Young sportscaster dreams of SportsCenterCourtesy
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
(August 31, 2009) West Boca - When athletes met Joey Brander, 14, on the red carpet at big sports events this summer, they asked if he won a contest or if he works for his school newspaper.
"No, this is my profession," Brander said. Toting a microphone, the aspiring sports broadcaster is already focused on a career on-camera as a reporter for the website Global Broadcast 4 Kids. "You can never get tired of it," said Brander, an eighth-grader at Pine Crest School in Boca Raton. "You never know who is going to win the game or who is going to do well." Sports have been his passion since he first learned to read using the backs of baseball cards, Brander said. His brain is brimming with sports facts, like players' statistics, famous plays and game recaps. Brander watches SportsCenter on ESPN daily, dreaming of being the show's host one day. "He's like a little brainiac," said Scott McGinnis, Brander's producer at Global Broadcast 4 Kids for the past year. At the Excellence in Sports Performance annual awards last month, older journalists turned to Brander to find out who some players were or what teams they played for, McGinnis said. This fall, the kids' website will debut a weekly sports round-up show hosted by Brander. Hooked at an early age, teen journalists often cultivate a strong passion for the news, said William McKeen, chairman of the journalism department at the University of Florida. As director of UF's high school Summer Journalism Institute, McKeen meets a lot of young newscasters like Brander with lofty ambitions. "Some achieve their dream, some change their dream, and some don't achieve their dream," he said. "But at least they tried." Brander hears the same encouragement from his own mentors. "Never be afraid of the word 'no,'" he recalled ESPN's Stuart Scott telling him at the ESPYs. Brander talks to players about the mental aspect of the game and their expectations for upcoming seasons, keeping tabs on athletes through Twitter. "I try to ask questions from a kid's point of view, what interests kids," Brander said. "I think I'm still a kid, as long as I'm still younger than everyone else," he said. _______________________
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