Sports Reporter - The Villages Daily Sun - The Villages, FL

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nickfeely

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The Villages Daily Sun, America's fastest growing daily newspaper in the nation’s fastest growing metropolitan area, is seeking a reporter to join its award-winning sports department.

This is a general assignment sports position with a focus on the recreation scene in The Villages, which consists of 182 pickleball courts — more than anywhere else in the world — nearly 100 recreation centers, 92 pools, two bowling centers and four softball complexes that host nearly 5,000 games each year. The right candidate will also be able to assist on other beats in the sports department, including golf and high school coverage.

We’re a community-first newsroom, not a digital-first newsroom. This means that we place high value on content that is reported and edited at the local level, for a print-centric product, to the highest standards of excellence. We reward unconventional storytelling in an atmosphere in which good storytellers can become great.

The Daily Sun is part of a media group that also creates a daily television newscast, operates a radio station and produces a monthly lifestyles magazine to which our staffers contribute.

Apply by sending your resume and a brief cover letter to the attention of Staff Development Editor John DeClerk at [email protected]. And then fill out the online application for the reporter position at http://compassinthevillages.com/careers/?job=2267.
 
About as close as you're going to get these days if you're still enamored with the print game.
 
Sports reporter? Nah.
Games & hobbies reporter.

In all seriousness, that's a conversation we have a lot. We do try to keep our stories focused on the competitive side (and there are plenty of opportunities to do that), but we aren't going to turn away a good story if it happens to be about something we might consider a "game" or "hobby." If we can find a story to write about a Villages resident, we will.

This job certainly leans into more competitive and athletic sports such as pickleball, tennis, softball, running, swimming, cycling, triathlons, Senior Games, etc., but once in a while does stray into the billiards, shuffleboard, bocce tier. It's a great chance to cover a wide variety of things.
 
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Should I be ashamed for not knowing pickleball?

Not at all! It's a fast-growing sport among seniors especially because it's sort of like tennis, but on a much smaller court so the physical demands aren't quite the same. I always compare it to table tennis, but if you were standing on the table.
 
Applied for this the other day. Currently in PA but looking for opportunity in central Florida. Hope they’ll give me a serious look.
 
Isn't this the routine on all job announcements here, along with noobs posting they're throwing their hat in the ring? Job description and what's expected in the first post, and someone immediately asks in there will be coverage of CFP Tech or Nearby Proballers? Work hard and finding those pickleball stories, and you can push your way onto a college/pro beat. That's what you're there to cover.
 
Isn't this the routine on all job announcements here, along with noobs posting they're throwing their hat in the ring? Job description and what's expected in the first post, and someone immediately asks in there will be coverage of CFP Tech or Nearby Proballers? Work hard and finding those pickleball stories, and you can push your way onto a college/pro beat. That's what you're there to cover.
Rinse, wash and repeat. I've seen this time and time again. This one hotshot who was briefly in my neck of the woods, took a preps job but what he really wanted was to cover ACC sports. Preps weren't good enough for him. That attitude evenually cost him his job. A friend of mine who was the SE at that paper was telling me about a wrestling coach calling in to say they won the state championship. Preps guy had blown it off. And that was it for him.
 
I get the sense some want them to be handed the keys to the kingdom right away, like over on the jobs board when there's a listing at a weekly in East Bum**** and the first question is "Will there be any coverage of Big State U involved?" No, you're there to cover East Bum**** High, Nosepickers Christian Academy and write the rec softball roundup each week.

^^^The above quote should be copied-and-pasted every time one of those queries about "covering nearby big college or pro teams" pops up on a thread for a high school beat writer position (or something similar).

It's from a thread on another part of the board, but tip of the cap to HanSenSE for the stroke of genius.
 
^^^The above quote should be copied-and-pasted every time one of those queries about "covering nearby big college or pro teams" pops up on a thread for a high school beat writer position (or something similar).

It's from a thread on another part of the board, but tip of the cap to HanSenSE for the stroke of genius.
Thanks, Tom. My first full-time gig in the business was at the Podunk Weekly, and naturally I figured "hey, Mid-Major State is an hour away, so I can cover them. And all the pro teams are just a couple of hours away too." But I soon found out the gig was Friday night football, and bowling agate, and, of course, explaining to Tennis Mom why I decided to cost little Brianna Backhand a scholarship by writing only 100 words on tennis and 500 on the football team's playoff victory.
 
Preps, including girl's sports, were a big emphasis at the Herald, and we columnists were expected to do our share. I soon discovered two things. 1. Often great stories more interesting to me than the usual pro ESPN-speak. 2. The best and only way to approach a sports event is to recognize it's the biggest game in the world to the people in it. I am sure Villages pickleball is a hotbed of rivalries, rules disputes and bitter neighborhood arguments. Those are fun, even if the sport isn't.
 

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