Arden Zwelling: Working alongside who he looked up to

Photo of Arden Zwelling from Sportsnet.ca

Arden Zwelling, staff writer for Sportsnet.ca, grew up admiring the work of Jeff Blair and Stephen Brunt, and now they are his peers.

"It's surreal to me that I'm now, you know, producing work alongside them rather than looking up to them," Zwelling said.

Despite his quick rise to one of the most respected Toronto Blue Jays writers in all of Canada, Zwelling had no inclination he was going to work in the sports media industry until the middle of his undergraduate degree at Western University.

Zwelling tried his hand at both business and law classes, but it was only after he started at his school's paper, The Gazette, that he began to realize where his life would take him.

"I realized that I'm a pretty okay writer," Zwelling said. "I have pretty decent instincts for this and a gut feel for it."

Even coming out of school his path was not easy. Zwelling said that he applied for every internship possible, but was rejected by all but one, a beat writing internship covering the Toronto Blue Jays. 

Despite his love for rugby and Canadian football, Zwelling said it was his open mind that led him to the success he now has covering baseball.

"I was always just taking whatever opportunities were open to me," Zwelling said.