Category: BRE News Opinions

I learnt a lot after my first two MMA events that I worked in 2021. It was great experience and the feedback I’ve gotten made the work I did at the event I worked in March of 2022 so much better.

The first two events I did, I sat there, I watched the fights, I made notes on them all, who I thought would be a fighter to keep an eye on, make sure I had enough information to write a piece or two on the event and its fighters.

However, after all the feedback I’ve had, I know that I could have been doing so much more and truly taking advantage. Doing more. That’s why for the next event, myself and my colleague conducted several live interviews, recorded snippets of the fights, ran the site social media and got a lot more stories out there.

After a lot of the fights we approached the winners and asked if we could get a quick interview with them. Those, along with the video clips I recorded on the night were then made into a post-fight video uploaded to the site Youtube channel which showcased all our work from the night. As seen here:

We thought about more of the pieces that we could get on the night and got them out for everyone, we were active, we were always looking for something that could help us.

“Never stop moving” was a good bit of feedback I got which told me that if you keep moving, you can find even more stories, or you’ll run into someone with something you need.

Running the social media on the night too was a great learning experience. The feedback I got on that was all promising, I kept it consistent, kept the layout of the posts the same and provided content that I, as a fan, would want to be seeing.

Whenever I report on my next one, I’ll make sure to try and go the extra mile once again.

Here’s something I didn’t really know about before being told about it in some of my work’s feedback. You can write your stories and share them on your social media pages all well and good but you could truly boost numbers if you take proper care of the SEO.

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation and it is the process of improving the quality and quantity of website traffic to a website or a web page from search engines.

After writing a few stories I was reminded to start taking advantage of the SEO. At the bottom of the work you upload to the dashboard, it will offer you the chance to review the readability of your writing and may suggest you change things like, shortening sentences, improving grammar and ultimately helping to make your work flow better.

As well as this, you can also change and improve the SEO. This is how your story will be searched for online. What comes up when someone finds the story, what exactly they are seeing. Here’s an example of what comes up.

So, you are able to alter the slug, keyphrase and meta description, all things that are going to help you gain greater views on your story. It also analyses what you put to ensure that they are reliable.

It has a green, amber and red system to tell you when the readability and the SEO is too a good level and after some feedback I will always make sure that both of mine are green.

Little things like this have improved my writing skills and encourage me to think more about my work. It seems that not every site allows you to do this but I do believe it is a very useful tool.

During my time working with Combat Sports UK/Overtime Heroics, I’ve been able to speak with some of the countries best fighters. I’ve interviewed a number of fighters for the website and it’s fair to say I have developed a range of different skills as a result.

Interviewing is something I enjoy. It is something I want to be doing throughout my career. Therefore, I need to ensure that I am always on top of my game whenever I am interviewing somebody.

There are several different skills that you need, however, for me, my editors and colleagues believe that the skills I have had to develop most over the last few months have specifically been: my researching and my cognitive response skills.

Firstly, my research. Of course I research when I do my interviews, you must if you are to prepare good questions and be ready for whatever may come up. But, I’ve been told there are levels to this. You can do a quick google search and find all the basics that you need, or you can take that one step further.

This can be mean, checking out the interviewees social media pages, delving deeper into their google searches and finding out more about them from things they used to do in the past. I’m always surprised how much more you can find out about a person when you get all-out with the research that you do.

For example, if I am speaking with a fighter who has a bout coming up in the next few weeks, I’ll go back and look at who they’ve already fought and how those fights went.

If I see that a fighter has beaten someone who has since gone on to be a world champion, then I know just how good my interviewee must be. You can find out about the fighter but finding out about the fighters that they have already fought is now a necessity.

Because my knowledge of the sport and its combatants has grown so much over the past couple of years, I understand the sort of things I must look for when I am researching a fighter or a promoter.

The other skill was my cognitive response skills. Listening to what my interviewee is saying and responding to it. If I hear them say something that I did not expect, nor plan for then responding to that in the correct manner is really important.

You could a story just from their response that you least expected. But, it’s how you look at that and fully appreciate it in a way that you can get a thorough follow up.

Since this feedback I have taken it all onboard and am now a more confidence and arguably more skilled interviewer.

During my placement with Overtime Heroics/Combat Sports UK, one of the first pieces of advice/feedback that I received was about taking full advantage of my social media platforms.

Particularly towards the start of my work with the site, I was mainly writing stories for them to share on their site and although they obviously share them on their socials, they naturally expect the writer, in this case, me, to share them just the same.

This means that once the story goes live on the site and is posted on the site’s Twitter/Facebook and Instagram, I am expected to share it everywhere too. Get as many eyes on the work as possible.

I will usually quote retweet their original tweet with a little message teasing the contents of the story. I’ve kept this strategy to this day. Since receiving this feedback I have also gotten into the habit of sharing my work to my Instagram.

The reason that journalists get views on their work is all down to their promotion of that work and social media is pivotal to this.

I have also noticed just how important to support your colleagues in the industry. There are approximately 20/30 writers working with the team and we are naturally expected to share each others work too.

If you share/like/comment on another’s work, will usually result in them returning that favour, which means your work gets some more traction. Having a good relationship with the team has been really helpful for growing my brand and my social platforms.

Since my start with the site and since I began sharing my work, to the extent that I do now, my followers and views have gone up a great deal. I’ve grown a great many contacts that I work with regularly also.

The site is split into departments and of course I work with the combat sports department but the entire team and their socials have grown a lot and it’s given me some great experience so far.

Another thing that is helpful is sharing to specifically targeted groups on Facebook. ‘Welsh MMA’ and ‘Welsh Fight News’ are the best ones to share my stories to as they are regularly viewed by the exact set of viewers that I intended.

There’s logic to every share nowadays.

On the 8th March every year, the world recognises the achievements of all women and is a focal point in the history of the women’s rights movement.

The day’s history goes back to the start of the 20th century, where the Socialist Party of America organised a ‘Women’s Day’ on February 28th 1909. After women gained suffrage in Soviet Russia in 1917, March 8th became a national holiday there.

It wasn’t until 1967 that the day was adapted by feminist movements and it was then in 1977 that the United Nations began celebrating the day.

Ultimately, the day exists to recognise and celebrate how far women have come in society, politics and economics. However, it also used to highlight the inequality that does still exist.

What role does sport play in International Women’s Day? Well, again it is for the same reason that the day exists in the first place, to recognise the achievements women have made.

Many will argue it is also the day used to try and tackle the stigmas that face women’s sport, as well as, changing the perception some people may still have. In the aftermath of the pandemic, the message of the day has never been more relevant.

All people in sport will train potentially their whole lives to achieve their goals and succeed and so today, we take time to recognise women everywhere.

Serena Williams: winner of 23 tennis grand slams.

Megan Rapinoe: World Cup winner and named best female footballer in the world in 2019.

Jessica Ennis-Hill: Olympic gold-medallist heptathlete.

Amanda Nunes: two-weight UFC world champion of the world.

A campaign launched in Australia in 2018 to get more girls and women involved in cricket used the importance of today to highlight how, ‘When equality exists in sport, gender parity is more likely to prevail in communities overall. When women are recognised and treated as equals in sport – both on and off the field – this momentum fuels wider change’.

The campaign was excellent in highlighting how not just in cricket, and not just in Australia, calls for women to get involved in more and more support will only boost the standing of women’s sport.

The idea behind the campaign was to inspire and so the website also included a few motivational videos such as:

This is just one example of how International Women’s Day has been effectively and appropriately celebrated and used to promote women’s sports and encourage young girls to fall in love with sport like so many of us are.

#PressForProgress

Former World Number 1 tennis player, Billie Jean King, believes things will get better in the ‘battle’ for equality and inclusivity in, not just tennis, but the world of sport. Speaking in a TED talk in 2015, King stated how she has used her platform, as one of the greatest female tennis players of all time, to fight to make sure women are given the same opportunities that men are given.

King won 39 Grand Slam Titles; 12 in singles, 16 in women’s doubles and 11 in mixed doubles. In 1973, at age 29, she won the “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match against the 55-year-old Bobby Riggs. During the TED talk, she looked back on the time President Obama explained how watching that match and seeing the work she has done has shaped the way he has raised his two daughters.

Looking back at where she started, King reminisced about when she first began tennis at age 11. “Everyone was wearing white and I asked myself, where is everyone?”. The number of girls playing the sport did not seem right. Then at age 12, King vowed that if she ever made something of herself in the sport, she would use her platform to become a pioneer for equality and social justice.

In 2014, she founded the ‘Billie Jean King Leadership Initiative’, a non-profit organisation created to address the critical issues required to achieve inclusive leadership that will lead to significant changes in how women and men operate in the world.

When asked about whether or not she believes that the millennials of today will, or will not, carry on her legacy she answered: “Every generation has a chance to make the next one better” and she believes they will continue her work towards an inclusive world.

Five years on from the TED talk and the former number one is still fighting for men and women to be seen as equal. In an interview with the Guardian, she said, “I want girls to go after money. It gives empowerment”. The famous FED cup has now been rebranded the Billie Jean King Cup and the winners of the competition will earn the same as the winners of the men’s Davis Cup.

She has helped make so many young girls, hoping to become female sports stars, feel as if they will be seen as simply, sports stars.

What do I want to achieve in the industry of Sports Journalism?

I am hardworking, passionate and excited about where my future as a sports journalist will go.

I like all things sport.

I want to show that I can be one of the best journalists out there.

I will do everything I can to achieve all my aims for my career.

I need to remember what my goals are and remember exactly how to achieve them all.

I feel positive about how everything is going so far and believe everything is going to plan.

I see myself on a television screen reporting on the biggest sporting events in the world.

I aim to be the best sports journalist I can be.

Manifesto:

REMEMBER WHERE YOU WANT TO END UP.

YOU’RE HARDWORKING, YOU’RE EXCITED AND YOU’RE READY TO ACHIEVE ALL YOUR GOALS.

IT DOESN’T HAPPEN OVERNIGHT BUT THOSE NIGHTS ARE STILL IMPORTANT.

USE THE TOOLS AROUND YOU, SOCIAL MEDIA, THE COURSE, YOUR CONTACTS. SHOW WHAT YOU CAN DO.

PRACTISE IN FRONT OF A CAMERA, THE MORE PRACTISE, THE MORE NATURAL YOU’LL BE WHEN YOU EVENTUALLY GET THERE.

WRITE, WRITE AND KEEP WRITING. GET IT DONE.

SWOT Analysis:

Strengths: I work well in groups and have good communication skills. I know sport, not just the ones that I sometimes focus on. My writing is to a good level and reads well. I’m becoming more and more use to speaking in front of a camera. I’m focused on my aims. I get my work done on time and don’t leave things to the last minute. I keep up to date with the news regularly and focus on how the professional journalists have written each piece.

Weaknesses: I need to do more work in front of a camera to become a lot more natural. I need to start doing more in my own time to show my commitment to the industry. I need to start showing through my articles that I can write about more than just football and boxing. I need to start utilising my social media platforms to start building a following and gaining more contacts.

Opportunities: There’s an opportunity to become one of the best sports journalists out there. The more practise in front of a camera, the more prepared you will be. The course helps you prepare for several different careers in the world of journalism, not just broadcasting and the written work. There’s a chance to build a big following on twitter and other social media platforms.

Threats: There are a great number of other people trying to achieve the same goals as me at the same time, there will always be people that you have to prove that you are better than but remembering that we all want to succeed. Trolls on social media are always going to exist. Sometimes your work doesn’t get the reception you want it to. COVID-19.