The end of an internship: Ben Neely

One of his many great action shots taken at Nowra. Ben leaves AFL CW having completed his internship. PHOTO: Ben Neely

 

An addition to the 2o21 season was the appointment of Ben Neely on a local media internship. Ben, studying a degree in Sports Journalism at Charles Sturt University (CSU) provided weekly content for our website. Ben’s role helped create accessible AFL content, in addition to creating a catalogue of photos.

Ben has been a great asset to the league this season, providing dozens of articles to enjoy, and has set a benchmark for any future interns. We will begin evaluating our internship structure, as we look to continue a strong working relationship with CSU. We aim to appoint multiple media interns in 2022 as we push to further promote players, coaches and volunteers. Furthermore, we hope these changes will allow the promotion of, junior football, and Auskick programs.

Thank-you CSU for your support of our league’s promotion by assisting to coordinate this internship. Additionally, thank-you Ben for your involvement with us, good luck in the journalism workforce post-graduation.

Ben has penned a letter to the AFL Central West community, now that his internship has concluded.

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Six months ago, I was given the opportunity to start an internship with AFL CW, designed to help me learn and develop my journalism skills. Whilst excited by the opportunity, at first, I didn’t really know what to expect and I had a limited knowledge of AFL football.

I hit the ground running travelling to Parkes to cover the pre-season gala day. It was here that I was given my first taste of regional AFL football, and I was introduced to club presidents, coaches, and players from clubs across the league. Everyone I met on this day was welcoming and answered any questions I had.

Once we moved into the regular season, I began to work on covering one match each week. The initial concept was for me to travel and cover one game a week around the area. This included match previews and match reports. In order to help enhance my two main articles each week, I looked at interviewing coaches, players, and committee members. These interviews were a big asset to my professional development as it reinforced and improved skills that I learned whilst studying. I want to thank every single person that took time to talk with me either over the phone or at games.

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A big highlight of my time spent here with the AFL CW would be the trip to Nowra to cover the representative football. It was a fantastic weekend and a great experience watching some great footy. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to finish the season covering the finals due to COVID restrictions, but it was still a great year none the less and I would recommend it to any students studying journalism at university.

I want to acknowledge Jack Lynch from the AFL NSW/ACT for his time each fortnight to sit down and talk with me about my professional development and give feedback on my work. My work improved throughout the year due to the feedback given and I believe it will set me up well for after graduation.

Last but not least I want to give a big thankyou to Casey White from AFL CW. His time and guidance throughout the internship helped me tremendously.  From the start, he has been giving me the tools and freedom to help me succeed during my time here. Whenever I had a question about AFL, or something related to the internship, he would drop everything he was doing to help me, and I appreciated it greatly.

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I would recommend the AFL CW to any journalists looking to complete their internships. It was a great experience and helped to improve my skills as a journalist immensely.

Good luck to everyone in 2022, I’ll be sure to keep an eye on scores from the competition next season.

Ben

 

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