If someone had asked me two months ago to name Richland Source’s biggest editorial challenge, I would have been thankful for such an easy question. It was high school sports.
Two months ago we had exactly zero experienced sports reporters or correspondents, very few contacts in high school athletic departments, and no name recognition… Richland What? Since school sports are such an important part of Richland County’s connective tissue, becoming competent by the time football season kicked off quickly became a very big topic among our whole team. Would we make varsity?
We got started in July by sending our reporters to find and meet high school athletic directors and coaches, and began seeking correspondents. I think all of us would have said that just being passable on week one of football season would have been a victory, given how far we had to come.
And so, if that same someone had told me that on opening night for high school football we would cover three games; and in the week leading up to it publish six team previews of various sports, cover two varsity soccer matches, and predict the outcomes of all the area football conferences I would have offered to call that person a cab. They would have obviously been unfit to drive. But that is what our team accomplished for themselves and our community this past week.
Oh, and we did that while moving in to our offices downtown and hosting a packed open house Friday night. Seriously, have you been to these Final Friday concerts downtown in the Brickyard? They are a lot of fun!
And so thank you to everyone on the Richland Source team who worked so hard to get ready for high school sports season. Thanks to our staff reporters and editors who worked tirelessly to build relationships with athletic departments over the summer. Thanks to correspondents like Carl Hunnell, Jeff Swank, and Curt Conrad and photographer Mike Thompson who gave us instant on-the-field cred. Thanks to our all the Facebook and Twitter supporters who relentlessly used #rshss to help us report and introduce us to their communities. And thanks to all of you who are reading Richland Source, telling your friends, and helping us grow.
Drop us a line anytime at contact@richlandsource.com. See you at the games.
