Behind the Scenes of the Hockey World

During my sophomore year of high school, I job shadowed Jim McCrossin, who is the Philadelphia Flyers athletic trainer. It was an incredible experience as I was not only able to attend a Flyers practice, but I got to be in the trainer's room, the locker room, and sit on the bench during their practice. I even got to eat 5 Guys with the team after (very important fun fact). However, I eventually decided that athletic training wasn't for me, so I quickly came up with another way to stay involved athletic teams: sports reporting.

Last Friday, I had the great opportunity to job shadow Gary Blockus, a reporter for the Morning Call who covers the Lehigh Valley Phantoms games. If you know anything about me, you know that I am a diehard hockey fan for both the Flyers and the Phantoms (the Flyer's AHL affiliate), so being able to do another job shadow based around hockey was amazing. It let me see the behind the scenes action of the sports reporting world, the profession I would ultimately like to end up in.

Being able to sit in the press box was a very cool experience that most people never get to have. During the night, I was introduced to other reporters, photographers, the tv crew, and other members of the Phantoms organization. I was also able to meet hall of fame member Mark Howe (son of Gordie Howe) and talk to him for a bit.

Once the game ended, we headed down to the locker room for the post game interviews with the players after a 2-1 overtime win. The media is usually allowed three players to interview, so during that game the players interviewed were Brett Hextall (scored the first goal), Rob Zepp (26 saves on 27 shots), and Jason Akeson (scored overtime winning goal). I usually get to see these interviews on tv or on the radio, so being a part of the media staff interviewing the players gave me a new view on the process.

Overall, the night was basically everything I expected it would be, and being a sports reporter is definitely something I see myself doing in the future. It will be a great way to stay involved in the sports that I love when I'm no longer competing in them anymore, which I found out is a big reason for a lot of those already in the field.

Until I'm finished with school and finally have my communications degree, it's back to these beautiful seats at every game to watch the best sport in the world.