I started working with the Bananas in January 2024 after applying for an internship position in late 2023. I was offered a media relations internship for the spring, a role they created for me after I fit the culture didn't quite fit in any of the other internship roles they were looking to fill. I had been looking for a job that would allow me to work within a team but still be able to continue the storytelling I enjoyed doing journalism.
On a daily basis, I worked with our director of media relations Sam Bauman on taking care of media members who were coming to cover our 2024 Banana Ball World Tour on the road and at home in Grayson Stadium, providing them with rosters, the story of our organization and any other information they may need. We also worked closely with the marketing and broadcast staff to create or assist with content that helps promote and grow the story and goals of the Bananas.
Coming into a first-of-its kind position, I had to learn what I was capable of accomplishing each week of a grueling schedule while providing media members and our staff with anything they needed.
I made it a goal to provide 1) the basics of our game and organization in the email media members received the week of their game, 2) more game-specific details upon their arrival at the ballpark, 3) a play-by-play of all the unusual things we do before, during and after games, 4) a shot list of the day’s events for anyone needing visual information and 5) a press release with relevant information from the night, a box score recapping the events of the game itself and any broadcast or social media clips that may have been relevant for their coverage.
I worked with staff from ESPN, Forbes, the Boston Globe, the Atlanta Falcons and many more creators who were either covering our game in some capacity or were guests in some part of our show.
Thank you Tanner Smith from “Love On The Spectrum” for joining the party! ♥️😎🎉 #loveonthespectrum
As we added a third team in May 2024, growing the game of Banana Ball became a major focus, so in my pregame emails to media members and in postgame press releases, I made a point to tell the story of each game and tour stop while also providing context for how it fit into the overall history of Banana Ball.
ESPN on Instagram: "Unbelievable moment for this fan 🔥"
I'm certainly not a video creator, so a lot of my role is generating story ideas, assisting Sam with filming and interviews and then helping decide how to best tell the story we're working with. I do the same with media members since our organization is so unusual to those who cover typical sports — I provide them with as much information about Banana Ball as possible and try to help them find the best angle for the story they want to tell. To do that, I created both media guides and box scores to give the most comprehensive picture of Banana Ball possible.
Due to file size restrictions and the massive size of a typical Banana Ball media guide, this is not the full version, but a small visual of the rosters for each team.
The primary learning curve while designing these was information quantity — I had to spend some time talking to our media members on the 2024 Banana Ball World Tour before I could decide how much the average reporter might know about Banana Ball.
Full media guides can be found here:
2024 Banana Ball Media Guides - Google Drive
It grew quickly — rosters, player biographies, coaching staff, entertainment information, cast photos, FAQs, the timeline and origin story of the Savannah Bananas. While it became very large very fast, it became an all-encompassing guide that media members could skim or refer back to often, depending on their needs. With so many players to begin with and then adding a third team during the season, it became a reference guide for me to use going into a tour stop to learn storylines for places players had ties to.