JMU Journalism teamed up with Wigan Warriors rugby league players to introduce some of the club’s future stars to a series of practical media exercises.
The Super League champions work closely with LJMU’s Journalism department to help ensure their academy graduates are well prepared for the increase in media commitments when they break into the first team.
BA Sports Journalism student and Warriors fan, Adam Bradshaw joined tutors Dave Randles and Michelle Ponting to provide a helping hand and gain valuable experience working with the players.
Read Adam’s account of the media training session below >>>
I had the pleasure to work with four Wigan Warriors transition players on campus as Kian McDermott, Lukas Mason, Taylor Kerr and Noah Hodkinson came to Redmonds Building for a media training session.
As academy graduates who are now in and around the first team, media duties and responsibilities will increase with greater exposure at the top level of rugby league. And it was revealing as I joined lecturers, Michelle and Dave, to help guide the players through a range of media focused exercises.
We began with some light Tik Tok style activities, asking the players to describe their perfect Super League player based on specific attributes including pace, strength, tackling and mentality. This was an effective, softer way of introducing the players to different interview techniques and helping them become comfortable on camera.
We explained to the players how, with the growth of social media, there will be more demand for them to engage with light-hearted content production to bring them closer to Wigan’s fanbase.
Next, we introduced the players to the audio suite where they had a go at podcasting, discussing a variety of subjects including food, music, film and TV. As they settled into what was a new environment for each of them, it was interesting to see the players begin to talk about personal and pertinent issues away from the allocated topics.
They took it in turn to ask each other questions about their sporting idols growing up and what influenced them to play rugby league.
The final activity was a group interview in the Liverpool Screen School’s bespoke green screen studio where the players faced more pressing and serious questions ranging from their experiences on loan, the transition from academy level to first team and what careers they would pursue away from sport.
This allowed us to get to know the players on a deeper level and provided them with some insight to what awaits as they progress into the first team.
It was fascinating to see how the players grew in confidence throughout the afternoon as they became more familiar with the range of exercises and various media settings. As a Sports Journalism student and Wigan Warriors fan who aspires to be interviewing these players during their careers, I can say with some certainty that I took as much from this media session as the players. It was great to be involved.
BA Sports Journalism programme leader, Dave Randles, said: “It was a pleasure to have Wigan Warriors with us again to help prepare their transition players for a range of media commitments and the responsibility that comes with being an elite athlete in the public eye.
“Adam was a big help too and will benefit from the experience of working so closely with a group of players who are on the cusp of Wigan’s first team. Not only can the players take confidence from these professional media sessions but students can too. Everyone benefits.”