Credentials Only

Julia Fry has experienced sport in some incredible locations around the world, but she’s about to take that to a new level with her work in the new motorsport series Extreme E.

Due to launch in 2021, the circuit will hold electric off-road rally races in areas of the world impacted by climate change, ranging from Greenland to the Amazon. 

Julia shares how, as Head of Communications for Extreme E, she and her team have been working  to keep content flowing in the two years before the organization’s first race. She also describes some of her previous work, including an around the world boat race, several marathons and Olympic Games. 

Blair Henley grew up in tennis and has stayed involved in the sport with a career as a host, writer and reporter. 

Today she works for professional tournaments to provide a variety of services, including serving as on-court emcee, corporate event hosting and social media content production. Each facet of her work requires a unique approach, from following the twists and turns of a match before conducting an interview in front of a packed stadium to building up trust with athletes to get them to answer sometimes uncomfortable questions. 

Blair explains how she approaches these different roles as well as how she pursues new gigs and organizes her work life as a freelancer. 

Stephen Duckitt describes it as a blank canvas on which to make art as he works to develop the newly formed World Table Tennis as its Head of Event Strategy. 

With a remit to operate a tour of events around the world, Stephen is involved as the start-up determines everything from rankings to optimal seating manifests at its events during this phase of its infancy. 

Stephen, whose background is in professional tennis in communications and as tournament director of events in China, shares both the opportunities and the obstacles that come with creating a brand-new organization. 

Jason Beck has a background in newspapers but for more than two decades, he has been an online journalist, including nearly 20 seasons covering the Detroit Tigers for MLB.com.

With 162 games over six months, plus additional weeks with spring training, free agency, and like this season, a managerial search, there’s plenty to cover on the beat. 

With that much action, there are also a lot of data points and storylines to keep track of, to say nothing of expenses. Jason shares how he manages that load, reveals his favorite players and managers to get quotes from during his time in baseball and shares what rule change he would like to see brought into the league

Nick Hessler treats each season as its own storybook in his role as Digital Strategist and Social Media Community Manager for the NCAA.

Working for the governing body of collegiate athletics, Nick considers the role of his team to be the voice of all 352 teams across a variety of sports.

In addition to sharing the process his team using to develop their approach to each season, Nick also describes how the NCAA works to stay on top of all the action that happens on any given night across the country and gives insights into how his team analyses their work at the end of a season.

Isabelle McLemore has spent much of her career working with individual athletes, from professional tennis to UFC to now working as the Director of Communications at USA Swimming.

Similar to her previous time with Tennis Canada, her work at USA Swimming involves not only working with top-flight athletes but also supporting grassroots participation in the sport which require distinct PR strategies.

Isabelle shares insights from her public relations roles, from working with star athletes to managing communications efforts with executives. She also recalls her experience working for the Canadian Olympic Committee when her homeland hosted the 2010 Games in Vancouver.

"If you’re standing next to 50 other photographers, why are the people that are hiring you paying you what they’re paying you versus the 50 other people standing next to you?"

Ben Solomon has built a career as a sports photographer by taking advantage of any opportunity he has been given.

He now shoots not only for media outlets, but also gets corporate work and serves for the official photographer at various events. In this episode, Ben shares how he goes about filling his calendar to keep a steady stream of work throughout the year.

Ben also describes how to make photography into a business and how to find the best image when one of many shooting an event. He also shares advice about building a portfolio for people who aspire to get into sports photography.

Sandy Brown just led Major League Lacrosse through an eight-day, single venue season during the Coronavirus pandemic.

The commissioner shares from his experience of working with players, coaches, owners, sponsors, broadcasters and government officials to develop protocols to be able to carryout the season.

Sandy also discusses the value of collaborating with other professional leagues to help find the path forward during this unprecedented year, and how some change brought about by the virus may well stay with MLL in the future.

Mike Mulcahey spends a lot of time getting ready for game days, but as the assistant athletic trainer at the University of Dayton, he definitely prefers to not be pressed into duty during the action.

From prehab to rehab and recovery, Mike prioritizes education and communication to develop trust with the athletes in his care. He also brings his unique brand of humor into the training room in an effort put the players at ease.

Mike discusses his approach to his job in this episode, as well as his work with the NFL as a spotter and the heartbreak for the Dayton Flyers when their historic season was cut short by COVID.

Dr. Kristi Sweeney has a unique lens on the sports world as the program director and a professor of Sport Management at the University of North Florida. 

Because sports is ever-changing, so, too, is Dr. Sweeney’s curriculum. And the COVID pandemic has certainly raised a number of issues within sports, and she shares her view on many of those topics in this episode. That discussion ranges from the pro games all the way to youth sports. 

Dr. Sweeney also discusses her work as a professor as well as what she views as the benefits of pursuing a degree in sports and how to maximize that experience when transitioning into the profession.