Spring Training Reflection

The Grapefruit Gators take Spring Training was an awesome hands-on industry experience. Additionally, I think my coverage of Spring Training went smoothly.

The first day I covered the Braves and I did a game recap and live-tweeted. I also had locker room access, which was a cool experience. One of their PR people asked if I had an interview already set up, which I didn’t, so maybe that could be something to do in the future.

The second day I got to call the Tampa Bay Rays vs Baltimore Orioles game with Skyler Lebron. I learned a lot of little things to work on in my play calling that I think will really help me in future broadcasts. Also, the Rays staff was so nice and really wanted to give Skyler and I advice.

The third day I covered the Braves again, only this time I worked on a feature I had planned out Monday and I used sound from when I had press access the first day.

The fourth day I went down the Lakeland to cover the Detroit Tigers vs Mets game. I was hoping one of the Gators would be playing and I would do a feature story on them, however, none of them played (except Peter Alonso right at the end). I did notice that there was a ton of Tim Tebow jerseys around the park even though Tebow wasn’t there, so I decided to do a story on Tebow fans. It was nice having Alaina Thames with me because I always work better with someone there even if their not doing anything. I also brought my nice camera which I think made a big difference in the picture quality and made me look a little more official.

Getting to work with the other Grapefruit Gators was nice because a lot of them I didn’t know prior to the class and I got closer to the ones I had known. Also, going to Disney was an epic way to end the week with everyone (or at least the ones that went #DisneyGang).