Congratulations to Joey Vaughan for being selected as one of Clay Huntington's Sports Communication recipients. Joey writes, "I love sports. Whether watching on TV or playing with friends, sports provide fun and entertainment. I enjoy all aspects of sports, including sports communication. From announcing wiffle ball games in my yard to listening to the radio, sports communication has played a prominent role in my life. In this field, I have numerous career goals, ways to help give back to the community, and possibilities to advance my experience in college. I have many career aspirations in the field of sports communication. I have started exploring many paths within this field and found them all to be great careers to pursue. For one, I am very interested in broadcasting. I have always enjoyed listening to and watching games both on the radio and TV. However, my interest in broadcasting was sparked during my trip to Spring Training in 2015. There, I had a long conversation with Rick Rizzs, the Mariners' lead radio broadcaster. The following year, I got to talk with him again in the radio booth before a Mariners game, thanks to a thank-you note I had written back in 2015. Then, last winter, I did some broadcasting of my own, as I was the public address announcer for a few Bellarmine boys JV basketball games. I had a great time, and it was fun to participate in announcing firsthand. I loved the experience and was going to do it again this year before COVID hit; however, I hope to do it again once sports resume. (I was also asked to announce football games for the Bellarmine Little Lions before their season was canceled.)  Additionally, I have pursued my interest in media/public relations. Throughout the Tacoma Rainiers' 2019 baseball season, I shadowed AJ Garcia, the Director of Media Relations and Content Development. During this shadow, I saw what a Public Relations person does on a day-to-day basis: conducting interviews, writing game notes and stat packs, and managing social media. Helping with media and promotions, such as organizing autograph sessions, compiling baseball cards, making videos for promotions, and composing a media guide, was interesting. Moreover, I wrote some game notes and short paragraphs for statistical trends (usually around six or six every game). This was great, as I love analyzing statistics. Through this shadow, I learned more about an exciting career, and I hope to do another shadow in the future. Another career path involving sports communications that I have looked into is marketing and sales. In the summer of 2019, I spent a week shadowing the marketing and sales teams for the Tacoma Rainiers, Defiance, and Reign. During that week, I learned how sales work and who is in charge of what. It was incredibly fascinating in this case, where a large portion of the staff works for multiple teams. It was also interesting to see how each group is marketed similarly yet unique. Each team has a different sales pitch and its appeal.

Moreover, I was able to see how marketing created ads for different promotions and events, from designing uniforms to making videos. Another part of the marketing I noticed was how much emphasis the staff put on having a booth at different local events and the coordination it took to get everything organized. It was a very insightful week in which I discovered a lot about the behind-the-scenes of marketing and sales. Furthermore, I have explored my interests in sports newscasting. Last fall, my friends and I created a podcast, "Carpool Sports Insights" (https://maxwalker4.podbean.com/). It started during Covid; this helped us connect and talk about the world of sports. In this biweekly podcast, we discuss sports, including football, basketball, baseball, soccer, golf, and tennis. Doing the podcast has been a great experience, as it is a way to see how sports media hosts need to prepare for their jobs. This fun, entertaining show has given us the ability to showcase our knowledge of sports and help keep people up-to-date about current events across the sports landscape. Not only that, but I have learned the importance of communication and other essential lessons when working together. From facts and trivia to scores and analysis, this podcast has helped me see what sports media can be like, while also giving me many memories. Joey completed the University of Notre Dame Summer Scholars Program, Moneyball: The Analytics of Sports. It was online and worth one college credit. In this two-week class, I learned how to use R, a programming language, to analyze data and solve problems. Although this class was challenging, I was captivated by R and loved seeing all its uses in the sports world. For example, Dr. Seth Berry, one of the professors, used R this season to plan out safe Covid policies for attendance/seating at football games for Notre Dame. The class continues to be very helpful. I am currently using R to create my project for Bellarmine's Marine Chemistry Program. In this project, I am looking at statistics from baseball's minor leagues and comparing them to those of the Major Leagues to try to and find correlation and statistical trends.”