Blog 2

Throughout my years as a sports journalism student I have covered a variety of sporting events in person. These have been mainly limited to league football games, with the wider context surrounding the game revolving around a league table. However, the Hockey World Cup Qualifiers has given me an experience I have not had before, which is covering a live, tournament-based event spanning multiple days. This has made me realise which area of sports journalism I am most fond of, which is live coverage. I say this because, particularly with these qualifiers, Hockey fans from across the globe have been checking scores and reading coverage, eagerly hoping that the results have good implications for their nation. With this qualifier event, it feels as though my reporting and coverage has been a small part of something a lot grander in scale than what I have become used to. It gives each tweet, interview, or match report an extra layer of relevance and importance, as everything is being reported in real time and has instant implications for the world of international hockey. Whilst I still appreciate that there are many types of sports journalism which share equal importance, such as retrospective pieces, in-depth interviews and opinion pieces, I feel that covering a live sporting event is much more enjoyable and feels more rewarding than any of the aforementioned story types which I have grown accustomed to whilst partaking in this course. Especially when considering the scale of the impact an event like the Hockey World Cup Qualifiers can have, it makes me feel as though I am working towards something bigger with a greater purpose than if I were to write a retrospective opinion piece on a topic which is not happening in real-time. As I said, this does not mean I am undermining the importance of those pieces, however it means that I have found a media type which I could get more fulfilment out of, which is important to me.