A Tale of Two Passions: Why Basketball and PR?
Originally published April 14, 2024
Hello readers!
I’m so excited you’re here! I’m writing this post to give you a better idea of who I am and what I’ll be talking about on my site each week. I hope you stick around!
I have a few important passions in my life, but none of them compare to my love of sports. If you’ve ever felt the joy of watching your favorite team score the winning touchdown, felt the thrill of the buzzer beater going off just as the shot is released from the player’s hand, or heard the unforgettable crack of a baseball coming off a bat before it flies over the outfielder’s heads, this is the right place for you. Sports play an important role in my life and I hope to combine this passion and my public relations major into my career.
My parents never forced my brother or I to play sports, but there was an expectation that we would do a social activity a few days a week after school. Unsurprisingly, we both were drawn to sports after watching our dad’s obsession with the Seahawks and Red Sox, and his years of coaching high school baseball. If the TV was on, a game was on. This is how our house worked growing up and I loved it.
I like to think I’ve tried every sport I could get my hands on. By the time I was ten years old I had already played soccer, gymnastics, dance, horseback riding, volleyball and the sport that defined my childhood… basketball.
I began playing basketball in the first grade. By the time I was in third grade I was on a club team coached by my dad and my best friend’s dad. The first year of club basketball saw countless tears and struggles while learning how to compete against girls three years older than me and twice my size. I played club from fourth grade to eighth grade, then continued to play high school basketball for four years after. During the season, my team and I traveled up and down California every weekend to play in tournaments. When I say basketball was all-consuming for me as a kid, it truly was. Nothing else tests your mental and physical capabilities like a sport your whole life revolves around for 12 years.
Basketball is still an important part of my life even if I don’t play it anymore. I love to watch games and reminisce with my old teammates when I can. Now that I’m older, watching basketball (specifically women’s basketball) brings up a side of the game that I never had to deal with as a kid… image. As a public relations major, I am extremely interested in public perception of brands and athletes, and how an image can help or harm them.
In my blog posts I will be talking about how different female basketball players have shaped their image, brand or reputation. I want to dig deeper into what players have done from the pr side of their careers and what effects it has had on them.
I’m very excited to write about the public relations side of basketball each week. I hope the passion I have for both PR and sports comes across in my writing. I know I’m going to enjoy crafting these posts and I hope you enjoy reading them.
Talk soon,
Shaelyn Ross