SPORTS JOURNALISM
Cronkite Students Cover Baseball’s Future at Arizona Fall League
Cronkite students cover Arizona Fall League baseball. A major story included former NFL quarterback Tim Tebow’s transition to baseball. Photo by Nicole Vasquez/ Cronkite News
Work by students in the Phoenix Sports Bureau is featured on USA Today Sports’ Cactus League Wire website. springtrainingwire.com
Cronkite student Nicole Vasquez found herself covering one of the biggest sports stories of the year when Heisman Trophy winner and former NFL quarterback Tim Tebow decided to trade in his football cleats for baseball spikes and play for the New York Mets in the Arizona Fall League in 2016. “It was an assignment that just fell into my lap,” Vasquez said. “It was cool to cover and write about the phenomena. He’s hands down one of the most interesting interviews that I’ve ever had.” Vasquez was part of a new experience for Cronkite students, covering the Arizona Fall Nicole Vasquez League, a developmental league that showcases many of baseball’s top prospects. The program is a partnership between the Arizona Fall League and the Cronkite News Phoenix Sports Bureau. In addition to covering the Fall League, students in the bureau regularly cover MLB spring training in Arizona. “Phoenix is a wonderful sports market,” said Brett Kurland, director of the Phoenix Sports Bureau. “Covering the Arizona Fall League offers great opportunities and experiences for our sports journalism students,” who get published on MLB.com and other outlets. Vasquez’s story about Tebow, for example, appeared in The Arizona Republic and was published at Cronkite News. “The fact that I have Major League Baseball experience is huge and is going to open doors for me,” Vasquez said. “A lot of people my age don’t get to have those kinds of opportunities.” Fellow student Patricia Garcia, who covered games, wrote features and shot videos and photos, called the Fall League experience an “amazing opportunity to practice multiple parts of being a baseball reporter and getting some pretty cool bylines in the process.” Desiree Cunningham contributed to this story. The Cronkite Journal
2017-2018
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