By Eduardo Tansley
Yes, BCOMS even has connections at one of tennis’ most prestigious tournaments – Queen’s. I had the pleasure, with two others from this year’s BCOMS cohort, to work as a media assistant at the tournament.
As an aspiring journalist, it can’t get much better than sharing a building for the week with the nation’s leading tennis correspondents. I could also see myself working in social media and this was covered too, with ATP employees in attendance. Once you are in the building, many of these people are very friendly and willing to spare you a minute to share their experiences and advice. It is BCOMS who opens these doors and I have tried my best to take advantage of the networking opportunities and being at these events. Many people working in the media have also heard of BCOMS already and have a respect for its mission.
This year Queen’s featured big names in tennis such as Carlos Alcaraz, Andy Murray and Frances Tiafoe with USA’s Tommy Paul claiming the title.
One of my roles for the tournament was to help run the press conferences. Thinking journalistically, this was interesting to see the types of questions posed to the athletes and to see what the athletes had to say. My colleagues were kind enough to allow me to attend some press conferences as media and write reports, when it got quiet, meaning I could further test my writing skills. I was then able to compare my work to the newspapers on the following day to see if I had led with the same breaking news as them and to see how they constructed their stories based on the day’s action.
Another responsibility I had was catering and safeguarding the photography seating, which was courtside! This is a tournament that costs £100+ per day to access centre court and I was as close to the action as it gets, for my first experience of live tennis too.
Last year I watched the tournament on TV and this year I was able to be in the thick of it. Going from no network behind me prior to this year and limited resources, I feel with opportunities such as this BCOMS has propelled my chances of working in the sports media and gives me encouragement for a diverse industry moving forward.
Speaking of TV, even my mum was buzzing as she saw me on BBC and I got her a tournament umbrella.
I must also shout out the kind people at the LTA and The Emilia Group who provide the opportunity and were great to work with throughout.
