I’m going into my third year of college as a Exercise Physiology major. My goals are to become a strength coach/martial arts instructor but I also have a knack for writing and would enjoy writing for fitness publications and such. My question is, of how much importance and/or benefit is journalism knowledge in this field? Would it be advisable for me to get a few journalism courses under my belt or should I just take Underwater Basket Weaving again? I appreciate any input given.
Not that important in my opinion, but it wouldn’t hurt. If you produce quality work, that will override the fact that you haven’t had certain courses or degrees. People would rather hire someone who has talent than someone with a lot of the right letters after their name but who can’t do shit. I’m sure there are some employers/magazine editors out there who look at a writer’s educational background, but most don’t. This depends on what you’re writing about of course. Obviously, if someone is going to write about a complicated drug issue, then it would be great if he had a background in that area. Then again, look at Dan Duchaine. (Of course, Dan was wrong about a lot of stuff, too.)
I think knowing a little something about journalism is helpful, but not necessary. Much of it, like conducting a good interview, is instinctive. But sure, take a journalism class or anything dealing with writing as opposed to some crap elective. Creative writing classes would help too.
But in the end, this situation reminds me of some of the computer “geeks” I used to have as students when I was in public education. The teachers would hound these kids to go to college and get a degree or “they’ll regret it.” But their skills with computers were so strong that they didn’t need a degree to convince a company to hire them. I know several who graduated high school and took jobs starting at 60 grand a year (about double what I made as a high school teacher!) Their skills outweighed any degree or college class.
The real key to breaking into the fitness field is to just write a lot, read a lot, submit a lot, try to stand out, and listen to feedback. Don’t worry about rejection. It happens. Keep submitting. Take risks. All of your favorite T-mag writers have had stuff rejected.
Some editors only want to work with “known” writers while others (TC for example) are open to anyone. Some want you to be formal and some don’t. TC doesn’t want to see your resume, he wants to see your work. So the best thing to do is just send in an article. Hope this helps!