By Rhys James, Second year sports journalism student
SINCE joining the course in September 2020, I have watched myself grow as both a person and a journalist.
It’s the comprehensiveness of the course which has stood out to me the most. With the skills you learn, you could realistically work in most areas of sports media.
You could become a traditional sports journalist working for a newspaper and its website. Yet you will also acquire the skills but necessary to become a media manager, sports photographer or a graphic designer working at a club, for example. There are multiple examples of graduates who have done that in the past.
Among the range of skills I’ve learned and developed while being on the course, perhaps the most important for me has been communication.
When I began, speaking confidently and articulating myself well on a podcast, for example, would have been something I would have found extremely difficult.
But through constant exposure to having to produce them as part of assignments, as well as other things like interviewing, I’ve seen my speaking skills grow and improvement significantly. With communication being an important life skill as well as an important professional skill, I’m really happy with that.
The facilities available on the atrium campus in central Cardiff where the course is based are just fantastic.
They allow you to get experience using the same advanced equipment a professional would use. I’m talking about recording studios, cameras, microphones and advanced editing software. We get to use these whenever we need to and it really does enrich the learning experience.
A lot of people talk about the importance of work experience when trying to get a job, especially a first job. This is another area of real strength in this course.
It requires you to get a placement in industry in order to progress to the third year and in then to graduate. The course lecturers, who have tonnes of contacts in the sporting world, are very helpful in helping you find somewhere to taste life in the real world of sports journalism, whether it’s the media department of a club or a media organisation like BBC Wales or WalesOnline.
As a student going into my third year this coming September, my placement is at Welsh third division side Newport City FC, working as a media officer. One of the lecturers on the course was contacted about opportunities being available, so all I had to do was drop them an email and go to meet them, and it was sorted.
The experience I’ve gained there has been really valuable. My job has been to do what I can to improve the club’s media department. This includes interviewing the manager after games, running the social media accounts and posting content, and also producing graphic design – all of which we’ve learned about on the course.
I’ve been really happy with the progress I’ve made in the last two years. Of course, I’ve had to work hard, but this course is one which rewards any student who is prepared to do that.
From my experience so far, I would definitely recommend it to anyone considering a career in sports media.