I had the chance to go back and listen to the audio of the conversation I had with Nathan McCarter from One Championship. It was a long interview, over twenty-one minutes in all, so it involved a lot of starting and stopping the recording so that I could include it in the notes I send over to Dr. Tiell. In the Word document I created, I highlighted points that would align with the purpose of the promotional material that Tiffin Sports Management wants to put out there. I promised I would share a little more about Nathan with you, so here it is. Based in Ohio, he is the U.S. editor for One Championship, a mixed martial arts organization based in Asia. His duties for them include interviewing athletes and arranging media coverage of events.
After graduating from Shawnee State University in Portsmouth, Ohio, Nathan went to work for Bleacher Report, where he became a featured columnist writing about the UFC, Bellator, and so on. However, he told me he felt constrained as a writer and wanted to take on more responsibility. That is how he ended up in the Tiffin Sports Management program. The advice that he gives to anyone who is considering an advanced degree is to “identify what you want to do, research what you want to do and the path it takes you to get there. That’s going to help inform if it’s going to be the right decision for you.” Nathan also mentions that the industry tends to be full of people who are driven, so being dedicated to the work is an absolute must (N. McCarter, personal communication, July 20, 2020). Again, we had a great talk. The other two interviews I conducted were just as fantastic, and I cannot wait to share those with you as well.