The other side of an interview...

by Brittany Geragotelis

So, the coolest thing happened the other day when I logged on to Facebook. I had a message from the parent of a young boy who started a website called Teens On Sports. The kid, Matthew, is a middle school student who loves sports. He either wants to be a writer, editor or agent, and he's started a site to combine his two favorite interests. On his site, Matthew's published dozens of interviews he's done with a variety of athletes and other important people in the sports industry.

You can imagine my surprise when Matthew requested an interview with me. Apparently, he wanted to talk to me for 5-10 minutes on the phone and ask me a few questions about what it's like being a journalist.

I was flattered to say the least, but I was also confused as to how the kid had found me in the first place. Yes, I am a journalist...but it's for American Cheerleader magazine (Not exactly Sports Illustrated). And although I fully consider cheerleading to be one of the most physically demanding and athletically challenging sports out there, I don't think the general public shares my view. So, I basically asked, "Why me?" And then it all came together. Matthew has a sister who gets American Cheerleader!

The interview was set up for yesterday at 5:30pm (my time) and I sneaked out of the photo shoot we were at for our next issue, to give Matthew a call. The young man was totally professional and handled himself like a seasoned reporter (his sister was on the line, as well, and even threw a few questions my way!). He asked me why I chose to write for magazines, what I liked about American Cheerleader, who was my favorite interview so far, what my favorite subject was in school and who my heroes were growing up. I have to admit, it was a lot harder being on the other side of the interview than I thought.

All in all, the call went well and I hope they got what they were looking for in the interview. The feature will be on Matthew's website later this week or next, and I'll be sure to let you know when it's up. Now I'm hoping this is just a hint of what's to come...only next time it'll be me doing interviews for my recently published book!

5x5,
B.