After moving into the role of sports editor recently, I can’t help but think of how things are different since moving to Creston.
I’ve been here 13 months and have had the privilege to be immersed in the local sports scene and have been granted amazing access into the hearts, the eyes and the hearts and the souls and the minds (as a pro wrestler Colt Cabana likes to say) of local sports figures.
Having CNA Senior Feature Writer Larry Peterson and Managing Editor Scott Vicker’s assistance has been beyond helpful in my transition to editor.
Scott, Publisher Rich Paulsen and somebody else somewhere decided it was in their best interests to entrust me with responsibilities. Crazy right?
Getting acclimated to the pagination/page design process has been slower than I would have hoped. I admittedly had patience issues in college as it pertained to learning new tools for my advancement in the journalism world. Jumping into the fray of everyday sports journalism has put me into the deep end of the pool per se, and it’s not an option anymore. Embracing the challenges of the job, which will present themselves more frequently now, is just part of the gig.
And I am grateful.
Spring nights have stretched to summer evenings in the newsroom over the last month and with it, so have the tunes changed. Anybody who knows me know that I get on some serious music kicks.
Previous sports editor Ryan Kronberg knows all about how Less Than Jake and Dixie Chicks can occupy the forefront of my mind for weeks on end.
Larry Peterson has already had to endure a bevy of musical selections from psychedelic rock outfit Tame Impala to Fleetwood Mac to some good ol’ Shania Twain.
Having to take on more responsibility with the Osceola Sentinel Tribune, which Vicker is still tackling for the most part, has been good as I’ve already begun to encounter more of the area kids and coaches that I had only heard the names of before.
Summer sports nears its end, with several of our CNA and OST area teams having a strong chance to make runs deep into the postseason.
I know how exciting this time of the year can be, following teams around on hot summer nights, teams pitching their aces, the intensity of games amped up tenfold, it all makes for a great atmosphere.
State softball, the first state finals I experienced with Creston and Interstate 35 there last year, was perhaps my favorite event I’ve covered since I became an Iowan.
And now, in my first sports season as sports editor, it’s entirely likely I’ll get to have that privilege of covering it again with the title “Sports Editor.”
As summer wraps up and we head into that time where I frantically search for coaches’ contacts, information about seasons past and story lines to keep up with in the fall, I’ll look to the people in southwest and south central Iowa to help guide me.
I know this staff has done that for years, and I can only hope that the sports staff continues to cover the area as well as, or even better than the award-winning journalists whose plaques used to perch above my desk.
I’ll always welcome a message.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Contact the writer:
Twitter: (@Kaleb_M_Carter)
Facebook: (Kaleb Carter Creston News Advertiser/Osceola Sentinel Tribune)
Email: Kacarter@crestonnews.com