Final Reflection

Podcast reflection 

For my final reflection, I want to acknowledge how fun and exciting this past semester was making podcasts. While extremely difficult at times, it taught me how to be more tech savvy and figure it out. My first episode I talked about the MLB and how analytics including the “whoop” has made such a big impact on the MLB and player performance. Here is a quote from my reflection “The invention of the whoop has changed the game with athletes. Being able to track sleep, recovery, heart rate and other very important things needed to be monitored as an athlete. Which gets us into our podcast topic. 9 years ago, MLB conducted a study with whoop that the results of a performance study involving minor league players from nine Major League Baseball (MLB) organizations. The landmark study, which was conducted with 230 minor league players from June – November 2016, was designed to monitor the relationship between physiological status and performance, using quantifiable data capturing physiological stress on professional athletes (Strain), and the body’s preparedness for stress (Recovery). It is the first study of its kind in professional sports in the United States. The results were presented to the medical and strength and conditioning staff from all MLB organizations at the 2016 Baseball Winter Meetings in National Harbor, Maryland.  The Whoop was a groundbreaking invention and a really fun topic to talk about. A few of my buddies have whoops and have talked about how cool it is to see it track your recovery and strain. I would rank that as number two on my favorite podcast I did. Then there comes the Sports media segment podcast. This podcast was very sophisticated and one I had a hard time getting into. Heres a quote from my podcast regarding the sports media blog “I found it really interesting that sports media has had such a huge impact on sports. Like I mentioned in my podcast, 15 years ago if you said there was going to be something out there like the Savannah Bananas you would have probably been laughed at. The fact to that Cristiano Ronaldo is the highest followed athlete in the world is crazy to me. After all, though it does make sense with his popularity not only in America but worldwide with his fame.  On the flip side of that the NBA has more than a hundred million less followers than him. The more you investigate all this the crazier it is to me that an athlete who I view as a premier athlete has more followers than the premier basketball league in the world. That being said I wonder why and when sports media will finally come to a stopping point or if ever. It feels as if everything is always changing between the NFL, MLB, and NBA. CBS, ESPN, and Fox. Overall Sports media plays a huge role in shaping how we experience games. As well as engaging in athletics. Social media allows instant updates and allows interactions between fans and teams. There is a lot of dual passion on both sides. Medias barring on athletics is everlasting. The industry has evolved with technology and major break stories. Media will eventually get to the point where games can be streamed in ways we could never even imagine which be incredible to see”. I guess I never really understood the complexity of sports media. The numbers and amount of money involved is astonishing and something I never really would have guessed. I got to interview women's golfer Ella Stoll on my third podcast. This was cool to me and getting to hear her perspective and what her experience as an athlete has been like. Being able to relate and talk about the work she put in to get to his point in her career was unique. Here is what I had to say about the podcast “In our interview we have dived into some questions about her early golf career and how she got to where she is. It is always cool when you can talk to someone about their experiences as a student athlete and get to hear their perspective of their respected sport. Ella talked to me about who her biggest inspiration was and discussed who her first college offer was. It was cool getting to ask her these questions and get background information on stuff I had knowledge about but did not know all of it to the full extent. When we discussed "what it is like for her to play Wofford" her response was very interesting. I cannot even imagine having to play against my former school and more so a girl that I had known for years. When we discussed when she realized she loved golf I could defiantly relate to her. Having a dad who pushes you to be the best is the best thing that can happen to you. In hindsight they just want what's best”. Next came the roundtable discussion. For this discussion I discussed with Ash Smith, Gant Braswell, and Crosby Mullins. This was by far my favorite discussion and the reason for that is we got to sit down and discuss “The past 10 CFP champions” we all had different opinions, but at the end of the day it was all in good spirits. This experience of having to make podcasts and put myself in an uncomfortable spot is something I will always remember and who knows maybe I will continue to make them.