NFL Star Menelik Watson & Footballer Nedum Onuoha joined young people from HideOut Youth Zone to be interviewed for the Broadcast Academy’s fourth podcast.
The Raheem Sterling Foundation launched the Raheem Sterling Broadcast Academy, in partnership with talkSPORT in October 2022. The academy has been set up to introduce the world of sports media and journalism to aspiring youngsters looking for a career in this industry.
The young people interviewed the sports stars, asking questions about their most memorable moments to the challenges they have faced during their careers
Menelik, born and bred in Longsight, Manchester, gave the young people advice on breaking the rules, ‘’The world can often make you feel like you don’t have many options, but I decided to break that rule to reach what I wanted.”
‘’A lot of times in life we look to other people to place blame on them, but it is important to never put your life in the hands of someone else. Never let someone else control your feelings and your life.’’
Image: Footballer Nedum Onuoha with young people.
Second to be interviewed was Nedum Onuoha, who played for Manchester City and originally from Miles Platting. He shared his stories off the pitch and what it meant to him to make his debut on the pitch, ‘’I was Speechless. It was really really special. Something you can’t fully prepare for. You are playing football but in front of 40k people… it’s different. The field feels a little bit bigger; the lights feel a little bit brighter. An incredible moment for me and the start of my career.’’
Image: NFL Star Menelik Watson with young people.
Sarah Collins, Executive Producer at talkSPORT said, ‘’There were some great questions asked by the pupils, it is so good for them to meet these sporting role models, it allows them to see that no matter where you come from you can achieve great things – can you get much better than being an NFL player at the Oakland Raiders or Premier league player for Manchester City!?’’
Episodes three and four in the series will be launched soon via the talkSPORT website. The Broadcast Academy will next be back in Brent, with young people from Ark Elvin Academy and the young Brent Foundation, to record the fifth podcast.
