Published: February 06, 2008 10:21 am      

WHS student enjoying time as sideline reporter

A position as a High School Playbook sideline reporter for KOCO News Channel 5 has offered a local teen opportunities to gain experience and improve skills, which could prove valuable as she prepares for college and a career.

Woodward junior Mallory Ross, 17, said she has always had an interest in film – an interest that “started out as a hobby.”

“My cousins and I would make these stupid movies over holidays,” she said.

But soon Ross began to develop her skills and volunteered her talents to help her church make children’s music videos.

When her computer teacher Bryan Stephenson suggested she apply for the sideline reporter position, where she would get to film sporting events, Ross said she figured it was worth a shot. She filled out an application one day last and received a call from the television station the next day inviting her to interview.

Taking time out from her Thanksgiving break, she went to Oklahoma City and interviewed with some of the station members, including sports reporter Mark Rodgers.

“It was my first formal interview, so I was a little nervous,” Ross said. “But it went well.”

A few weeks later she got the call telling her she had been selected as the sideline reporter for the Northwest Oklahoma zone.

In her zone, Ross is responsible for covering games at 22 schools. She has been assigned to cover each school at least once by filming and editing footage from a game and then upload the footage to the website http://koco.highschoolplaybook.com/.

Ross is also encouraged to interview coaches, players and/or fans about the teams and their games.

However, Ross said she is “not an extremely outgoing person naturally.”

She said it has been hard to go outside her comfort zone and talk to people she doesn’t know, but she hopes that the experience as a sideline reporter will help her.

Ross said the experience is also helping her to further develop her filming and video editing skills. The station provided her with all her equipment, including a high definition camera, microphone and a tripod.

She said the camera has been especially fun to play with since it is of higher quality than what’s she worked with previously.

“It’s a nice camera,” she said.

Ross said the experience has allowed her to realize that it might be fun to pursue a career in broadcasting. Before she got the job she had just been considering careers in film.

While at the station in January training, Ross and other sideline reporters got a behind the scenes look at how the station handles breaking news.

Ross was in the news room as they provided coverage of a press conference held by former Oklahoma City Superintendent Robert Porter regarding the dispute over his handling of certain school district business.

She said the experience was “an adrenaline rush” and that it “definitely sparked an interest” in to pursue broadcasting.

Overall, Ross said so far being a sideline reporter has been “a great experience.”

“I’m finding out if I want to do it for the rest of my life,” she said.

Besides reporting from the sidelines, Ross is also active on the field as she is a goalie on the Woodward High School soccer team.

She also keeps active with involvement in a number of organizations including Students Teaching AIDS to Youth (STAY), Youth Alive, Pep Club, Key Club and the National Honor Society.

In addition, Ross works at Polly Anna Cafe, which she said is a fun job and is further helping her improve her people skills.