“Keep writing, stay resilient and stay sharp”, said Michael Pantelidis of the Queens Courier, when asked what advice he would give an aspiring sports reporter. He believed that one should always be writing, and to never be stagnant, you can always improve your craft.
When asked what he enjoyed most, he replied “being able to pass on my passion to whoever is out there reading my sports articles, I really get a kick out of that”. He continued “I hope the readers are enjoying specific sentences or phrases that I use, and I hope they come away from it impassioned and a greater love of sports”.
A passion that he believes he always had, he’d always had a passion for sports, and loved writing, combining the two made what he called a natural fit. When deciding what career path to choose, it seemed like a no brainer to simply combine the two activities he loves most. This natural fit ultimately led to him attending NYU, where he participated in the Washington Square News, the school news paper.
The number one mistake Pantelidis believes aspiring sports journalists in general make, is limiting themselves.”Don’t narrow your choices down to only sports writing”, he adds. Pantelidis recalls when he first started working at the Queens Courier, things were different. He remembered that for the first 3 months he was given general assignments, no specificity.”When I first got here, I did whatever story I was assigned, until I was finally able to do what I wanted”, he remembers.
He soon got some “wiggle room” and talked the paper into letting him do a Mets column which he runs, and was eventually given enough leeway began what he deems “Soccer Roundup”. A Mets column for the Queens Courier to him seemed logical, as they are the only professional team located in Queens. This is proof that you can go from being a general assignment reporter to having your own column, which Pantelidis proudly calls “The Mets Clubhouse”.
“Just because a job isn’t what you ultimately want to do, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take it, you know there is more than one way to get where you are going.” And even if you don’t have a job, Pantelidis thinks you should just blog, whether it be about your opinions or just sports, submitting it somewhere could get you a job.
“No matter what you do, never stop writing, you should always express yourself and be ready to share all those ideas with people, someone is bound to hear your voice eventually, you know.”In the end, in choosing a profession that you love, it won’t seem like much of job. When asked if there are any dislikes that come with being a sports writer, he hesitated for awhile, before replying, “I cant say that there are any!”, as he laughed.
