Some local middle-schoolers get lesson in Journalism 101 at ‘Write on Sports’ camp
SMITHFIELD — Dave Belisle could have spent hours fielding questions from an inquisitive 13-year-old from Central Falls who clearly had no trouble tapping his inner journalist.
There was a sincerity in Harrison Usma’s tone that enabled him to connect with Belisle in such a profound way. Before the 21 middle school students from Pawtucket and Central Falls shifted to the “locker room style” format of the Rhode Island Write on Sports camp, Usma stood up and asked the Mount St. Charles hockey and Cumberland Little League coach about losing his wife Nancy to cancer two years ago.
“I know this is a hard topic …” was how Usma prefaced his question.
It was also an open-ended question, the kind the campers were encouraged to come up with as opposed to a more direct one that would lead to an answer of either yes or no. That was one of just several tips of the writing trade that were discussed inside a classroom at Bryant University’s Academic Hall.
“We’re planting seeds in different ways,” said Steven Krasner, a retired Providence Journal sports writer and executive director of R.I. Write on Sports, a nonprofit organization that’s the brainchild of retired Associated Press editor Byron Yake’s Write on Sports Inc. The program encourages seventh and eighth graders to have fun with the writing process with a sports topic of their choosing serving as the narrative.
On Monday, the campers observed as WHJJ sports director Steve McDonald conducted a mock interview with Belisle. McDonald’s questions focused on the magical ride that
Belisle’s Cumberland American Little League squad enjoyed en route to reaching the 2014 World Series.
Belisle, who earned national notoriety after making a heartfelt speech to his CALL players that unknown to him at the time was captured by ESPN’s cameras, talked about why that special summer ran the emotional gamut.
“Nancy had heard through the grapevine that I wasn’t going to do it. I said, ‘Honey, I’m with you all the way,’” Belisle told a captive audience of aspiring writers. “She wanted (our youngest son John) to have the same experience as his older brother James when he went to the Little League World Series as a player in 2011. She wanted that for our family.”
McDonald brought up a line from Belisle’s famous speech that began with, “If I end up crying …” Once again, the line of questioning allowed Belisle to provide the eager writers with ample material. He shared a fatherson moment that unfolded after Mount St. Charles lost to La Salle in the state hockey playoffs. Applying a timestamp, it was Bill Belisle’s second year behind the bench as the MSC head coach and Dave’s final contest as an interscholastic skater.
“I’m the last one in the dressing room and I walk into my dad’s office. He was crying because it was the final time he would ever get to coach me,” Dave Belisle said. “It was time to let go, but he didn’t want to.”
Belisle then fast-forwarded some 30-odd years to the 2014 night when he took a page from his father. He held up his wrist and pointed to the rubber band that signified what that special Cumberland Little League squad achieved. The player-coach bond may have ended in Williamsport, Pa., but the memories will live on forever, hence the rubber band that Belisle says he doesn’t take off.
The participants in the twoweek R.I. Write on Sports camp watched Belisle’s speech and received some background on the popular coach before the Q&A session hosted by McDonald. It then became time for them to put the interview techniques they had learned to good use – first in a group setting before breaking off to interview Belisle and McDonald in a scrum setting.
Belisle said afterwards that the questions from the campers were excellent and first rate. He seemed to really hit it off with Usma, whose confidence seemed to grow the more they interacted with one another. A couple of times, Usma would place his pen on top of his notebook and look Belisle in the eye.
“Listen to the person you are talking to,” Krasner told the room before it was time to interview their subject.
“They hear the emotional part of it and that in turn ignites their emotions,” Belisle said. “I wanted to reach out to them before they reached out to me and I think that opens up the line of communication.
“They asked a lot of personal questions. They learned I’m not just a coach but a father and that I was a player at one time,” Belisle added. “They learned information that in turn allowed them to ask more questions.”
The campers jotted down plenty of notes that figure to prove quite handy when the time comes to produce a print story on a sports topic they have chosen. The camp concludes on Thursday with a presentation where each middle schooler receives a booklet that contains their published prose and a handy checklist of writing guidelines.
“We want them to become comfortable with the writing process,” said Derek Either, a staff instructor for R.I. Write on Sports and a former teacher at Tolman High School.
The exposure the kids have received to the world of sports journalism has been first rate. Last week, the campers ventured to McCoy Stadium to interview PawSox hitting coach Rich Gedman along with pitchers Marcus Walden and Chandler Shepherd. On Monday, former NFL running back Tom Clayton came to Bryant to face questions about his career, which included one game with the New England Patriots in 2010.
“Don’t be shy. Be assertive and confident,” Krasner told the campers. “You can’t write it if you don’t have the info.”
Based on the loaded quotes that Belisle provided, the message didn’t fall on deaf ears.