When Ethan Joyce was born with Epidermolytic Hyperkeratosis, a rare skin disorder that WebMd characterizes as varying degrees of blistering and subsequent reactive scaling of the skin, his parents were told that he might not be able to walk or even play a sport.
Despite the doctor’s concerns, Joyce’s parents did everything they could to make sure that Joyce wouldn’t be held back from anything because of his skin disorder. Joyce’s father, Darrell Joyce, used sports to encourage Ethan to try different things and push his limits.
“Sports was kind of the way that I could push myself outside of a comfort zone, and then I found out I really loved it,” said Ethan.
Ethan continued to push his limits and was able to physically participate in sports that didn’t require to much contact. He transferred his love for sports into a Communications and Journalism major at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC, where he learned to cover sports like field hockey and women’s softball.
Ethan applied to S.I.Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University because he heard about the Sports Communications Emphasis and he wanted to expand his networking opportunities outside of Appalachian State. To his surprise, he was accepted into the Magazine, Newspaper and Online Journalism program.
The young aspiring journalist is far from home, but he is pursuing a career to cover what he loves.
Q: Ok I’m
here with Ethan Joyce; tell me a little about yourself?
A: Well like you said, my name is
Ethan Joyce. I was born in
Winston-Salem, NC. Raised all my life in a small town called Sandy Ridge,
NC. Grew up playing almost every
sport. Stayed in undergrad in NC. Went
to Appalachian State University. It took me awhile to get to journalism, but
around junior year, I figured out I wanted to go into journalism and I’ve always wanted something to do with sports. So I took
a chance and applied to Newhouse and got in.
Was surprised that I got in, but just kind of went from there and here I
sit.
Q: What was your major at
Appalachian State?
A: It was Communications and
Journalism.
Q: Who introduced you to Newhouse?
A: One of my best friends in
undergrad, his name is James Ashley. He’s from Brooklyn. I think
he lived in the state of NY for the first 13,14 years of his life, and we were
talking one day. I had not even really
considered grad school, but the more we talked the more I realized we didn’t really have a network to work with at our undergrad;
so I was looking at UGA for a journalism masters, looking at a couple other
bigger one’s you know, South Carolina. But
when I found out that Syracuse had a sports concentration, and he was looking
at applying first and then when he introduced me to the idea of the sports
concentration I was just like man I gotta go there.
A: You’ve
told me before that sports has been a big part of your life, when did you
really know that you were getting into sports, and how did that start for you?
Q: Sports was kind of introduced to
me by my dad as a way to I guess cope with life. I’ve told you that I was
born with a skin disorder, it’s called EHK, and as a
baby they said I might not walk, I’d never be able to play a
sport, you know anything contact wise. So I was lucky to have parents who would
care for me and did whatever they could for the betterment of me. My mother was
very protecting, obvioiusly, like mothers are, but my dad continued to push me
to do different things and to push my limits so I could learn more about
myself. Sports was kind of the way that I could push myself outside of a
comfort zone, and then I found out I really loved it. That was at the age of 6
and 7 when I started getting into sports and it just took off from there.
Q: With the skin disease, what kind
of obstacles did you have to overcome to be able to participate in sports and
other activities?
A: Well, one of the major things
that was going to be a problem was the lack of ability to sweat and that would
cause heat stroke. So I had to be
careful with that. Also, with contact sports, like the way that the skin
disorder is, my top layer of skin is constantly just rebuilding and so it means
it’s like really easily fractured. So with like football, I
could never play football. It would just kind of turn me into a giant scab. It
was things like that I had to watch out for.
Q: When you played, were you able
to play as much as everyone else, or did you have to scale back what you were
able to do for the sports that you could play?
A: Yeah, at first I had to work
with that scale, but then as I got older, I got better. I got to know my
boundaries a little more and was able to push myself and I got to where I could
play with anybody for as long as I wanted to. It was constant tinkering when I
was younger, but once I reached the age of 12 or 13, I knew what my boundaries were.
Q: Now you’re
getting ready to try and become a sports journalists, what sport do you prefer
to cover and how are you experiencing Newhouse right now?
A: I love the Newhouse
experience. This is my first time I’m living outside of North Carolina in 22 years. It’s been a shock. It’s been a lot of fun. I
want to cover basketball. With that being said, I like learning about any kind
of sport. In undergrad I covered field
hockey once. That was something I knew nothing about, but it was really
interesting. I covered women’s softball. Didn’t think I’d ever want to do that,
but that was one of the best teams to deal with. I’m
really open to anything, but I’d like to work my way to
basketball.
Thanks and good luck.
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