My love for sports started when I was young. I have played baseball since I was five, football since I was in the fourth grade, and even though I was not the best at them I had a fun time playing when I could.

As I got older, I started paying more attention to the Chicago Bears and St. Louis Cardinals due to my mom. She got me into watching the Bears every Sunday in the Fall, and now it is the time of year that I always look forward to.

By the time I got to high school, I knew that I was not going to be playing baseball or football in college. But- I knew I wanted to do something with sports as a job.

It was not until my junior year that I decided that I wanted to be a sports journalist. It made sense to write about something that I already love to talk about and have an understanding of.

My freshman year at Eastern I did not get involved in The News because I wanted to get acclimated to college life. I will admit- I was a bit scared. Towards the end of my freshman year, I gathered up the courage to apply for the Assistant Sports Editor job and I got it.

I am a little bit nervous about being an editor. By doing this job, I hope to grow as a writer and editor and gain experience in the area of sports writing.

I also want to gain more knowledge about other sports. Even though I have a basic knowledge of how most sports work right now, I only have an in-depth knowledge about baseball, football, and basketball.

This year I should be able to do that because I am going to be the writer for the men’s soccer team.

One thing I am looking forward to is getting to know the coaches and players that I interview and building relationships with them. I hope that my experience from playing baseball and football will help me to relate to the athletes and ask better questions.

One thing that I enjoy about sports, like the newsroom, is the camaraderie you build with the people around you because you spend so much time around them.

Playing baseball and football is how I got introduced to many of my friends that I have now. I hope that the same will happen from working in a newsroom.

Playing and watching sports helped grow my passion for it, and I hope to be able to take that into my reporting.

Even though I might not have too much experience, I hope that the classes and experiences I get throughout the year will help to improve my ability and my confidence.

I know that being an Assistant Sports Editor will be a challenge, but hopefully I will be able to learn and improve through the year.

Luther Yoder can be reached at lyoder@eiu.edu or 217-581-2812.