6 Big Name Sports Stars Share Their Secrets of Media Mastery

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Resource Box: MediaMasters

“6 Big Name Sports Stars Share Their Secrets of Media Mastery”

by Jeremy Nicholas & Alan Stevens

(c) Jeremy Nicholas. All Rights Reserved.

There was a time, when the last couple of pages of a
newspaper, would be for the sports coverage. There’d be
results, reports and a few quotes from the athletes. The big
name stars might be profiled on quiet news days, but that
was about it.

Quietly over the years, the couple of back pages have
evolved into pull-out sports sections. A big name star can
expect to be all over the papers, and not just because of
their sporting prowess. They’re just as likely to be in the
front pages as the back.  Private lives are seemingly fair
game too.

Sporting professionals are confident and capable people. How
else would they have reached the top of their field.   The
problem is their skills are often in their feet or hands,
and not in their tongue.  So how can they be expected to
cope with all the media attention, without sometimes being
‘caught offside’?

I’ve spent the past year interviewing people in the public
eye. Along with my co-author, Alan Stevens, we’ve
interviewed twenty five mediamasters.  Six of those are
sports stars. Here’s what they told us about coping with the
intense pressure of media interest.

Olympic gold medal winning canoeist, Tim Brabants suggest
getting professional help.  ‘Take any media training that is
going. Interviews are good for publicity and attract
sponsors.’

England’s Grand Slam winning rugby captain, Will Carling has
seen his attitude change over the years. ‘It’s only when you
are older that you realise the importance of the media.  I
was England captain at 22 and soon decided the media were a
bunch of idiots. They probably thought the same of me.’

Tanni Grey-Thompson has done more post race interviews than
most athletes, after her record haul of Paralympic medals.
She says she’s coped better because of practise. ‘You often
get asked the same questions.  So I just got better and
better at answering those questions.’

She says says building good relationships with journalists
is also vital. ‘The media have been good to me, because I
always agree to help.’

Gail Emms says it helps to be an extrovert. The former
Commonwealth badminton champion says she really enjoys being
on television, but warns you are only good as your last
interview. ‘I had one bad experience with a journalist. I
was tired, ill and sarcastic and it went badly wrong.’

She says it’s important to treat every journalist with
respect. ‘It can get a little tedious, but someone has been
given the task of interviewing me and it’s not their fault
I’ve done twenty interviews already.’

Sailor Dee Caffari suggests giving the media what they want.
During her round the world trips she’s sent back video,
audio and text messages for use by the media.  Dee says you
should not  let nerves get the better of you. The other
person probably won’t notice. ‘People often think I’m more
confident than I am. I don’t let on that I’m nervous.’

Rebecca Adlington went from an unknown teenager to a golden
girl of British swimming during one week at the Beijing
Olympics. She advises anyone thrust suddenly into the
spotlight to make a plan. ‘Just try and enjoy it as much as
possible. If you are organised and everything is slotted in,
you can easily find ten minutes to do an interview. Being
organised has been the main thing for me. ‘

Becky also says it’s important to be yourself in interviews
and not put on an act. ‘I don’t see the point in being
anyone else. If people don’t like that then fair enough. You
can’t get on with everyone.’

If only all sports stars were as good at mastering the media
as the six in our book. A good interview should leave the
audience ‘over the moon’ instead of the all too often
feeling of being ‘as sick as a parrot’.

~~~

There’s plenty more advice from the other MediaMasters in
the book too (ISBN 1-905430-61-2), which is available from
Amazon, or the authors’ websites at www.mediacoach.co.uk or
www.jeremynicholas.co.uk.

~~~

MediaMasters features insider secrets from: Terry Wogan,
Phill Jupitus, Michael Parkinson, Uri Geller, Brian Clough,
Will Carling, Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, Gered Mankowitz,
Neil Mullarkey, Rebecca Adlington, Michael Aspel,Dee
Caffari, George Galloway and Hugh Pym. Get it at…
(UK) http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1905430612
(INT) http://www.amazon.com/dp/1905430612/ref=nosim

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