Normally, I spend some time out of school taking pictures for Parkway Central sports for all of PCH Publications. This school year, I have taken pictures for boys and girls basketball, girls swim and dive, ice and field hockey, boys soccer, and softball. While I enjoy taking pictures for these high school games, it does not compare to the recent opportunity I was given to be a credentialed press member for the Missouri Valley Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament (also known as Arch Madness). This tournament has taken place for 27 years in St. Louis, and the winner gets an automatic bid into the big March Madness tournament.
I was specifically excited anyway to go to this year’s tournament. I had been the previous two years, however, the quality of players and teams promised to be even better than the past few years.
Two teams, Indiana State and Drake, were getting national attention for the seasons that they were having, and a third, Bradley, quietly racked up a long win streak in the middle of the season. In past years, certain teams have dominated this tournament, but this year, the field was competitive. As someone who has been to this tournament for years, I emailed the press representative for the conference while I was thinking about it in December. My press pass was approved for floor media passes. I was excited and nervous. I had no clue what to expect when I got there. So when I walked in through what felt like a shady back entrance pretty much straight onto the court, I was in awe. Armed with a heavy backpack with my camera equipment and my computer, I got a rush of excitement as I walked around and saw the workroom, court access, interview, and food area.
This is a little different than showing up to Parkway Central for a basketball game, I thought as I looked into the rows and rows of seats starting to fill up for the first game of the day.
It was better than I could ever imagine. I got to my designated spot on the baseline for taking pictures (customized with my name on a sticker). I was so close that during warmups the ball would go to me if someone missed badly.
As the ball tipped for game one of the day, I could feel excitement from the crowd. I started to take pictures sitting from my spot and was amazed by the quality that I could achieve with arena lighting and setup. Typically, I was used to dim high school gyms or fields where the lighting was not the same minute to minute, but this was consistent and great. I continued taking pictures for game one, stopping for a couple of minutes sometimes because I was too caught up in watching the game from so close. After game one, I decided that it would be a really cool experience to go to the post-game presser, so I put my computer and camera down in the work area while I let things charge and I headed back to it.
After I sat down, I saw a familiar face sitting behind me, who introduced himself to someone as Evan Washburn, CBS’s number one sideline reporter for both basketball and football. He was telling old stories, which was incredible. This also made me nervous as I asked one of the players about his mindset during the game that day because I did not want to sound like an idiot. After the presser, I talked to him for a minute and he was extremely nice and gave me great advice. Washburn explained how it was reaching out to people and just taking a chance that got him to where he is and I should continue to do that.
As the day continued, I decided that I wanted to make a video during Drake’s first game (game three of the day), as I already had a ton of pictures and even quickly edited some to post after the presser, during the second game. I sat behind the Drake videographer who helped me think of good stuff to get on video and even let me sit in their closer spot to get great shots.
After the game, I went to the back to edit my video and it turned out incredible, I was able to post it within three minutes of the start of the next game, the quickest turnaround I have ever edited a video. After spending 12 hours at Enterprise Center, I couldn’t wait to go back again the next day.
The following days were just as fun and an incredible experience. I was able to meet more people, watch some incredible games, and even go on the actual court itself for the trophy celebration. Last year, when I started working on the newspaper, I had no clue what to expect or what I was doing. However, I have been able to find a new passion in sports media, learned to take pictures and make videos that are good quality, and have been able to experience things like going to the
tournament that I never would have imagined a year ago. I learned a lot from the tournament and I am going to be able to use that going forward in all of my future work.
