Coordinating with writers and setting up a new layout every week can be quite stressful for editors in The Montclarion office.
As the sports editor, I spend a lot of time corresponding with the Montclair State University athletic department; between contacting athletes and coaches and interviewing them at games, a lot goes on every week to get the final product.
That being said, it is very comforting to know that the Montclair State sports teams and athletes are almost always cooperative when it comes to covering their games and profiles.
When I first started writing for the sports section in Sept. 2018, I was hesitant to approach players and coaches after games to conduct interviews. This is an issue that many new writers run into, and I found myself right in the middle of it.
My first article was a recap of a women’s volleyball game. I was confident in how to write about the game, but I was unsure of how to approach the physical interviewing process. I am a shy person, so it was especially intimidating.
To my relief, Mike Scala, the director of sports publicity for Montclair State Athletics, was nothing but cordial toward me as I approached him about setting up an interview with women’s volleyball head coach Mike Stawinski and one of his players.
Stawinski was equally as approachable; he answered all of my questions with a smile, and in great depth. It was immediately apparent that he enjoyed the interview and loved talking about his team.
This has been the case with almost every Montclair State sports team that I have come into contact with. Athletes are almost always cooperative when it comes to writing a profile on them. They love sharing their story with their fellow Red Hawks, as well as with their family and friends.
They also love talking about themselves and always agree to being interviewed after games. Coaches also give extensive information on their players, including specifics on how they play and what they mean to the team. I rarely have a bad experience when it comes to collecting information.
The consistently cooperative nature of the sports teams helps writers to compose great articles, and is a main reason why I have been able to write so many of them. Connecting with athletes is always important as well, because often times they give you new ideas for articles.
For example, I was writing a profile on who I believed were twins that both played on the men’s lacrosse team. After interviewing them, I learned that they were actually triplets and all three siblings were students at Montclair State, which turned into a great story.
Another time, I was informed by a player on the men’s ice hockey team him and another teammate made the All-Star game, so I wrote a feature article on them.
It would not be possible to produce all of these articles without the strong communication that The Montclarion has with Montclair State Athletics.
