reasons why such results might happen.
Here’s the link:
http://lovelyleftfoot.com/2012/01/24/oneill-working-wonders-at-sunderland/
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