Alicia Nieves Wants to Inspire You

Growing up in a mixed family with six brothers, Alicia Nieves says any resistance she might have had to sports would have been futile. Though she says she initially enjoyed more traditionally feminine pursuits, bonding with her brothers and father was always important to her, so she began her foray into the world of sports by playing basketball with her family.

She thinks it was a formula that forged strong ties, and has continued to play, watch, and discuss sports of all kinds with her family, culminating in what she describes as her favorite sports memory. 

As she talks about surprising her father with tickets to his very first Knicks game, Nieves' face lights up. Her hands, previously folded on the table in front of her, come alive with impassioned gestures as she reminisces about her father’s genuine shock and delight at the prospect of attending a game at Madison Square Garden. 

"He had never been to Madison Square Garden, and never seen the Knicks play, and he literally watered up, and we went to the game, and our seats were great," Alicia said. "And it was during the whole Jeremy Lin thing, so... wow!"

Nieves' love for sports and ambition to be a sports journalist came from her family, and from moments like that one: she says she wants to inspire and excite people, to move them in some way - just as she thrilled her father.

Kayla: Kayla Chadwick interviewing Alicia Nieves. Alicia, can you tell me a little bit about growing up, what your family was like?

Alicia: So I have a bit of a mixed family scenario. I have my godparents who raised me, and I have my biological parents, who I was aware of, and knew, kind of, growing up. I’m really close to my brothers and sisters, both biological and the ones I was raised with. In total there’s six boys, and there’s two girls, and I’m the oldest, and was mostly around the six boys, which really parallels into... how sports came about in my life. There’s no way I was gonna skip over sports being around a bunch of brothers. From basketball, to football, to baseball... I remember at first being adverse to it, and not wanting to do it, wanting to do my hair instead, but you know, wanting to bond with my brothers because that was always important to me, I wound up, you know, playing basketball with them. I wasn’t that good, I wouldn’t even lie, but I was competitive, and we bonded over it, and I began to really like it. It was also a way that me and my dad started to get really close. We started going to Yankee games, and watching the Giants together, and to this day every year we’ll go to a sporting event together, and we’ll do something, and when the... football season’s our big thing... when football season comes around, every Giants game, no mater where I’m at, we watch the game together.

K: Can you tell me about your best sports memory with your dad, or your brothers, or both?

A: So, my dad... I was able to take him to Madison Square Garden for his birthday two years ago. He had never been, and I surprised him, and had this whole like... I gave him a box, the day of his birthday, got tickets for the day of his birthday, and gave him a box with blue wrapping paper and orange ribbons around it. I always get him a hat or something, or a t-shirt of a sporting team, because he’s big on that, but his time I gave him a hat, and I gave him a t-shirt, and I gave him one of those sporting fingers, those oversized fingers. And underneath all the wrapping paper, you know he was so excited just to get that, he was like, “Thumbs up, great,” and I had him drive to Manhattan, gave him the present in Manhattan - because the game was going to start in, like, literally twenty minutes, so we were pushing it to the wire. And he just gave me a hug, and he was so grateful, like “Thank you thank you, great shirt, great thing and the finger - great!” I was like, “Okay, you ready?” And he was like, “Ready for what?” “For the game.” And he was like, “Are you kidding me?” And I recorded it, and I still to this day, have it on video, of his reaction, because he was just so shocked. He had never been to Madison Square Garden, and never seen the Knicks play, and he literally watered up, and we went to the game, and our seats were great, and it was during the whole Jeremy Lin thing, so... wow!

K: So was it stuff like that that made you want to get into sports journalism?

A: You know, ultimately, what made me want to get into sports journalism is the same reason why I want to get into journalism in general: I love the idea of shedding light on certain issues, or triumphing over adversity. Those are always great news stories. And, sports... every story and every game has the same principle behind it, the same story behind it, and it’s triumphing over adversity, and I love it. Because I feel like, as individuals, and personally, to me, that’s been my story, and I can relate so well to it, and I’m sure everyone can. That’s why sports is huge, and it impacts everyone’s life. 

K: So if you could cover any sports story in the world, what would it be?

A: If I could cover a particular sport, it would be football. Love it, play it every year, not great at it, but I love it. Sports story? It would have to be... right now, you know my favorite person is Eli Manning, as a quarterback, for so many reasons. I’d love to cover Eli. I’m not sure the history behind certain players on the team, but I’d love to cover a story of a player who really has been through some stuff, and really has triumphed, and has gotten to this place through adversity. Because I think those kind of stories, not only are they interesting, but in some way I hope they inspire other people, and I think whatever I do in journalism, whatever I do in sports, it’s important to me that it affects other people, and it inspires them in some way, or it motivates them, or provokes them, you know? I don’t know if I want to give them a necessary feeling, you know gear them in a certain way, but I want to make sure that people understand in some way, shape, or form, good, bad, or otherwise. 

K: Great, thank you very much.