1.CHOICE School and how they’ve effected Cobb County High School athletics:
Having gone at a Cobb County high school, I know that CHOICE schools have been implemented since the No Child Left Behind legislation went into place. The idea was to allow children to get the best education which had now spurred in metro Atlanta schools as ways for athletic teams to gain out of the county talent. Since, we’re not doing it in our team coverage, I thought an individual story on it would be interesting.
2. Sexual assault and college football
It’s a hot topic, much like #BlackLivesMatter and other social issues. The NCAA and other entities are trying to clean up a real problem that has been overlooked for years. I saw today a USC football player was released for having allegations against him. But, also speaking to what the NCAA, conferences, and specific schools are trying to do to avoid this. I know within UGA there is a It’s On Us campaign, so researching what schools have partnered with out bystander awareness training courses are being implemented.
3. Nike growing in soccer
In looking at COPA, EURO, and Olympics, Nike had a big influence on all of the winning teams where in the past Adidas has ruled soccer. I think looking into the growth of Nike in the soccer industry would be interesting. The idea would be to see if it’s merely a money and sponsorship ideal or Athlete preference.
4. Social Media and HS athletes
To continue on my multi-platform trend story, I would like to dive deeper into the effect of social media on HS players and the way they’re recruited. Part of the brand communications side of my brain sees some of the things my little brother’s friends post on twitter and I cringe at the thought of coaches seeing some of the idiocy that is posted, therefore seeing if that kind of social media preference can change a coach’s decision on signing athletes.
5. Emergence of sports psychology
I think this is a larger topic today that people try and avoid, but mental preparation for games and competition has grown significantly. Many colleges employ a single sports psychologist to deal with just their athletes. I think looking into the emergence of this and how athletes are utilizing the resource and if there has been a shift in performance would be a great story line to see how colleges no longer focus on just physical preparation.
I like the Nike vs Adidas thing for soccer a lot. Also, with the social media and athletes story, maybe one question you could raise is whether as time goes on if we’re going to need traditional media. Now a days athletes can post or tweet what’s going on for them. They don’t always need a reporter to do so.
I think the sexual assault would be a great story to take on. It’s prevalent, controversial and a story that a large audience would be interested in. Sexual assault has long be associated with football players, I think it would be great to dig up some information on sexual assault and other sports.
Your Nike story idea is pretty cool. I know in basketball Nike used to be #1, but now Underarmor has cut into a chuck of their sales, and Adidas is coming back to life. I’m not sure if the rise in soccer is somehow related, but it’s a story worth looking at.
So the Nike and sexual assault stories would be very challenging to report. There is a ton out there about athletes and sexual assault, but it’s not to say there isn’t an angle there. High school athletes and social media might be tough to make new/relevant, although if you could identify some freshmen and some recruits (across several sports) it would be interesting to say what they think about the role of SM in recruiting. Sports psychology has been around for a number of years (I worked for a sports psychologist at Mizzou in the mid-1990s), but there might be something interesting to explore in terms of support personnel available at SEC and other institutions. And I’m dumb but still don’t get how the Cobb CHOICE program works.