Welcome to Season 1, Episode 2 of Growing the Game!
In this episode, I chat with Seb Visser, press officer for #TeamKingdomNL and digital marketer for the Royal Netherlands Baseball and Softball Federation.
Welcome to Season 1, Episode 1 of Growing the Game!
In this episode, I chat with Troy University women’s basketball assistant Neil Harrow, one of three Scotland natives coaching in NCAA basketball today.
Today, I chatted with the No. 7 power forward in the nation about how he’s holding up during quarantine, what he’s looking to improve, why his game translates well internationally, and some of the frontrunners in his college recruitment.
At The Basketball Embassy, we believe that we are all ambassadors—not only to the game of basketball, but to every label we fall under as individuals.
Every man and woman is an ambassador to the larger group of men and women, because every interaction with one leads to a perception of the group as a whole. Our Young Ambassador program strives to reach disadvantaged youth with life lessons like these in an environment where they’re most receptive: a basketball court.
The process of improving in both sports and life is a journey inward and outward. The drive and focus to work hard regardless of recognition or immediate results; the balance to manage swings of emotion; the confidence to take your next shot after missing your last—these are all internal skills. External skills deal with how we interact with people.
Listening to others and acknowledging them, using words of encouragement, receiving praise and criticism in stride, and showing respect to both teammates and opponents alike—these are vital external skills. And they’re not only vital on a basketball court; the relationships that exist with other players, coaches, and referees are mirrored in interactions with friends, family members, coworkers, and authority figures.
The sad truth is that great opportunities are rare for our disadvantaged youth. Our goal is to establish the best habits for our Young Ambassadors today, with the hope that they can take full advantage of every opportunity that comes their way in the future. The Young Ambassadors program is currently implemented in the San Antonio area with Haven For Hope, SAMMinistries, and SA Youth.
Click here to view a video highlighting a bit of what we do in the community.
Last week, I was privileged to work with The Basketball Embassy to implement a program we planned alongside World Learning and the U.S. Department of State Sports Diplomacy division over the last couple of months. In this program, we hosted 12 basketball coaches from Tunisia for a variety of learning sessions, workshops and tours to introduce them to American basketball culture and provide them with knowledge and resources to bring back to their country.
In addition to cultivating relationships with these wonderful people, I was privileged to meet with Fayçal Gouia, the Tunisian ambassador to the U.S., explore the nation’s capital, and give two presentations of my own on Effectively Evaluating Youth Basketball Players and Building Your Brand Through Social Media.
I can say without fear of contradiction this was the best work trip I’ve ever been on, and that’s saying something. I learned so much about Tunisian culture, their customs, and their glowing personalities. I’m not sure whether I’ll be able to attend the second installment of this program, which takes place in Tunisia, but I absolutely will find my way to visit these fine people in their homeland sooner rather than later.
Check out a few photos from the trip below:
My first presentation highlighted a variety of ways these coaches could identify and establish brands for their respective academies through a strong social media presence.
More pictures from my presentation.
Visiting the Tunisian Embassy wasn’t on the schedule, so it’s safe to say that I was underdressed when we got the chance to meet Fayçal Gouia, the Tunisian ambassador to the U.S. Either way, it was a fantastic experience. He talked to our group for about an hour about relations between our two nations, and we all brainstormed ways to strengthen the basketball scene in Tunisia. One of the great highlights of the trip, to be sure.
After meeting with former Georgetown basketball coach and current youth sports director at the YMCA in Silver Spring, MD, the group was itching to get some court time. Coach Reid was happy to accommodate us and we ran a few pickup games before heading back to D.C.
This is from my first presentation, but my second presentation was an interactive workshop teaching the coaches how to evaluate youth basketball players.
Part of the trip’s purpose was to expose the Tunisian coaches to American culture, so naturally we walked around the Washington Mall to sight-see some of the country’s most historic monuments. It was 100 degrees with a heat index of about 10,000, so by the time I climbed up the endless staircase that led to the Lincoln Memorial, I was ready to collapse. I managed to snap this photo before succumbing to utter heat exhaustion.
The group and I stayed at the dorm rooms at American University. This was often our meeting spot before we all hopped in our respective Ubers to head to our activities of the day.
Even after a full day, our group was eager to check out the night scene, and that we did. Here I’m pictured with Houria Mrad, a teacher of physical education and sports at the Mahdia Basketball Sports Academy., which she founded back in 2015. She’s one of the nicest people I have ever met!
The Washington Monument was amazing to see up close and even cooler to see at the footsteps of the Lincoln Memorial.
We were able to secure tickets to a WNBA game and stick around for the press conference as well as a quick autograph and photo session with some of the players.
I was 16 years old when I first started writing in a journalistic environment. It was only a high school newspaper, but I was proud of my accomplishment and deliriously eager to dive as deep into the business as I could.
It was at the same age I was first told the newspaper industry was not only dying, but well past the point of salvation. This was absolutely shocking to me. When I reflected on my upbringing, there was no way I could fathom a world without newspapers.
My mother was a part-time sports reporter for a local newspaper for much of my childhood and I had spent countless hours after school in a newsroom, soaking in the frantic yet calm environment and unknowingly laboring on the foundation of my future career.
I loved everything about it. At such a young age, I didn’t really know much about what was actually happening. I was aware of deadlines, but I never knew what would happen if they weren’t met. I just knew it was a big deal, and it added a level of excitement and wonder to the newsroom.
Above all, I cherished the people who worked there. I’ve been employed in a variety of fields during my relatively young career, but to this day, I can’t think of an atmosphere that felt more like a family than the one in that office so many years ago.
So when I first entered the newsroom as an aspiring professional, I didn’t just think those who proclaimed the industry was dying were wrong—I thought they were dumb.
Ah, 17-year old Zach. I almost forgot I was a Longhorn fan.
It’s rather fascinating to me, considering this was back in 2008 when the internet wasn’t the foundation of people’s lives like it is today. Sure, we logged onto Myspace and the early adopters were scoping out Facebook, but there was never an incessant need to be online. Moreover, attention spans were at least somewhat tenable and people could bear to read a 1,000-word story every once in a while.
As the years went by and major newspapers began to lay off reporters and photographers, I was forced to consider the possibility of the skeptics having predicted correctly all along. Newspapers and the organizations that owned them were struggling, but I wasn’t sure why. Was it simply the fact the content was distributed the old fashioned way?
That couldn’t be it. Think about it: if it were just the medium through which newspapers were published, that’d be an easy fix. They could just move their platforms online and ditch the hard copies. When all major newspapers created websites and charged subscription fees to readers, it didn’t solve the problem. They were still losing money and they’re still battling for the slimmest of profit margins today.
That leads us to the point of this post and to a question I’ve been asking myself a lot lately—is the written word dead? Or, more specifically, is the value of the written word dead as we move into 2018?
I can’t answer one way or another with complete confidence, but I can tell you what I’ve learned in my experience.
The first thing to recognize is that the quality of writing is otherwise irrelevant in 2017 and will continue to be irrelevant, from a financial standpoint, going forward. It’s all about quantity these days. I’m oversimplifying it, but a high volume of articles translates to more opportunities for page views and that’s what pays the bills in an online marketplace.
That’s bad news for good writers because companies have no reason to pay more money for a better journalist when they can hire someone for next to nothing who can bring in the same level of revenue. Also, mid-level writers who break stories have become somewhat devalued because once they break a story, national writers immediately pick it up and run with it and the remaining journalists follow suit. This happens in a matter of second—no one will remember who originally broke the story and, unfortunately, no one really cares.
In the summer of 2017, FoxSports announced it would be removing all written content from its site and replacing it with video clips from its sports network, FS1, leaving its staff of talented writers out of a job. It was a bad break for these employees, but, from a business standpoint, it was understandable to see why the media powerhouse made the move. In 2017, writers simply don’t pay for themselves.
Since the switch to video-exclusive content, page views on the FoxSports website have tanked, with Awful Announcing reporting they’ve lost 88 percent of their audience. As dubious as it sounds, the site is actually making more money, despite the drop in traffic. As it turns out, 17 million views on a collection of videos are worth more than 144 million views on a collection of articles.
FROM A SOURCE:
Fox Sports Digital page views for August 19-Sept. 17: 16.7 million.
Whether or not that profitability can continue in the long run remains in question, but for now, it’s evidence to the point writing stories has lost its value.
People talk about “new media” all the time—particularly in the journalism industry—but that term is not entirely accurate. It refers to social media, which is new, but also video and audio content, which has obviously been around for decades.
I find the audio element the most compelling of the three from an objective observer’s standpoint. Considering the shrinking attention spans and growing desire to multitask, audio seems like it has as bright a future as any media platform. If you’re looking to do multiple things at a time, the best way to consume content is by listening to it.
I can walk down grocery store aisles and listen to my favorite podcasts while texting a friend about our plans for the night. Netflix is cool, but I can’t effectively pick out ripe tomatoes while I’m 40 minutes into Stranger Things.
If you’re multitasking while watching Stranger Things, you’re doing it wrong.
I think the biggest growth potential for audio is in corporate America, where employees who only work for three hours out of the eight they’re sitting in a cubicle are seeking entertainment. That’s good for audio and the written word because consumers can listen to radio shows with their headphones and read articles on their computer screen, all the while retaining their ability to feign productivity.
Those were just examples, but I think 2018 is going to be a big year for audio, especially as podcasts continue to explode onto the content scene. The written word will still have its place and I don’t think it’ll ever fully fade away. At the very least, it serves as an effective tool to promote video and audio content, where the real money is made.
