Intro

My name is Patrick Johns, I am 21 years old, born in Jasper, Alberta and raised in Montreal, Quebec. I am currently living in Lennoxville and studying at Bishop’s University, and if everything goes to plan I will be graduating in 2020 with BBA concentrated in Global Leadership and Management.

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The Rugby News Service

In the fall of 2019 I made the crazy decision of leaving my beautiful Bishop’s community to spend a semester abroad in Osaka, Japan. Little did I know I was about to experience the best 4 months of my life. During that time I was lucky enough to be apart of an internship for the 2019 Japan Rugby World Cup, more specifically working for the Rugby News Service. The RNS is a journalism organization which has been covering rugby world cups for the past two decades. The RNS’ main goal is to provide articles, quotes, stats, photos and videos for the official website of the Rugby World Cup. The organization is made up of 3 executive directors, 47 editors, 20 reporters and a small team of interns responsible for flash quotes (that’s me!!!). The RNS provides news services in French, English, Spanish and just recently, Japanese! Given the international nature of the sport, the RNS has employees and interns from all over the world.

Internship Overview

My position within the Rugby News Service was a “Flash Quote Reporter”. Essentially, flash quote reporters work with reporters and report to the senior editor on site. My job was to sit in on press conferences, interview players and gather quotes from them to be used in articles by the reporters and senior editors. For every match, I had to be there during the “captain’s run” which was essentially a light practice before the day of the match where media could interact with the players and the coaches. After the practice, I would sit in on the press conference for each team, and gather the most interesting or news worthy quotes. During the game day, I would watch the game, gather quotes from the press conference then go to the “mixed zone”, which is where the players mingle with the media to get some quotes from the players. I was fortunate enough to participate in 4 games: Argentina vs. Tonga, Scotland vs. Samoa, Ireland vs. Russia and Canada vs. South Africa. Here’s an example of one of my quotes being used on the official rugby world cup website!

Self Evaluation

Out of all of NACE’s career competencies, teamwork and collaboration was definitely my strongest. Despite having absolutely zero experience with journalism, I was able to learn quickly by working with the diverse groups reporters in the RNS. Thanks to the international business classes I took at Bishop’s and in Japan, I was able to work effectively with all the reporters, whether they were from Scotland, USA, Russia, Ireland, England or Argentina.

The competency that I need to work on the most is definitely digital technology. During the tournament, we had to submit all our quotes on a private platform similar to WordPress and senior editors put emphasis on submitting work in a very fast manner. This proved to be quite the challenge since I was very slow when it came to learning how to use the private platform. Improving my skills with digital technology will be crucial moving forward into the workforce, especially since I am supposed to graduate this semester.

Whilst working with an Argentinian reporter I made very good use of my intercultural fluency. At first, I found it very challenging to understand what kind of quotes he wanted me to look out for, and how to word my questions. Then I remembered he comes from a relationship oriented culture, as opposed to my Canadian task oriented culture, so I began to get closer with him by asking him questions about his career, his country and his family. As soon as I started doing this, we grew much closer and I immediately noticed him going out of his way to help me out.

I also made good use of my leadership skills during the Ireland vs. Russia game. Our senior editor during this game was quite behind on his articles and seemed to be in the juice for a lack of a better term. This made him unapproachable, and very prone to transferring his stress to other employees. The mood was horrible in our office, so I decided to rally all the other flash quote reporters to work with one of the Irish reporters who was much more approachable and willing to help. I delegated which flash reporters would attend the press conference and which ones would go to the mixed zone . I essentially made the calls for the senior reporter since he wasn’t really in the mindset to make them.

Finally, one of the most important skills I was used during the tournament had to be my oral and written communications. As flash quote reporter, you spend most of your time listening and recording, but you also have to ask questions to players and coaches, which I found very stressful at the beginning of the tournament, given that I had zero journalistic experience. To be able to ask the right questions in a confident manner, I made sure each question I asked was relevant, concise and to the point. This required lots of research before the press conferences, and rehearsing the question over and over again in my head. I’m usually a very confident public speaker, but asking questions to coaches or players in a room filled with experienced journalists really put me out of my comfort zone. I usually take my public speaking skills for granted, and wing most presentations in class, but this made me realize that no matter how good you think you are, nothing beats practice and being well prepared. As the tournament went on, I got more confident when asking questions, but I still made sure every question was rehearsed and well prepared.

For my next job, I would like to improve my digital technology skills. As mentioned above, I was struggling to use the online platform where we had to post our quotes, and this slowed me down throughout the whole tournament. Even when it comes to using common programs like excel, I struggle and become lost. Digital technology is a huge part of the modern workplace and it will only become more important, so it’s crucial that I try and build up the basic skills before I graduate. Luckily, the world is my oyster and the wonders of YouTube and google are there to help me learn. I am confident I will be able to improve my digital technology skills for when it counts.

Final Thoughts

Going into the internship, I really didn’t know what to expect, but I was extremely excited to be apart of the 2019 Rugby World Cup (which turned out to be a national craze in Japan), to travel to various stadiums in the Kansai region and to interact with players and coaches!

Looking back on the whole experience, it proved to be a rewarding challenge for my public speaking skills, the first time I have felt nervous with public speaking in a long time. It also gave me the unique opportunity to work in a very international environment. I had the pleasure of working with people from Australia, Russia, USA, Canada, Ireland, South Africa, Japan, Scotland, England and Argentina. This was also a challenge, but as soon as I became accustomed to their cultural traits, it became a very fun and rewarding environment to work in.

Overall, this was one of the best experiences I have had in my life, and I still can’t believe how lucky I was to be apart of such an amazing event. I owe a big thank you to professor Zurcher who organized the internship and to Dave Harrison, our senior editor who guided us throughout the whole tournament. This internship gave me a new love for the game of rugby, and aslo makes me aspire to work in an international environment in the future. Looking back, this will be one of my fondest memories of my semester in Japan, and of my four years at Bishop’s.

ありがとうございました!!!

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