is sports journalism a worthwhile degree?

1

im thinking of doing a sports journalism degree, i love hockey and have always dreamed of doing a hockey related job. would a sports journalism degree be worth it? even just doing sports journalism, and branching out to solely hockey when im older and with more experience would be okay with me. however, in the uk, i worry that it would be super football focused. does anyone have any experience with this degree? thanks!!

Reply 1

LJMUStudentReps

Official Rep

19

Original post

by akijaz

im thinking of doing a sports journalism degree, i love hockey and have always dreamed of doing a hockey related job. would a sports journalism degree be worth it? even just doing sports journalism, and branching out to solely hockey when im older and with more experience would be okay with me. however, in the uk, i worry that it would be super football focused. does anyone have any experience with this degree? thanks!!

Hi @akijaz

I do not do sports journalism myself although I have a friend who does and have heard generally good feedback about it.

It is nice to see such a passion for a sport like hockey! Your advantage may actually be that it is niche and not as popular as the other sports. Of course football is the main focus here but sports journalism is a massive industry. Now you may have to indulge in certain football based work during that degree if you were to choose it but this is not permanent. You will stand out as the hockey guy at uni as not many others will be in the same boat, which means even less competition for trying to get into the field through organisations such as England Hockey. There will be local and smaller hockey leagues who may even take students on. If i were you I would attempt to get in contact with several hockey leagues/associations and see how the process works for wanting to get into the field post degree, so you have a rough idea!

Keep your options open and keep researching, the more knowledge you gain the more confident you will be in your decision of what to study!

Jad, LJMU Rep

Reply 2

University of Salford Student Rep

Official Rep

13

Original post

by akijaz

im thinking of doing a sports journalism degree, i love hockey and have always dreamed of doing a hockey related job. would a sports journalism degree be worth it? even just doing sports journalism, and branching out to solely hockey when im older and with more experience would be okay with me. however, in the uk, i worry that it would be super football focused. does anyone have any experience with this degree? thanks!!

Hi akijaz,

I know the tech for the University of Salford Sports Journalism course and he does admit that the content that the students produce is very football focused, and so to keep up engagement the taught examples are often football related. However, the students that tend to do better in the course are the ones who are willing to cover all kinds of sports. So having an interest outside of football is not a hindrance. In fact the main flaw sports journalism students often have is that they struggle or just refuse to cover sports that they aren't overly familiar with.

Journalists in industry often have to cover topics they don't know much about, and your ability to research and teach yourself that topic is a necessary skill. One of the biggest names in UK sports journalism is Claire Balding, and she got to where she is because of her passion for all sports and her support and interest in other athletes even if her initial expertise is in equestrian.

Hope this helps,
Eleanor
University of Salford Rep :grin:

Reply 3

AprilCityUni

Official Rep

6

Original post

by akijaz

im thinking of doing a sports journalism degree, i love hockey and have always dreamed of doing a hockey related job. would a sports journalism degree be worth it? even just doing sports journalism, and branching out to solely hockey when im older and with more experience would be okay with me. however, in the uk, i worry that it would be super football focused. does anyone have any experience with this degree? thanks!!

Hi @akijaz,

I'm currently studying journalism at City St George's University in London, and our course includes a dedicated sports journalism module in the second year. I got to write a long-form piece on snow sports, so it definitely wasn't limited to football!

I think a journalism or sports journalism degree is worth it if you enjoy reporting and are looking for an experience to build journalistic skills and a portfolio. Football is saturated, so realistically, having a speciality/niche like hockey can make you stand out!

Hope that helps! 😊

Reply 4

TeesRepChloe1

Official Rep

6

Original post

by akijaz

im thinking of doing a sports journalism degree, i love hockey and have always dreamed of doing a hockey related job. would a sports journalism degree be worth it? even just doing sports journalism, and branching out to solely hockey when im older and with more experience would be okay with me. however, in the uk, i worry that it would be super football focused. does anyone have any experience with this degree? thanks!!

Hi,

I’m currently studying News Journalism at Teesside University, and our course works quite closely with the Sports Journalism students, so I’ve seen a bit of how their course operates.

One thing I’ve noticed is that sports journalism students tend to be really passionate about their particular sport, some are into football, others American football, Darts, Formual 1 etc and that enthusiasm usually shapes the kind of stories they want to cover and build their portfolio around. So even though football is obviously big in the UK, it doesn’t mean everything you do has to revolve around it.

The course also teaches a lot of core journalism skills that apply across the industry, not just sport. For example, sports students still learn things like interviewing, reporting, media law, and sometimes even things like court reporting. Those skills are really transferable and help if you ever want to branch into other areas of journalism or cover different topics.

From working with the sports students, I’d say having a strong interest in a particular sport (like hockey) can actually be a positive because it gives you a clear niche and something to build a portfolio around.

Best of luck with your decision!

-Chloe

is sports journalism a worthwhile degree?

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