Empire wins annual Karen Community in Syracuse soccer tournament  

By Juma John Stephen

Emire Soccer Club celebrating their win over Buffalo Elites on Sunday at the CNYFSC

Empire Soccer Club are the champions of the Karen Community in Syracuse after beating the Buffalo Elites 3-5 goals on Sunday at the Central New York Family Sports Centre.

Empire started scoring with a penalty right at the 11^th minute of the game before Buffalo equalized at the 40^th minute of the game.

The second half was more competitive when the goals started flying in. Speaking to the Team Captain for Empire Soccer Club Lwehla after the game he said they believed in their skills and teamwork as they went into the game.

“We believed we had every chance to win the tournament. They (Buffalo) beat us in the group stages two goals to nil but we knew we can beat them and we did” Lwehla said, “Never give up was our motto. We are going to a party and it's our recovery time."

Lee Rou, the assistant Team Captain for Empire Soccer Club, said leaving in a refugee camp inspired him to work harder. "My dream is to have an opportunity to play at the highest level. We want to showcase our skills as a refugee to the world." Said Rou.

Pa-Lu is a Player-Coach for the Buffalo Elites soccer club established in 2017 to play in the Karen Community in Syracuse Annual games. Most of the players are high school and college students. Last year they were the runner up too.

I spoke to Pa-Lu before the game and he stated that "Our tactics is to play the ball quickly and pass well."  And added "Winning always feels good." Though he scored and gave an assist Buffalo Elites lost to Empire.

The Karen Community in Syracuse tournament is organized by the Karen Community in Syracuse, however, the chief organizer Sah Powah, the annual soccer event is meant for the people of Boma. The entry requirements are; the team has to have enough players and pay the $350 entry fee which helps in securing the venue ($2650 for two days) and food.

“The players are getting better, younger people now playing. The main goal of the tournament is to bring more people together, the youth and the community to know themselves and have fun.”  The 25-year-old Powah said "I am happy for the winners. I am also happy that the tournament went without any major injury. The players showed sportsmanship and we enjoyed soccer”

According to Eh Mwee, the Chairman of Karen Community in Syracuse, the games are getting better every year and the Thailand Refuges community is growing every year.

The entry fee for each team was $350 and there were 16 teams this year competing. Second place $1, 500 USD and the Champions get $3,500. The tournament will start again in the summer of 2020.

Peggy Iralson's Story From Science To PR

Peggy Iralson is a talent producer for Barstool Sports and a talent producer for NFL Network, but she didn’t start off that way. In high school, Iralson was always drawn to sports. Iralson graduated from Arizona State University with a degree in Exercise Science and Physiology and continued with a few post graduate classes in nutrition, however, she was not sure this was her calling. After she graduated, Iralson got into the exercise science field but quickly learned how it diminished her passion for herself. She decided that she couldn’t be in the gym all day with others then have the energy to go to the gym for herself. And with this, her love for health faded away and she decided to try another path in Philadelphia with the 76ers. Here, she worked a full time, unpaid public relations internship for a year, holding two other jobs on the side to pay for her to live in the city. It was also here that she realized public relations was the route she wanted to go. For 10 years, she worked to brand the Exos Company (originally known as Athletes Performance), a workout center for professional and amateur athletes and this is where she was, for the first time, able to combine her passions of health and sports in a way that she loved, through Public Relations. Today, as a talent producer, she has specified her public relations skills into a very unique job where she gets to work in the sports industry that she loves.

Interview Transcript 
Audio Transcript

How journalism found Rodger Wyland...

It was just an ordinary day at church for 15-year-old Rodger Wyland or at least so he thought. He would soon realize that this day was the beginning of a long career ahead of him. Standing in front of the whole church Wyland would get up and begin reading scripture, but this time was different. After the service finished Wyland was approached by the general manager of a local radio station in town. He was intrigued by his voice and asked if he’d ever be interested in a job in radio because of the potential he saw in Wyland. 

From that day on Wyland never stopped working in journalism. He was always fascinated by TV but in order to get there he worked in all areas of the broadcast. Anyway, Wyland could get involved he wanted to, and he did. Wyland experienced journalism at such a young age he has been able to watch journalism evolve throughout the years. For instance, the way he covers breaking news in sports. 

“There is nothing like being able to break news in the 6:20 sportscast,” said Wyland. 

Unfortunately, now social media is a main source for breaking news. This being one of the main changes since he started. Wyland could’ve chose to switch careers when things changed but he said he could never see himself doing anything else. Journalism is what he knows. 

Audio

From Tape Recorder to the Voice of the Bengals: Dan Hoard

From a very early age Dan Hoard watched sports. He was interested in what the players were doing on the field, what play changes were being called, what the coaches reaction are; But it was the voices behind the action he quickly grew enamored with. 

Hoard would turn down the TV, plug in his tape recorder and record himself calling games. Little did he know, fast forward a job change from the announcer of the Syracuse Chiefs to a Cincinnati sports director at WXIX, Dan Hoard would become the next “voice of the Bengals.”

Hoard has one of the most successful podcasts in Cincinnati called “Bengals Booth Podcast.” Every week he sits down with former Bengal Dave “Lap” Lapham. Hoard owes the success of the show to the chemistry he has with his co-host. He said there is a little bit of luck involved, but when it comes to Lap, it’s hard not to have chemistry with him.

From their very first broadcast in 2011, Hoard knew the potential of his broadcast, even on what was said to be the beginning of a difficult season. Hoard recounts the Cincinnati duos first broadcast: “The Bengals were coming off a 4-12 season, Carson Palmer was holding out. They had just signed Andy Dalton, expectations from the national media were cold. The Bengals were suspected to be the worst team in the NFL. We did a preseason opener at Detroit and lost. Very badly. As we get on the bus to go home, it’s silent, because things did not go well. And I’m sitting in the front of the bus giddy with excitement. Because I thought the broadcast went extremely well. Lap and I had great chemistry right off the bat.” 

Except for the six weeks between mini camp and training camp, Hoard is constantly preparing for the next game. In addition to Bengals games, he also broadcasts University of Cincinnati football, basketball games. Nothing compares to Gameday says Hoard, “This is the closest I get to becoming a professional athlete.” 

For future broadcasters, Hoard says broadcasting can’t be taught in a classroom. You can learn important building blocks, but you can’t become a broadcaster without getting out there.” 

Getting Wright: A Pizza Date That Changed Everything

Media Personality, Nick Wright

     For Nick Wright, all the credit goes to his wife. Early on, knew he wanted to be involved with sports. A chance encounter with Bob Costas as a pre-teen led to an interview with the Newhouse dean, an early start at WAER his freshman year, and some early friendships made him confident that he would succeed. He says he felt slightly privileged, but that's him being modest. Wright attended Syracuse University for his undergraduate studies and graduated in '07. After graduating, he moved to Kansas City, with a promise that he could host his own show once a week. He made it onto Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (I am not kidding) and started on his journey to the top. But it was in Kansas City where he developed a gambling addiction and smoking habit. 

     The game show appearance netted him 50 thousand dollars but with 5 casinos in the area, it was gone pretty quickly. With a meager salary, and a gambling problem, one can imagine that life wasn't all gravy for Nick at the time. But then he met the one. After some failed attempts at securing a date, Nick finally scored when he told her he was moving to Seattle for a job in a week (that he actually didn't get), and she agreed to meet him at Da Bronx Pizzeria a couple days later. When he showed up, she was with her two children, a two year old girl, and a 9 year old boy. After hanging out and eating some pizza, Nick must've said all the "wright" (I'm sorry) things to her because she told him that her sister could watch her kids and they could go on a real date later that same night. 

     They dated for some time before getting serious, and after learning the rigors of being a single mother without much support, Nick realized it was time to wake up. His wife was working three jobs at once just to support her kids. Nick says, "I was watching this woman who had none of the privilege or opportunity I had just make it happen." It was at that point that he started to get himself together for the sake of his relationship, his career, and her children. Nick went on to become who the personality that he is because he learned to grow up quickly. 

     Nick is currently a co-host for "First Things First" on FOX Sports that airs weekdays at 6:30 in the morning. Nick is arguably the biggest LeBron James fan you could ever meet, and he makes sure that you know why. He is a husband, father, and friend. He got to where he is because he is driven, passionate, prepared, and tenacious. But to him, he is absolutely nothing without his wife. At 23, a date at Da Bronx essentially gave those who support him, the Nick Wright that exists today. "People see single black mom, two kids, and then see me, people would say things to me like oh what a blessing you are for that family, and I get the sentiment, but that's not really how it happened." Nick Wright shows up on the screen, he makes the tweets, and he talks to the players, but if you let him tell the story, she's the reason the chips have fallen where they have.  

Chris Williamson : Sports Dreams Was The Theme

Chris Williamson currently serves as a sports anchor, host, and reporter at SNY. Williamson first love for sports start at a very young age. Williamson’s childhood dream of being a professional athlete came to a halt after getting cut from both his high school freshman and junior varsity basketball team. At the moment, Williamson decided he would rather discuss sports rather than play them.

 Williamson studied broadcast and digital journalism at Syracuse University. While he was focused on developing his sports journalism career, he became involved with the Orangemen’s football team, even though basketball was still number one in his mind. 

Williamson looked up to broadcasters like Bob Costas, Mike Tirico, and Stuart Scott. He used his time at Syracuse University to develop his on-air personality, improve on his writing skills, and perfect his delivery. A big part of his success was learning how to be comfortable in front of the camera. Removing the nervousness and speaking fast were things that stuck out while progressing as a broadcaster. Williamson recalls working on unscripted projects like “Orange All Access”, where he remembers interviewing a field hockey player at Syracuse University. He remembers being nervous as he tried remembering all the questions he put together. 

Williamson also spent time as part of the Citrus TV family. It was there that Williamson learned the ins & outs of television production, learning to work and create under extreme deadlines. Williamson got his first break in sports as the weekend sports anchor/weekday reporter in Wisconsin.

He was promoted to weekday anchor for the FOX-affiliate station that his company bought. Williamson then became the face of his FOX channel’s sports show. Wisconsin gave Williamson the opportunity to grow and make mistakes that would help prepare him for bigger markets and exposure.

While working in Wisconsin, Williamson says, “The biggest lesson he learned was to always be relentless, as well as knowing how to adjust when things hit the fan. Be ready for anything that comes your way.” Williamson has had the pleasure of working in a top media market, and while he doesn’t feel any pressure, he’s always nervous before every show. The hunger and willingness to deliver his best performance comes up before every show. Williamson is confident in what he brings to the table. He is not sure what the future holds.  He never expected that, at just 27-years-old, he’d be living out his dreams as an anchor, host, and reporter in the number one media market in the country. 

“Enjoy and appreciate the journey and the struggles. Don’t focus on rushing to land a job or get caught up on what others think about you, your talent, and brand. There will be people who will go against your talent and what you believe in to knock you off your game.”

Chris Williamson's childhood sports dreams became a theme to do what he believed was his passion. 

Sky Kerstein: Building relationships and always say "YES"

For my interview, I had the opportunity to talk with Sky Kerstein who is a producer and on-air personality for FOX 2 in Detroit. His journey throughout his ten-year career has helped him become diverse in the business by learning to do multiple things on camera and behind the scenes. Being persistent, being open to learn and always say "yes" to opportunities surrounding work were some of the main points I took away from our conversation. People like Mike Tirico and Vin Scully were idols of Kerstein and helped fuel his passion that became the driving force in his pursuit into the sports world.

Listen to my full interview HERE.

Read my transcribed interview HERE.