High School Football Star

Cool Slideshows

Talk about meeting deadlines, this show was the best description of my ability to work well under pressure. Friday's show on sports afforded me the opportunity to interview a high school football star from Long Beach Poly. Donovan Warren is a Senior at Poly and is one of the top 100 athletes in the United States. He has yet to select a University to attend but has made three official visits. His number one choice was USC until he branched out to Arizona and Michigan. He loved the small town life in Michigan away from the hustle and Hollywood bustle of his home town. His last visit to Cal was extremely influential and he is really leaning towards the option of going to a school far away from home. I learned a lot of interesting things about Warren. He was moved into the Varsity division of Poly's Jackrabbits in his freshman year during the playoffs. His position of running back and defensive back is secure as he is the only athlete on the team to be ranked in the top athletes. He is experiencing the pressures of being recruited, but both of his parents are behind his decision 100%. He says his decision wont rely as heavily on football as it will on academics. He has a 3.5 GPA.

When I got the assignment to interview Warren I had a day and a half to come up with questions and interview those that know him. I was able to interview both parents by phone. His mother, was a great interview. She was very excited about his success and talked about how she wanted him to stay close so if he needs anything she could help out. I brought this up during the interview and got a great response out of the subject. Mr. Warren also played football for Poly in 1987 and he attended the show with Donovan. This was Donovan's first television appearance and he did extremely well.

As for my conduct during the interview, I would give it a C+. The camera caught me looking down at my notes a lot and I nervously bit my lip during the subjects responses. I took my professors advise and tried to smile less. It worked when I was conscious of it. I forgot to bring up a few important points like Donovan playing in the 2007 Army All American Bowl in San Antiono Texas. He said this was a major goal for him. But with only 13 minutes to work with I didn't get to touch on it.

All and all it was a great experience. I was also invited by the Director Dave Chapman to do some guest hosting and voice overs for Charter. So I can see my internship growing into something more already.