It's Not Dead

This was a temporary break, not a death.

The Jevne Sports Journal, which one day will have an improved name, is still on the list of things to update. I thank anyone who's ever read one word on this site.

Over the last month I've been able to secure and start a position as sports editor at The Spencer Daily Reporter. I started March 22 and things have been progressing nicely. The staff I'm working with has been helpful as I get accustomed to the daily ins-and-outs of the job. The Daily Reporter is released every Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

The gig will consist of local coverage of Spencer, Sioux Central and Clay Central-Everly school districts. There will some fringe coverage of Spirit Lake, Okoboji and Storm Lake events. Iowa Lakes Community College is also in the area, as well as Buena Vista University. Iowa Lakes receives more coverage from us than BV, as Storm Lake has its own paper.

There is also Associated Press material included in the paper. This allows me to include important regional or national stories that may be of interest. The AP is a wonderful source of information.

But as you can expect from a community paper, local coverage is the focal point. Spencer is a 3A school for most sports. The Tigers suffered a 0-9 football season this past fall, which jumps out at you. Football is obviously a major sport for any high school and community so hopefully they improve next year.

As I hit the ground running with on-the-job training, I'll be deep into spring sports - soccer, track and field, tennis, golf. Spencer was runner-up in boys soccer two years ago and have started 3-0. There's a strong soccer program in town and the coach knows the sport very well. Spencer boys golf have been runner-up two consecutive years and have a senior who is one of the top golfers in the state. Clay Central-Everly has a kid who's already high-jumped 6-06 this year. There will also be some strong track performances from Spencer.

I'll be working with a professional photographer, Michael Fischer, who's background includes taking photos for Dolphin Digest, a Miami Dolphins publication, and the Associated Press. I've worked with him a few times and I know I'll be able to learn a lot about photography, headlines and general tricks of the trade from him.

My writing duties will include game coverage, feature stories, columns and blogs. This content will be available in the print newspaper, which is the flagship product, the website and a free quarterly magazine called Sports Source, which focuses on local athletes and teams.

The paper's online presence is a work-in-progress. I hope to add new ideas and improve the online product as I continue to become more involved in the company. Right now, I have two columns posted online. The first one simply introduced myself to the reading community. The second featured some criticisms of the NCAA. I haven't gotten a blog up and running but I'm looking forward to getting that activated. I'll be directing you there from here with any new posts. I hope you begin to make spencerdailyreporter.com a frequent stop in your online browsing.

I will continue to post here because I like the outlet, I need a place to continue working on the craft of writing and editing, and I enjoy the occasional comments from readers. (You know who you are.) Of course I'm always able to write whatever I want here and I've gotten the impression that's encouraged for my columns and blogs for the paper and website. I'm excited about that.

As always, thanks for the support and I'll see you back here soon. And I know I'll see you over at spencerdailyreporter.com.