For Penn State senior and sports activities reporter Cailey Thalman, sports activities have been at all times an enormous a part of her life. Even as a younger woman attending hockey video games along with her dad, Thalman wasn’t simply watching video games, however reasonably asking questions, lots of them.
“I wanted to know all the rules. I wanted to know who all the players were,” Thalman stated. “I was just always really interested in what was going on.”
As she grew older, that curiosity by no means wavered. Instead, it fueled her profession at Penn State that now spans almost each position in sports activities media: anchor, sideline reporter, producer, and host. Most importantly, it continues to develop effectively past Happy Valley’s campus.
Thalman grew up attending varied sports activities video games across the Washington, D.C. space along with her dad. First, it was hockey, after which soccer quickly adopted. As the years continued, Thalman turned increasingly within the sports activities business, but nonetheless questioned if it was a practical profession path.
“I was really good at school,” Thalman stated. “So in my head, it was like, I should go to medical school or do something like that. Looking back on it, that mindset makes no sense.”
During her junior 12 months in highschool, issues modified with a push of encouragement from her dad and mom and grandfather, the previous athletic director of communications for Penn State soccer. It was from then on that Thalman determined she was all in.
Thalman had choices when selecting a college. But after attending Penn State’s 2021 Whiteout recreation in opposition to Auburn, the choice was made.
“I was on the verge of tears the entire game. I was so happy just being there. That environment, it just felt like home,” stated Thalman.
With a mix of that have, her acceptance into the Bellisario College of Communications, and a scholarship via the Schreyers Honors College, Penn State felt unimaginable to show down.
“I remember thinking every single sign possible is pointing me here, I need to go,” stated Thalman.
Once on campus, Thalman wasted no time becoming a member of Penn State Sports Night and made it a degree to place herself on digicam as usually as doable.
“I wasn’t the best person at being on camera at the beginning,” stated Thalman. “But the only way to get better is to keep doing it.”
She credit Penn State alumnus, Destiny Sanchez, as a serious early affect, as each a mentor and advocate. It is from Sanchez that Thalman realized about working with Penn State Athletics and wasted no time pursuing the chance.
Between sending chilly emails and ready exterior officers’ places of work, Thalman’s efforts ultimately paid off. Thalman joined Penn State Athletics’ on-camera crew and commenced reporting each sport for Big Ten Plus.
“I said yes to everything,” stated Thalman. “Track, swimming, soccer, volleyball, field hockey; literally everything. Even if I wasn’t as familiar with the sport, I wasn’t gonna let that stop me.”
Thalman’s experiences didn’t simply cease in entrance of the digicam, as she ultimately turned a producer for Penn State Sports Night.
“I owe everything I’ve done to that first opportunity; I will never want to leave,” stated Thalman.
Thalman’s summers have been simply as busy as the varsity 12 months. After gaining expertise working particularly in faculty baseball, Thalman spent her most up-to-date summer season in Fayetteville, Arkansas, interning with Hogs Plus, a media firm specializing in exterior storytelling.
That expertise proved priceless when Penn State Athletics transitioned its personal content material division to Roar+. Having labored in an identical atmosphere, Thalman was in a position to make profitable contributions to the event of the brand new Penn State media platform.
Those connections led her again to Penn State, the place she undertook a nationwide position reporting a pregame present, alongside reporters Jason McCourty and Christian Hackenberg. Additionally, Thalman was just lately supplied a place to work as a sideline reporter for this 12 months’s Super Bowl with the Associated Press.
Despite her fixed work schedule, Thalman says the one factor she’s most happy with is the connections she’s made with so many individuals. One piece that holds a particular place in her coronary heart was created through the College World Series this previous summer season when she interviewed Arkansas baseball participant Cam Kojo in his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska.
“It felt like a homecoming for him, playing in the College World Series in front of family and friends, with about 60 people there. I did a long sit-down with his parents to learn where he came from, because the people who influence you on and off the field really shape who you are. That’s why those person-to-person stories matter. Hearing how his parents talk about Cam, and how Cam talks about them, creates a dynamic that’s really compelling for fans,” stated Thalman.
As a journalist, Thalman focuses on telling tales that present gamers as their genuine selves, utilizing a private method to attach with audiences.
“I think of my role as doing the best job that I can do for those people who really want to hear it…I feel the most responsibility telling those stories to the people that really care about the person, to the people that really want to know the person that I’m talking to,” Thalman stated.
Looking forward as commencement approaches, Thalman’s long-term profession purpose is to be on digicam in some capability, overlaying sports activities. Thirty years down the street, she hopes to be a lead sports activities anchor for a serious information community.
“I don’t want to box myself in,” stated Thalman. “I simply know I need to be on digicam and round sports activities.
Most importantly, she desires to do a job that makes her genuinely comfortable within the sports activities business.
Beyond her faculty profession, Thalman hopes to go away a legacy as somebody reliable, variety, and a task mannequin for younger women within the sports activities area.
“I want them to see the power of hard work and determination,” stated Thalman. “And I want people to know this industry is hard, but it’s also so much fun.”