2008: Budding journalist keeps eye on the ball

Views: 36,787 views. Comments: No Comment.
Tags: journalism and communication, sport, winter-2009

Jacqueline Russell, BJ

UQ journalism graduate and netballer Jacqueline Russell is on track to a career in sports journalism after being accepted into the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS).

Jacqueline Russell

Miss Russell graduated last year from a Bachelor of Journalism and began at the AIS in January, having been introduced to netball at age eight.

She aims to become a sports journalist and help increase media coverage of women’s sport.

“Being at the AIS will help me achieve my career goals as it means I will constantly be around athletes and not just netballers, but people from a wide range of sports,” Ms Russell said.

“I will hopefully be doing an internship with the AIS media department while I’m in Canberra. The internship would be a very useful starting point for my career.”

Miss Russell balances work commitments with morning and evening court sessions as well as fitness, strength and conditioning training.

“It’s a fairly rigorous program, so fitting in work commitments will be tough but a good challenge,” she said.

Miss Russell intends to use her training at the AIS as a stepping stone into an ANZ Championship team such as the Queensland Firebirds.

During her final year of studies at UQ, Miss Russell travelled to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing as a volunteer cadet.

Twenty-one UQ students were given the opportunity to participate as volunteer cadets, working for the Olympic News Service.

The students’ main role was to gather responses from athletes directly after their competitions and rush them to foreign journalists.

“We learnt so much and we had an absolute ball,” Miss Russell said.

“We got to interview all sorts of different athletes, climb the Great Wall and I even met Usain Bolt.”

Miss Russell’s career highlights have included playing for Queensland at the national championships, representing Australia at schoolgirls level and training in the Firebirds squad in 2008.

By Eliza Plant

• Home
• Graduate Contact
• Alumni Profiles
• Global Education: Divining world trends