The first of 10 sports journalism masterclasses took place this evening at London Sport’s Central London office.
BCOMS founder, Leon Mann, led the session on interviewing for broadcast and written publications. He discussed his biggest interviews – with the likes of Usain Bolt, David Beckham and Shelly Anne Fraser Pryce – and his biggest learnings over his 15 year career in the industry. The majority of the session offered the participants to practice and refine their interviewing skills.
Following the masterclass Leon commented: “Wow! What a bright group of young people!!! I was hugely impressed by everyone in the room. The session was about interviewing, so I decided to give them a taste of what it’s like to have a difficult interviewee in a post match broadcast situation. Everyone handled it wonderfully and enjoyed the feeling of getting a strong line!
“These masterclasses can be game-changers for many of these young people and also the industry. They will pass on practical advice, build confidence and broaden the participants understanding of the work place they are all determined to get in to and succeed in.
“The sports media is forever complaining about a lack of diverse candidates for jobs – this initiative with London Sport can help to change that. We want to prove it’s a successful model and then roll this out on a wider scale. We are off to a great start!!”
Jeanette Kwakye, broadcaster, author and ex-Olympian will be leading the next masterclass on presenting! Across the remaining nine masterclasses there will be an additional focus on other sports journalism skills such as writing, commentary, photography, match reports, directing and much more.
