Dealing With Access Restrictions To Players

Good ideas on this thread.

Here's one of my favorite tricks. If you want special access to a player ........... Just ask for it. Particularly at the college level, if you say to the media relations guy, "I'm working on a special feature on player X. Can I get a few minutes with him after the regular media avail?"... sometimes that actually works. Start with a non-controversial story. Get your 1-on-1 face time with the player. Establish rapport. Don't burn the media relations guy. Go from there.

 

This is one that I've done. Some media relations/SID guys are better than others though. You still normally have to do it during open availability, but they'll end open questioning and pull the player aside for you to get your 5-10 minutes.

It also helps if you've covered a kid in high school and he's now doing well at the college level. He remembers you - or at least the paper - and his contact info is readily available via him, his high school coach, or his parents.

In the pros, even for a short sidebar/feature, I've found it's sometimes best to just wait out the crowd. Jump in to the media huddle, maybe ask a question or two, but mostly keep tabs to see if anything is asked that you're looking for so you don't ask it again when the media horde dwindles away. You'll get at least 2-3 questions one-on-one once they're gone before 1) the player needs to jet, or 2) more media folks come over to try and jump in on your conversation.

 

Parents can be better sources than SIDs when their kids are at smaller colleges, especially out of town schools. Quite a few times I'll find out about a local getting some honor when the parent e-mails me a link to the school's hometown paper or school home page (which I usually check anyway just to verify that Johnny Doubledribble is even playing for Podunk U., yet alone was Northeastern Southwestern Association player of the week).