Amy Farnum Novin
NCAA.com
Who knows more about student-athletes than actual student-athletes? So, when Western Carolina University was looking for a way to spice up their weekly athletics podcasts this summer, they went directly to the source of all the action.
WCU’s Director of Media Relations Denise Gideon knew it would be difficult to generate original content during the summer, so she created the Student-Athlete Roundtable Podcast ? a weekly discussion between various student-athletes about all different topics. The podcast ? Catamount Tracks -- is available through the WCU athletics iTunes store.
Gideon approached women’s basketball player Heather Swayne to host the show after getting to know her through the team’s travels.
“Heather has a very out-going nature and as the new Vice President of SAAC (Student-Athlete Advisory Committee) she has contact with almost all the student-athletes on campus,” said Gideon. “She was going to be here all summer so I asked for her assistance.”
Swayne agreed, and immediately knew that she would ask teammate and roommate Jessica Jackson to be her co-host.
“Jessica and I both want to be coaches, and a lot of times that we sit around and talk, we’re talking about basketball and sports,” said Swayne. “The stuff we talk about on the podcast is stuff we talk about anyway. It’s good that we know how the other is going to react in different situations.”
Swayne and Jackson are responsible for scheduling all of the guests and doing all of the research for the podcast interviews, which conclude with a roundtable discussion between all of the week’s participating student-athletes.
“We really want to sound as natural as possible,” said Jackson. “We don’t want it to sound like an interview ? we want it to be more of a discussion with people from other sports. We’re learning how to feed off an answer to get to another question ? it is fun.”
The experience the pair is gaining is invaluable, although broadcast journalism is neither student-athlete’s field of study. Jackson is a marketing major, while Swayne is studying sports management.
“It’s good to be able to talk and elaborate on different questions, and basically run the show,” said Jackson.
They also know that the experience could be helpful in their future careers as coaches since the job is always subject to media exposure.
“A big part of coaching is community relations and being personable and being able to interview well and getting across to the public what your team is doing,” said Swayne. “I think it’s preparing us for that because I don’t think it’s something people do naturally.”
WCU plans to continue the podcast throughout the summer into the fall. During the season, the show will rotate between a student-athlete roundtable and women’s basketball roundtable as Swayne and Jackson will bring their coaches and teammates in as guests. There is also a possibility of doing a live radio show on the campus station, and then posting it to the web site immediately following, in order to allow fan participation with questions and callers.
“It is a great way to keep new content on our website and also a chance for the student-athletes to claim some ownership in the podcasts we do,” said Gideon.
To access the weekly podcast, go to www.catamountsports.com and click on the Catamount Tracks podcast icon.