Wednesday, February 4, 2015, was the day high school athletes around the country signed letters of intent to compete at the collegiate level. Southern West Virginia had many students officially committing to colleges, with most electing to stay in the region. I had the chance to cover both sides of this important time in the sports calendar, getting perspectives from both the athletes and from college coaches. While football is the one sport that drew most of the media’s attention, I was also interviewing several women’s soccer players who will be continuing their careers. It made for an exciting 12-13 hours.

Until this year, my most recent experience in covering National Signing Day had been two years ago, with WOUB at Ohio University. I was getting ready to do a live shot from Peden Stadium on the incoming class of Ohio football players. The main reason for being live was to have an interview on-air with Bobcats head coach Frank Solich. However, Solich’s news conference went long, and was still going on when it came time for the anchor back in the studio to bring me in. I had prepared a mini-script on what to say in the event that this happened, but it’s safe to say that was not my finest moment as a sportscaster.

In 2015, there were absolutely no issues with covering athletes or coaches. One football player I spoke with is headed to Richmond, which made the FCS playoffs this past season. The two women’s soccer athletes are staying nearby; one will play at Concord (Athens, WV), while one is going to Liberty (Lynchburg, VA), where her father is an alum. Speaking of Concord, the Mountain Lions football staff was excited about its 2015 recruiting class, as they get set for the upcoming season, one year after making the Division II semifinals. Everybody I’ve met with has been very nice, a neat reminder of why I wanted to get into this industry in the first place. It didn’t hurt that I finished Wednesday covering an exciting high school basketball game, too.

It signaled the end of my first week at WOAY, and it’s been busy, but at the same time, a blast. Some of the stories I’ve covered over the last few days: the Big Atlantic Classic (a popular high school basketball tournament), the Super Bowl, National Signing Day, and NCAA Division II basketball. I look forward to reporting on many more events here in Southern West Virginia.