Over the past 3 weeks I have listened to various basketball podcasts and created my own. The more I record these interviews, the more I find my voice. As I go in depth and talk through the different aspects of basketball, I gain more knowledge and a multitude of perspectives on the sport. This research and the insights I gain allow me to form my voice as a player and as a person. 

I have listened to a variety of other basketball podcasts to keep up with the world of the sport and to learn more about how professional sports analysts share their thoughts. I pay particular attention to the way they introduce their opinions and the how they interview their guests. The main podcast I have been listening to is called “Woj Pod.” The podcast is hosted by an NBA analyst, Adrian Wojnarowski. In his latest podcast, he interviews the New York Knicks star player, Julius Randle. The interview covers a range of topics, from a discussion of playing at Madison Square Garden to the remembrance of Kobe Bryant. Adrian’s podcast begins with more surface level questions to make the interviewee feel comfortable talking while also building a relationship with them. Then he goes deeper by talking about the special relationship between Kobe and Randle. My podcast follows a similar structure as my questions become progressively deeper. My latest interview with my teammate Henry Boone begins with talking about his career in basketball, then transitions to how the game has changed the way he views the world. While I draw inspiration from Adrian’s podcast, I do not need to build that same relationship that he does because the interviewees on my podcast are all my close friends or coaches. 

My essential question has shifted from, “How do I share the insights of youth?”  to, “What are the insights of youth?” Although I believe the latter question was the one I wanted to pursue all along, I was going about it in the wrong way. My initial question of “How can we share the youths insights?” could be answered easily and simply. The podcast is the answer. However, by changing the question from “how” to “what,” it allows me to explore the different backgrounds and ideas of each player or coach, which is what I wanted to investigate from the beginning of this process. Through this new approach, I am not focused on building a platform for the youth to express their opinion but instead asking for their opinion and thereby creating the platform. I am interested in investigating even more perspective on the sport throughout the rest of the senior project.