Time files and this is my final post for PR 393 on my work
placement at WA Water Polo.
The highlight of my internship was definitely working at the
2012 FINA World Youth Water Polo Championships in the media team as a media
coordinator. It was a highly exciting and challenging position at the very same
time, as I had to write match reports, assist with news gathering and
publishing and provide the social media content for the tournament. I had to
work under large amounts of pressure, as I had to observe the water polo
matches and complete a match report within 45 minutes of each game. I was
definitely out of my element as I’ve never analysed water polo matches
previously and I had to quickly learn how to do that effectively in order to do
a write up on a match. This gave a taste of what it would be like to be sports
journalist, working for large international sporting events. I was also tasked
to update all the social media platforms that included Facebook and Twitter. It
was certainly different from working in a office environment, being more fast
paced and exciting as reports had to be written and published shortly after
matches. I also had the opportunity to interview players for flash quotes that
were to be included in the match reports. My match reports were immediately
published on the official FINA World Youth Water Polo Championships website
right after each match and it was exciting to know that my work was being read
by many people following the tournament all around the world.
In my earlier post, I provided updates on planning the Final
Night Function that was to be held at the end of the championships for the
participants of the competition. It was a successful event that ran smoothly
from the beginning to the end (except that it rained a few hours before the
function started and the ground was wet and soggy, but that did not prove to be
a major problem) and I was relieved that there were no major problems or issues
that came up on the night of the function.
Overall, I definitely had a great internship at WA Water
Polo. Despite being challenging at times, I feel that I had plenty of
opportunities to put the skills that I have learnt in my public relations units
at Curtin to practice during the course of my internship. It was a great
experience and I am confident that it has prepared me for a public relations
related position in the future.
Deva
