Is there any way to avoid a preps gig as your first job?

I worked at a twice weekly for almost 15 years. Whenever I would talk with others about making the jump to a daily, I was told I'd basically have to start over as I didn't have daily experience. I wasn't adverse to that part, as I knew I had the chops to get where I wanted, but it meant I'd have to take a pay cut. I wasn't able to live on the salary I had, much less take a cut, even if for a little while. I am in no way regretting or poo-pooing the weekly experience, but do be careful, and have a plan to get out quickly before raises and other benefits make it impossible to take a step back.

 

I got lucky and landed a good internship at a large metro daily and got lots of great stories. Before that I toiled as a freelancer for various papers around my state, including a very small weekly in my college town that gave me a full time freelance gig (weekly stories but at the freelance pay with no benefits, etc).

I've covered college and preps since then, but there's nothing like the joy you see on a kid's face when they get interviewed for the first time. Or the appreciation you get from their parents and coaches when you find those gems of a story. You get to be a part of the community. You don't get this in college and preps coverage.

And no matter how good you think you are coming out of college, there's still room for improvement and honing your skill by covering preps. Quick, how much do you know about hockey, wrestling, swimming, water polo, soccer, volleyball or tennis? You learn a lot about those sports in preps, even if you dread doing it.

And if you really want to be a good writer and you get gigs for a big daily, be prepared to write that 10-12" gamer on deadline with stats and good game info with only 10-20 minutes to write it, if you're lucky. I've always said its harder to cover a Friday night football game on deadline than a Saturday or Sunday college or pro game. It's where I really learned how to write on tight deadlines. And that has helped in the business as I promoted to cover things other than sports.

Best of luck wherever you go!

 

Not only that, but college and pro beat coverage seems to have become a young man's game. The energy it takes, the time it consumes, probably makes it difficult to do the older you get. Not to mention you'll want and need a higher salary once you get into your 30s and actually start trying to piece a life together. It seems like, these days, if you're not on that track by the time you're 30 -- if not sooner -- it's easy to get stuck.
To the OP, my advice is to find an opening where you show you can do strong daily beat coverage of college programs. There's plenty of those out there where you'll be covering a D-II or smaller D-I program and own the beat. As soon as you get enough clips, start looking for the next step and don't stop climbing the ladder. Once you're entrenched in one spot, for a variety of personal and professional reasons, you can't or might not want to move on.
Also be aware that the lifespan of a lot of those guys is short, in terms of tenure. Between always-looming layoffs and the stress of the 24-7 grind, you might do it for a few years, wake up when you're 35, pop a half a bottle of Tums and wonder where the hell your youth went.

Another piece of advice: Even if you don't like covering high school sports, don't EVER poo-poo those who do, don't EVER think that there's something wrong with covering them, and don't EVER feel like you're above covering them.
There's plenty of us who work harder on our beats than a lot of college writers ever will on theirs, and have to do a hell of a lot of work on the production side as well. There's plenty of people who have done great work covering high school sports, and plenty of accomplished people who tired of dealing with layers of PR flacks and SIDs and prefer the simplicity of the preps. One day, you might be one of them.
Saying you don't like covering preps is one thing. A lot of us would rather cover a college or pro game, in a vacuum, than a boring Tuesday night high school baseball game. But tread lightly in how you phrase it. You're a half-step away from insulting the vast majority of people who work in this business. That's why you're getting whatever heat you're getting on this thread.

 

This ^ is so true, even from someone who's only been in the game a year out of college.
Getting out of your comfort zone--in my opinion--is the key to becoming a better writer; not just geographically but also with the content you cover. I graduated a year ago and although I didn't love everything I covered as a preps reporter, I learned a lot about writing and reporting about different sports and on a tight, tight deadline. Being able to multitask as a reporter, statistician and sometimes even a photographer allows you to see things from different perspectives and find the best nuggets of information, and quickly. It may not be the sexiest gig after covering a big-time college team, but it's a start, and that's what everyone needs to make it in this business.

Though, I could do without the nagging parents.

 

I'm glad Slappy and Twirling brought this thread back to earth after most of the early posters tiptoed around the issue about the OP not wanting to cover preps.
This is too much of a fact to be a throwaway stereotype: When you finish college, you think you know everything; actually, you don't know shit. You learn by starting at the lowest levels of the biz and working your way up if you can cut it.
And, board members, don't assume that this guy is going to be The Next Big Thing just because of what he claims to have done while in college. Maybe he will, probably he won't.
Good luck to him. I hope this is a reality check for him.

 

I guess since it's been twisted and turned a few times, I should clear things up: I don't look down on anyone who does preps. If you enjoy preps, then by all means cover preps. Do what you love.

I, however, don't enjoy preps. I don't care for the stories that come from preps and I haven't enjoyed covering them in my relatively limited experience. It's not a shot at you or anyone who does or has done them. It's just something I dislike.

I am thankful for those who took my concerns for what they were and didn't take it personally. Hopefully I can find the right opportunity. I'd hate to waste these last few years of my youth in something I hate.

 

GA, I really think you are looking at this all wrong, and I hope for your sake you get lucky. If you go into it planning to hate it, you will. But not a lot of people WANT to cover women's basketball or college swimming or whatever it is. But they do it because of the other stuff they do enjoy covering. If you cover preps and do well, you'll get to do other things like back up on the college and pro beats. Like it or not, it's the way this thing works.

 

Most of us, when we started out, wouldn't have said, "Yeah, preps is what I want to do, because that's what I enjoy most, and the reason I want to be a sports reporter."

We just did it, because, you know, we were starting out, and that is, by and large, what you do when you're starting out. I don't know how you could have thought otherwise, and I seriously doubt anyone would have told you otherwise.

In any field, you rarely start out doing entirely what you want to do. There's a starting point to everything, and it is rarely right at the top or right where we would choose to be.

Take a page from the late Frosty Westering and make the big time where you are.

Then, run, don't walk, and go apply for the Harrisonburg, VA, preps opening that's among the Journalism Jobs threads on here, and, seriously, hope that Chris Simmons doesn't recognize who you are. Despite how you think you feel, it'd probably be a great job for you. They do lots of great sports-related hard news, news-feature and investigative type projects, even on preps. They seek and encourage good, enterprise-type stuff there, and if you have the chops and do it, you will be acknowledged, recognized and rewarded.

 

I'm interested, what, to you, deeply differentiates the stories from college to preps? Just curious.

That said, there are ways to avoid being a "prep writer," but you need the patience and the stomach for it, plus the understanding there's a relatively good chance it won't be a linear path. You might have to catch on with a local branch of of a recruiting site or a blog. You might have to make that a part-time job and take something else to make ends meet. That's a way to get into it. It's not guaranteed, but going preps to college to pros or whatnot is far from guaranteed either.

The real thing to take away is there isn't a ton of logic in this business. Some real studs start in great spots, but that's not the spot you're in at the moment. Some people land in jobs that leave you wondering, that's life. Also, patience can help. If you swing big, there will be strikouts because there's a lot of talent out there. You'll see some nos before running into a chance of a yes.

(And was the hope to go straight power 5? You're not going to find more than a handful of mid-majors with beats so dedicated you can dodge preps)

 

Well, I'll say this: You'll benefit from starting on a preps beat. While I didn't attend a big journalism school, I did part-time for one metro daily through college and interned for an even larger metro daily. I thought for sure I was destined for a college beat out of school, or at least preps at a metro or mid-sized daily. Instead, I landed in Minot, North Dakota, covering high school sports. Especially in small markets, preps matter. And I mean they really matter. (I know because we got calls every time a box score didn't make the paper) No, it's not glamorous to live in a certain small markets, but it can be very worthwhile. It gives you an opportunity to be the go-to source on a beat. You can own it. And when your college beat opportunity comes, you'll be way, way more prepared. I'd recommend going that route. If you're good, you'll get noticed. Also, do yourself a favor and join organizations that allow you to network in the business.

Oh, and by the way, The Star-Ledger's Matthew Stanmyre won first place in the APSE beat writing contest for the over-175,000 circulation category by covering prep sports. Even in large markets, it holds an important place.

 

GA,

You're getting some good advice there from Ace, who knows a few things.

That said, if you want to cover college, and you don't care if it's for a newspaper, look up the Rivals, Scout and 247 Sports folks online and tell them you'll go wherever they want you. Might not be SEC, mind ya. But you might get a bite there.

You're short-changing preps, IMO. If it was NY-Penn league baseball year after year, I'd get it. Preps, at least there's variety and, every so often, a story rather pertinent to the region. Plus, in a lot of places, man, there's some coaches who are just begging for a feature story.

 

I want to chime in here as well.

In my current job at my shop I'm mostly doing high school stuff with copy desk thrown in. When I was out and about covering more games, I had a steady diet of variety.

I covered a lot of Division II and III college basketball my final few years in the field. I also did a lot of auto racing, Little League, minor league baseball and minor league hockey.

Yet a lot of my work came back to preps. Covered volleyball in the fall, swimming/gymnastics in the winter and softball in the spring. Got to see a young kid play NBA2Ball with his partner in 1998 or 1999. Turned out to be Drew Neitzel. He went on to a great career at Michigan State.

One summer I was told by a parent about their 12-year old daughter who competed on a summer softball travel team. I wondered how good this girl could possibly be. Then I was blown away when I saw her in action. Went on to help her school win two Division 1 softball state titles, and she's on the Michigan softball team now (one of the best in the country).

Covered many state championship volleyball and softball teams. My professional relationships with the players continued into college and beyond. I'm friends on FB with many of my former athletes that I covered.

So it is what you make of it. A lot of times you build relationships with people away from the field. These people can turn into possible future sources for good stories.