Canada’s first sport media grads

In 2014, the RTA School of Media (external link)  launched Canada’s first-ever sport media program. Four years later, the first cohort of students from this one-of-a-kind program graduated on June 7. In between, they got in-depth training in sports journalism, from reporting on Ryerson athletics to assisting on two separate Olympics for the CBC.

What was it like to be in the first cohort? We asked two graduating students, Sarah Jenkins and Nolan Cattell.

It was a love of sports that brought Cattell to the program. “Growing up, I’d always had a passion for sports,” he remembers. “I played multiple sports as a kid—hockey, baseball, football, rugby—and I was always watching sports. My family always said, ‘You’re definitely going into sports one day.’

“That was my passion, but I always wanted to go into sport media because there’s a difference between being a fan and pursuing it as your passion. I didn’t just want to be there—I wanted to cover it on a broadcast.”

A similar passion guided Jenkins, but her route to the program came from a bump in the road. “When I was in my Grade 12 year, I got a concussion that I knew would end my hockey career,” she says. “I wasn’t actually considering sport media until I realized that I could pursue my sports career in another way. It was after my final concussion when I realized, ‘Maybe I could still work in sports—just not in the way I thought I would.’”

The program’s hands-on style of education put students in the studios of the RTA Sportsnet Centre at the Mattamy Athletic Centre (MAC), handling everything from producing to on-air hosting. “Working in the studio labs—getting to go to school at Maple Leaf Gardens and taking classes literally inside the arena in the RTA SportsNet studios—was pretty cool,” says Cattell. “On top of that, a lot of us were able to do extra-curriculars for Rams Live (external link) , which produces all the broadcasts for Rams Athletics. Getting to work on hockey, basketball, volleyball, soccer broadcasts—that was a highlight. I was able to be on-air in some of those positions as well, which was fulfilling the dream.”

Jenkins was able to make history as part of the first-ever all-female live sports broadcast (external link) . “Getting to say you were the first at this will never happen again, and that opportunity came through the Sport Media program.”

Another highlight for both was the fourth-year practicum: Jenkins and Catell collaborated to create Power Never Quits (external link) , a three-part documentary series in association with SickKids. “We showed three patients who had gone through SickKids and how sport impacts their stories,” says Catell. “All three were diagnosed with osteosarcoma—bone cancer—so they all had their legs amputated. We also had a gala for it, so we were able to raise $20,000 for SickKids. That was really rewarding and it’s probably the project I’m most proud of.”

Jenkins now works as a video producer for Yahoo Sports. “Ryerson really prepared me for it,” she says. “Everything from branding and marketing to video production and live production and how to write a story. It’s an all-encompassing job because I work on such a small team, so the well-rounded experience I got at RTA Sport Media has really prepared me.”

Meanwhile, Cattell is pursuing a different path, starting three years as Osgoode Hall Law School in the fall. “I always enjoyed studying law, and I feel like combining my two passions could go a bunch of ways. I could be an entertainment lawyer or a sports agent or in the front office for a team or major league. Or, if I don’t want to do that, I could go back into production. It’s great to have all that information for opening up more doors.”