14 May 2015 | Cricket
Glamorgan batsman Jeremy Lawlor was one of four county cricketers who were given a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at Sky Sports News HQ. This was part of a Taster Day at the Sky Sports studios in Osterley.
Warwickshire batsman Laurie Evans, Yorkshire seamer Jack Brooks, Essex left-arm seamer Reece Topley and Jeremy enjoyed an insight into the planning, news-gathering, production and presentation processes.
The busy Taster Day was co-ordinated by David Townsend, one of the PCA's six-strong team of Personal Development Managers, and David Fulton, the former Kent batsman and captain, who works as a reporter for the channel and presenter for Sky Sports.
The day was a wonderful opportunity for players interested in pursuing a career in the media to get an idea of the amount of work that goes into putting Sky Sports News to air, Townsend said.
Sky were kind enough to offer our players a behind-the-scenes look at their whole operation, and it was fascinating to see the different components that go into creating a 24 hour sports news channel.
Experiences like this are invaluable in terms of giving players a taste of what it would be like to work in the media and the PCA is extremely grateful to Sky Sports News for providing this opportunity and we look forward to working closely with them in the future.
The visit began with the players sitting in on the daily production meeting at which the sports news schedule for the day was discussed.
The players also visited different departments - digital, planning, production and news desk - to understand how each of them works and how Sky Sports News bulletins are planned and produced.
The county quartet were shown how graphics are compiled including the in-studio news wall and the touch screen that Sky Sports News use to provide, for example, up-to-date information on county cricket.
They saw how the news desk dealt with a busy schedule of breaking sports news stories and sat in the gallery to see channel being put to air.
The day ended with a 30-minute question and answer session with presenters Kirsty Gallacher and Rob Wotton and recruitment partner Georgia Kemp.