Sports Journalism

For my entire life, sports have been one of the things I love most. From a young age, I have always known that I wanted to be involved in the sports journalism field, and I am incredibly grateful that I am now able to pursue that passion. Filming at sporting events has always been one of my favorite parts of journalism, along with the long hours spent editing. I have been able to grow and learn so much through writing, designing, editing, filming, and so much more. Each game, story, and project has strengthened my passion for this field and confirmed that this is exactly what I want to do.

These pictures represent the passion I have for sports that has been evident in my life for many years.

The Season

My favorite thing that I get to lead in production is The Season. When I made my first episode freshman year, I had no idea how many amazing opportunities that it would bring me. I made it my goal last year to try and make an episode for as many sports as I could. I've been able to step outside of my comfort zone and cover teams that have never had any coverage since. I truly love what I'm able to do with The Season and how I am able to reach people by it. Listed below are some of my favorite episodes that I have created.

This episode was our seventh of the year and was especially meaningful to create. The Chargers faced Germantown in an all-out battle that required more than 48 minutes to decide a winner, sending the game into overtime. Late in the game, Oxford’s starting quarterback went down, allowing a younger player to step up in the biggest moment. He handled the pressure and helped lead the Chargers to a hard-fought and memorable victory.

This episode features the OHS girls basketball team as they prepare for the postseason. This team was very successful this year after many years of struggle. This episode was so fun to make as it was the first ever episode of The Season for the girls program. It highlights the hard work, resilience, and growth that have helped define their turnaround last season.

This episode follows the Oxford High School dance team and their journey to the state competition. I really enjoyed creating this episode because of how different it is than other episodes. It's so special to see a team, like our dance team, recieve recognition for their hard work that they normally wouldn't get. This team worked so hard to win a state championship for our school, so getting to cover that was really cool.

This episode showcases our baseball team's sereis against our crosstown rival, Lafayette. This episode was especially unique as it is one of the few episodes I've made that feature losses. However, the story of this team bouncing back from defeat was an important momument that needed to be told. The team went on to win many games following the sereis, greatly due to the momentum gained after playing Lafayette.

All episodes of The Season can be found on YouTube @Oxford High Sports Productions

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC40-Ud8l84-X-t-5M29wLzw

Video Boards

Beginning this season, all OSD athletic facilities installed videos boards (jumbotrons). I was honored with the opportunity to create all graphics and content for every sport. This opened up doors that would have never been opened to me and allowed me to grow more than ever before. There was too much content to narrow down to just a few, so I listed some of my favorites bellow.

playoffs intro R2.mp4

FB Playoff Intro Video: The OHS football team secured the number one seed allowing them to host two playoff games. I decided to make new videos for those games, this one being the first. This one was a crowd favorite as the song used in the video was a popular remix from the hit show "Stranger Things."

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BSB Walk-Up Video: Before each baseball player's stats are displayed, these videos play as they walk up to the plate with their song playing over the speakers. I love how these videos display the players' names very big, allowing the fans to see who is coming into the game to hit or pitch.

BSB Stats/Player Graphic: On our baseball jumbotron, we showcase each of our players by having their name, picture, and stats from the season while they are at the plate or pitching. The graphics I made for this season have the perfect mix of design elements and simplicity, making it easy to read from the stands.

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VB Intro Video: To get the fans and players excited for the game, an intro video is played before the beginning of the game. This video is one I made for our volleyball team that was played each game. This was the first video I made this year, and it layed a great foundation for the rest of the year.

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Girls BBall Starting Lineups: While our basketball starting lineups are annouced before the beginning of the game, their video/motion graphic is played on the screen while they run onto the court. I was able to make these videos to match the graphic package I made for other times during the game.

starting lineups Tupelo.mp4

FB Starting Lineups: 15 minutes from kickoff, the starting lineups for the OHS football team are annouced in the stadium with these videos. My favorite thing about these videos is how each player gets to introduce themselves. This helps the players connect more with the fans as they're seen up on the big screen before the game.

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FB Countdown to Kickoff: The clock counts down from 99 minutes before each OHS football game. When the clock hits one minute, this video gets the fans excited for the game while counting down with the clock. It was important making this video excatly one minute long so when the video is finished, the horn sounds and the game begins.

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FB Region-Play Intro video: To help continue to gets the fans hyped up game after game, I wanted to make sure the videos played in the stadium stayed fresh throughout the season. This video was the third variation of the intro video that gets played before the players run out onto the field. I really love this video and how well it showcases our team.

Sports Social Media Content

While we like to showcase all things at OHS on our social media accounts, many posts are related to OHS athletics. As our social media chair, part of my job is creating and editing sports content to post for our followers. I also run social media accounts for our baseball, football and cross country team. Listed below are examples of content I have created for our social media.

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Cheer Nationals Hype Video: I created this video for our OHS cheerleading team to get them excited for their second year back at the UCA national competition. I had been saving this remixed song all year for something special, and this hype video was the perfect fit.

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FB North Half Teaser: For each playoff game our football team played this season, I created a short teaser video to encourage fans to come and support our team. This one was my favorite as it was a trending song and video style at the time of the game. Because of that, I was able to reach more people that I would've otherwise expected.

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At Last - Football Returns: This was a video I made for our football team's social media after their jamboree. I wanted to help build the anticipation for the season while also trying to do something different than a regular hype video, and I think this video did exactly that.

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THE Oxford Football Edit: This video was posted following a trending song from this past summer. To capitalize on the trending song, I used it to creating a trailer for the football season. Seeing the reaction from our community and how much they loved the video is so rewarding and makes all the long hours worth it.

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1K Career Points Promo: To recognize an amazing accomplishment by one of our girls basketball players, I put together this video to celebrate her hitting 1,000 points. Not only was this video posted on social media, but also played at the basketball game where she was recognized.

playoff hype social cut.mp4

BSB Playoff Hype Video: Before our baseball team's first playoff game last year, Ole Miss baseball head coach Mike Bianco came and spoke to the team. I was able to come and cover the speech for The Season, but I decided to use a part of the speech in the hype video. This got our players and our fans ready to win.

Sports Articles

Crosstown Classic Rivalry: This year, Oxford's crosstown rival, Lafayette, decided that following this academic year they will be cancelling all future contests between the two schools. This raised lots of controversy in the Oxford community as the rivalry acted as such a big event for both Oxford and Lafayette fans. To capitalize on this outrage from fans, I quickly began writing an opinion on the controversy. It's rare that I am able to write opinions for the newspaper, but because of how passionate I was about the topic, I picked up the story. I recieved many compliments, and a few complaints, because of the story and I am very happy on how well the story reached the community.

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