Interviewing Jewell Loyd and Jack Nolan at Notre Dame.
Photos by Josh Gleason.
The campers of Write on Sports Goshen began Wednesday by interviewing two Notre Dame football players in a university press room and ended by interviewing three players and a pitching coach with the South Bend Silver Hawks, who took questions on the field in between batting practice and the start of their game against Kane County Cougars.
The football players, Bennett Jackson, a cornerback, and Prince Shembo, an outside linebacker, were by turns serious and playful. Shembo said, “When I started playing football, I had a lot of fun. It’s a sport where you get to tackle people to the ground and not get yelled at.”
Both players talked about the impact of social media, emphasizing that you-are-what-you-tweet-and-what-you-retweet. “You create your own brand,” Jackson said.
Jewell Loyd and Jack Nolan.
In the digital media suite at Notre Dame, campers had a chance to check out the studio with a green screen and also interview Jewell Loyd, a basketball player who was the national freshman of the year, and Jack Nolan, the longtime basketball announcer.
Loyd disclosed her preparation ritual before a game: “I watch Kobe highlights, drink a bottle of apple juice, pray and then it’s showtime.” Nolan revealed one key factor in deciding to go into broadcasting: “I like to talk. I’ve always liked to talk.”
At the football stadium, campers visited the pressbox and the locker room and entered the field through the tunnel, passing underneath the “Play Like A Champion Today” sign.
Late afternoon, the campers entered Coveleski Stadium, home of the South Bend Silver Hawks, to catch the end of batting practice and interview the pitching coach, Wellington Cepeda, and three players, Jesse Darrah, a pitcher; Alex Glenn, an outfielder; and Fidel Pena, an infielder.
Glenn may have spoken for all four when he said, “Baseball is great. I get to be an adult playing a kid’s game.”
Before the game, the Write on Sports staff and campers headed outside to a grassy hill fo
On the field at Notre Dame Stadium.
r a picnic supper.
Pena was the only one of the four players interviewed to take the field for the game against the Cougers. The Silver Hawks were leading 3-2 when we left for Goshen in the middle of the fifth. The Silver Hawks won, 7-2,
Interviewing Alex Glenn, left, and other Silver Hawks players.
with a flurry of runs in the seventh.