Someone old, Something new

Hi,

I am venturing out to attempt something that I didn't think I would, blogging. I have never been one to want to start a blog nor did I think people would care to read what I have to say... I'm still not sure anyone will care but here we are; As I start this new project, I don't have any sort of direction for where I want this to go, nor do I have any idea of frequency to the amount I will write, but, I do think, at least at first, this will be mostly about my thoughts about sports, broadcasting and hopefully some fun stories on my journey and how lucky I have been in my career.

Why start a blog now? Well, it is summertime which tends to be the time of year where I sit back and take inventory of where things stand career-wise. The summer months are the slowest for those who work in sports, especially for freelance broadcasters and I have found it gives you a chance to really sit back and reflect on the year that was and how you can improve going into the next year.

Here are some of the things I do in the summer to prepare for the upcoming broadcast season:

1) How do you prepare - Take a look back at how you prepare for your games or shows and ask yourself what areas of your prep can be streamlined or what can you change about the way you approach game prep. It is never a bad idea to ask other people you trust about their game prep strategy and perhaps you will be able take something away from those conversations that you can use in the way you prepare for your next assignment.

2) How do you sound - Summer is also a time where I look back on my work from the past year. Hopefully this is something you are doing throughout the year but in the summer this gives you a great chance to reflect on how you sound, what areas of your play-by-play need work and maybe gives you an idea of what you would like to work on going into the upcoming year. With summer being such a slow time of year for most all play-by-play broadcasters, take advantage of the free time of others and send samples of your work out to others for feedback and advice on what sounds good and what areas could use some work going into the fall.

3) What about all the stuff - As each broadcast season goes along you probably collect a ton of materials from media guides to charts/scoresheets, etc. What do you do with all that stuff from the season? Everyone is different, but I try to keep all those scorebooks, charts and any prep material that I have on my computer. Why? Those are resources for the next season - we talked about prep earlier so why not keep as much stuff as possible to help streamline your prep for the next season? There will be players and coaches that are coming back the next year and now you already have a solid base to begin your prep for that team the next time you see them.

4) Who Are You? - If you are like me, the grind of the season takes you away from being around friends and family. You miss a lot, for sure. Take advantage of the downtime to be with the people that impact you in a positive way and enjoy the moments with them. Play some golf, lots of golf and recharge for the upcoming season.

Those are just a few of my tips for the summer. Hope you've enjoyed this first blog post - thanks for following along, not sure where this is going but hopefully we have some direction and shape in the coming days/weeks.

I would love to hear your ideas and thoughts on sports, broadcasting and life in general. Drop me a note on this site for find me on twitter: @Chris__Edwards.

Thanks for reading,

Chris