My final weeks on placement
After writing my first few pieces for Gareth Rogers and the FAW trust, I was getting back up to speed with my writing skills, which I had believed I needed to brush up on before returning to university for my final year. In my last weeks of placement, my most memorable piece of work was my refereeing story with Nana Baah, a Welsh football league icon turned coach and, more recently, a referee. It was apparent to me Gareth was keen for me to get a story out on the experience of refereeing at a lower league level with the struggles of abuse on the side-line etc. Actually, before I wrote this story I had my first bit of disappointment on my placement because I wasn’t able to complete a task Gareth presented me with. Gareth suggested that I interview some referees who were either USW students or graduates of the FAW refereeing course. The goal was to acquire a detailed article on why they took the course and how they like officiating. However, none of the students I contacted responded, so I simply viewed this as a hurdle that I couldn’t get over, and instead of thinking of alternative solutions, I gave up and asked Gareth for other things I could do instead. In hind sight, I should have taken the initiative and found out when these students were refereeing so I could go to the sports park and interview them in person. But, in the end, I got a pretty good refereeing piece with Nana, so it wasn’t all bad.
The feedback I received and my responses to it
Fortunately, Gareth approved of my work on refereeing, and his response to me sending it over was “Super stuff mate.” However, the piece was never published on the website, and I was never given a reason why, maybe because it dealt with delicate subjects such as racism, BME referees, and abuse. My solution was to keep my head down and keep producing stories for Gareth and my own website, even if they don’t get published, because either way it’s still helping me develop my writing talents.
The skills I learnt or further developed
Writing around sensitive themes was definitely a skill I learned while writing this piece, and I believe I handled it well to avoid any problems. I think that during the placement, my communication abilities, particularly in a professional and formal setting, were enhanced, and my writing skills, of course, increased through consistency. I’d like to think that finishing this placement has made me a better all-around journalist, and it has definitely better equipped me for future endeavours.
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