‘I’ve loved it.’ High school athletes get jump on careers as ‘Ball Report’ interns.
Now in its 17th season, the “Scholastic Ball Report” has highlighted the athletic and academic achievements of hundreds of athletes during the high school sports season each week on CWKYT.
But the achievements of those guests are just part of the legacy of the Gary Ball-produced show. Ball has also mentored dozens of student-athlete interns who take a full part in the broadcasts each year and have used the experience as a springboard to their future college and professional careers.
“I hope to pursue a career in news broadcasting, so it’s been great to see how it actually works and how it all plays out and to see if I’d really be interested in doing this for a living and I’ve loved it, so far,” said Grace Hager, a Lexington Christian Academy tennis player who found out about the internship from her journalism teacher. “I was very surprised by the amount of work that goes on behind the camera — the amount of editing — it really makes you appreciate the show a lot more.”
Hager is one of five interns who’ve been a part of the show since it resumed for the fall sports season in August. With her are Allie Viney, a Scott County swimmer and “Ball Report” veteran now in her third year; Davis Brown, who plays basketball and baseball at Frederick Douglass; Karson Purdy, a Douglass lacrosse player; and Allison DeMoss, a Douglass soccer player.
“It’s been good,” Brown said of the experience. “It’s surprising. I like how it’s a challenge to learn the questions and you get to see new people and you get to learn about these teams, because I’m a sports guy, it’s cool to learn about these high school sports.”
Confidence required
Ball likes employing student-athletes because they seem to already come equipped with the confidence necessary to be in front of the camera.
“When you’re doing a TV show, you’re bringing in a 17-, 16-, 18-year-old person in here as an intern, they have to have confidence that they can project on the air,” Ball said.
Some of the interns admitted that confidence has been something they’ve had to grow into.
“When I first started, I was super nervous,” Brown said. “I’ve never been on TV before, so naturally, I was nervous. … I was just worried that everything was judgy, but I’ve learned to be more cool with it and calmed down.”
Learning to speak in public, whether it be in front of a group or on camera, is an essential part of almost any job, Ball said. And the show is essentially trial by fire.
“It’s a lot of memorizing and coming up with things on the spot, so it’s really helped me become a better public speaker,” Purdy said.
‘They really enjoy doing it’
To see how impactful the “Ball Report” has been, one need look no further than one of Ball’s very first interns, Mario Anderson, a Bryan Station High School grad who is now an anchor and television host on cable’s Spectrum News channel.
“The ‘Scholastic Ball Report’ was my first experience ever stepping inside a television studio, complete with bright studio lights, production cameras and teleprompters,” Anderson said. “I was grateful for the opportunity to be one of the very first students to serve as an intern under Gary Ball, learning the ropes of this then-startup television program that focused on all things high school sports. All these years later, the program has continued to evolve, and I can honestly say that this experience further ignited my interest to pursue the broadcasting field. It’s an industry that I’ve loved being a part of for nearly a decade.”
Ball, who some might also know from his radio and PrepSpin.com play-by-play calls of high school games over the years and his signature “soup-and-a-sandwich” line whenever a basketball player makes a basket and gets fouled, said the show’s guests and its interns help keep keep him young, “because they have such excitement. And they really enjoy doing it.”
Keep those grades up
Earlier this school year, the players and the head coach from Male’s football team drove over from Louisville on a weeknight to be part of the show.
“We highlight student-athletes. The criteria is they can play any sport, boy or girl. They have to have a 3.4 GPA,” Ball said. “It doesn’t matter what school you call, it can be Central Kentucky, Louisville, whatever, there’s hundreds of kids that have a 3.4.”
While weekly high school football and basketball highlights are part of the programming, the show has also featured Lafayette’s championship marching band, among other things people might not associate as sport.
“We’ve had bowling on this show, we’ve had tennis, you name it. It’s not just a basketball and football show. It really isn’t,” Ball said.
“Scholastic Ball Report” normally airs at noon Sundays on CWKYT and is later available for viewing on WKYT’s YouTube channel.
“It’s something different to do for sure,” said Douglass’s DeMoss. “It’s a lot of fun, and you meet a lot of new people. … It’s a great community of people.”
This story was originally published December 25, 2019 at 9:19 AM.
