“I’m David,  I have enjoyed the three days because I have had fun and I have achieved some great things such as learning how to use video to enhance stories. I have become much more confident in approaching people and interviewing them, especially with less preparation than I needed before. I would really like to say thank you to everyone, especially Val, for selecting me to be involved and to Pete and Yvonne (my PA) for an amazing experience.”

Sarah:  “I thought it was good, I made new friends and the best bit was seeing all the players.  I liked  doing the interviewing with the players.   I also liked working with people I did not know .  Thank you to everyone for a good time.”

Nicole: “I have found the three days interesting and I have got some new skills in audio and videoing.”

Kiefer: “It has been really good fun-food is great! I have enjoyed using the equipment and have had fun editing the videos.  The players have been excellent and the club staff were very friendly. I hope to come here again-perhaps as a mentor Pete?”

Bekkie: “I have really enjoyed the week, everyone’s really friendly and I have enjoyed the activities. The Saints club staff and players were really friendly-can I come again pleeeease!! I really enjoyed watching the players work out in the gym-Euan Murray is so strong!!”

James: “The week has been soooo interesting learning new media skills. I enjoyed meeting the Rugby stars (Scott Gray) and Jim Mallinder. The visit to Look East was also really good. Thanks for a great week.”

During half-term the Saints Study Centre is hosting a project called Supporter to Reporter (S2R) which is being delivered by talented individuals from Radiowaves. Supporter to Reporter is a new way for young people to become sports reporters, get behind the scenes at local and national sports events and get involved in creating a new youth sports reporting channel.

The first week of training was held at the Cobblers Study Centre in October half-term and was the first of its kind in Northampton. The young people were taught how to plan, create, edit and upload audio reports onto the Radiowaves website.

This week the focus is on the Saints and using not only audio to capture interviews but also video.

Day 1- Wednesday

Wednesday began with a welcome to all involved and a quick recap of the S2R process. The young people and members of staff from the Northamptonshire Study Centres team were taught many video and editing skills which would be needed throughout the next three days.

We then went on a stadium tour of Franklin’s Gardens, where the young people and the Radiowaves staff learnt about the history of the Saints and even had to opportunity to run out of the players tunnel like a Saints player on a match day! We also managed to film parts of the players training session.

After the tour, the young people were put into small groups of two or three to prepare for interviews of behind the scenes Saints staff. Between them, the young people interviewed Allan Robson (Chief Executive), Brian Facer (Marketing Manager), Sian Haynes (Head of Community), Chris Wearmouth (Communications Manager), Andrew Kendrick (Commercial Manager), Graham Caldecott (Corporate Sales Executive),  and Nick Johnson (Head of Performance). 

Once the interviews had been filmed, it was then time to come back to the Study Centre to upload their interviews to Windows Movie Maker and start to edit their video. Not only did their video consist of the interview itself but the young people also learnt how to place scenes of the players training over it too. On completion, they then uploaded their video the website and completed a blog about their first day at the Saints.

Check out the Radiowaves website to see the interviews with Saints staff.

Saints player, Euan Murray popped in at the end of the day to say hello to the young people and to sign Saints yearbooks for all those who had completed their tasks.

Wow what a busy day! We all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and learnt loads of new skills, not only from the Radiowaves staff but from the young people too!

Click here to see the Match Day experience at the Study Centre

Peter Austen has been on the radio twice in the last few weeks, waxing lyrical about the students who attend the sessions at the Study Centre.

Here is a link to his latest offering, an excellent interview on BBC Northampton’s Afternoon Show.