(September 28, 2011) Adam Young‘s favorite sport for play-by-play is basketball, but he hasn’t had a chance to do it regularly since he was a sophomore in college. Until now. An STAA client, Young has been named women’s basketball play-by-play voice at his alma mater, Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville.
“This is what I wanted to do in the off-season,” Young says excitedly. “This is my favorite sport and the sport I feel I am best at.”
In the years immediately before and after his graduation from SIUE in May 2010, Young has been deeply immersed in broadcasting baseball. He spent summer 2009 as a No.2 broadcaster with the Gateway Grizzlies in suburban St. Louis. In 2010 he moved to the Fayetteville (NC) SwampDogs before returning to the Grizzlies this season as lead broadcaster.
During the past baseball off-season, Young stayed sharp broadcasting a variety of sports for McKendree University near St. Louis.
The opportunity to call SIUE women’s basketball came to Young through his friend, mentor and former boss at Gateway, Joe Pott. Since 2008, Pott has served as the primary radio voice of Cougars athletics. When the school decided to expand its coverage of women’s basketball, Pott contacted Young.
Interview: Adam shares his top strategies for landing sports broadcasting jobs.
Young, who will continue broadcasting Gateway baseball, advises sports broadcasting job seekers to stay optimistic. “You don’t get call backs or [employers] tell you they already have their finalists — it gets discouraging at times,” he says. “There have been jobs I thought I had a good chance of getting but didn’t. It turns out everything I needed is right in my back yard. I started to realize everything is happening for a reason.”
Young says staying in touch with people is another key to his success. “I feel like things happen because I network as best as I can. When stuff like [SIUE] comes up, my name is brought up.”
(Visit Adam’s STAA Talent Page).