While she grew up attending games of all kinds, Krissy Birdsall didn’t imagine herself going into sports media.
“I grew up watching sports with my dad all the time. Sunday Night Football, MLB games, going to NHL games, or college. So I was always interested in sports, but the journalism part didn’t come until a lot later.”
After high school, Birdsall attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison to pursue sports journalism. During her freshman year, she attended an organization fair, where she met members of the student-run radio WSUM. They told her that she would have the opportunity to call Badger Sports Games, and she was sold.
“I had no experience doing that,” Birdsall shared. “So I just came in, had no clue what I was doing. But I learned a lot my freshman year, and I think that helped set me up for the future broadcast that I did.”
As she gained experience broadcasting sports, Birdsall shared that more women joined the radio station, which she credits for her growing confidence. During Birdsall’s sophomore year, WSUM did an all-female broadcast, which they would later discover was the first all-female broadcast in the station’s history.
“I think that was a really cool turning point that, not only do I want to do this just because I like sports and I like broadcasting, but, to be a part of a larger movement and just be a part of the community and continue growing that space, I think was really important to me.”
One week ago, Birdsall graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism (emphasis in Reporting and Multimedia Journalism) and Spanish. She also earned certificates in Sports Communication and Digital Studies.
Now, she works as a part-time producer at ESPN Madison. In this position, she juggles a lot of tasks. Birdsall shared that on any day, she could be attending social media meetings, running the soundboard, editing clips from video streams for social media, or even running a camera or taking photos at high school games.
“Sometimes I’m working multiple jobs at the same arena. That also is a pretty common thing, too,” Birdsall shared. “There’s been times where I was doing social media for ESPN Madison and sideline reporting at the same time. So when I wasn’t sideline reporting, I was taking a video of the student section and sending it over to be put on Twitter.”
This versatility, Birdsall says, is a unique strength that women bring to the sports industry.
“I think a lot of people can relate to that juggling all of these different tasks and sometimes having to do multiple things at the same time,” she said. “I think that we just do a really good job of that.”
For women in the sports industry or who hope to enter it, Birdsall recommends trying everything.
“You never know what you really like until you try it,” she shared. “I think that’s really important to not only build your skills, be more versatile, but also explore different paths. And no matter what you choose, at least you’ll understand what somebody in marketing has to do, or somebody in social media, or somebody on the broadcast team. It’s a really nice way to get a bigger understanding of the industry and then find out what you really like.”
In the future, Birdsall hopes to continue seeing women holding diverse roles in sports.
“You see a lot more women coaches now and you’re seeing a lot more women assisting coaches. You’re seeing women athletic trainers,” she shared. “I think all across the industry, you’re starting to see more women take on these roles. That’s something I would love to see more of is just seeing more women in all these different types of roles. Like, hey, we can be in every facet that a man can be in.”
