by Looking back at my internship, there is a lot that I can take away from it so far. Learning from individuals like Charlie Weber and Lena Crown have changed the way I approach my research and writing of all my articles so far. With all of them still being worked on, my first article on cultural and national identities in American professional futsal is in the process of being broken down into three separate articles. The research and interview process in making these articles have greatly shaped how their stories flow. Since I began writing my articles, there have been many successes and challenges that I have endured throughout the semester long internship.
There are several successes that I felt I have had since beginning this internship. For one, the interviews I have been able to conduct have been flawless in their development. Interviews with Tony Toral (NY Ecuador), Tyler Weiss (Maccabi USA), and Kaue Martins (Brusa FC) highlight some of the big names whose stories and insights I’ve been able to hear. These interviews have been essential to create my articles, including from the bevy of players and staff of these teams. Also, Charlie’s insights and Lena’s writing tips have played a big role in fixing my bad writing habits, such as redundancies and negative space issues that I have had writing articles in the past.
With that in mind, there have also been a lot of challenges throughout the process. For one, I am still having a hard time on making the stories entirely personal, as there are some aspects I feel that I won’t be able to fully capture without that personal experience. For example, I have had no luck in getting fans of these futsal clubs into the article, and therefore I have to go off of the very few times I have watched and witnessed their games at big tournaments like Northeast Regionals. The other big challenge I’ve had has been telling these stories in articles with a word count limit. There’s so much I can talk about, but the word count limit has forced me to take pivot details and stories out of the article.
Addressing these challenges may not be as hard as I have previously predicted. In regards to the personal parts of the story, I can take my own experiences and combine them with written accounts from some of the staff, players, and coaches from these clubs. This will help make the story more relatable when giving it a personal feel. As for the word count limitations, breaking the articles into separate articles may help as well. I have already begun the process in breaking one down into three different articles, and I have been able to reincorporate details that can answer many questions that my peers have.
In conclusion, these are just some of the successes and challenges I’ve had with this internship. All the insight I’ve been getting from my peers has greatly affected my ability to talk about the cultural and national identities of the things I’m passionate about. To have the privilege to tell these stories about these futsal clubs and players has been one of my proudest moments, and I hope to portray that in my articles. I am looking forward to what the second half of the semester and internship will have for me.
