Jacob Rice

Pavle Markovic, Assistant Sports Editor

As if you couldn’t tell from the title, I’m a big Journey fan. 

But the message still stands, especially what comes after the popular song.

Going into college, I honestly didn’t know what to expect. After four years of trying to decide what I wanted to do with my life in high school, I finally settled on the idea of following in my uncle’s footsteps to become a sports journalist.

My passions mainly revolved around my love for sports and writing. Growing up, I was introduced to the world of sports by my parents, which eventually led me to start playing basketball at a young age.

But as I grew up, I realized that my days playing basketball were numbered, so I decided to take a liking to other sports such as football, baseball and hockey. While I never played in these sports, I loved watching them, which led to me becoming a big fan of all things sports.

During that time, I also found my liking for writing. I used to write silly stories about random superheroes because it gave me the ability to discover what would end up being a passion of mine going forward.

While I did not have a lot of experience combining both my passions heading into my first year at Iowa State, I knew that with time to practice my craft, I could become something greater.

My freshman year in Ames was definitely an interesting one, to say the least, being far from home for the first time and such. But as I headed into my sophomore year, that’s when things really began to take off as far as my career aspirations

In September 2022, I joined the Iowa State Daily as a sports reporter covering the men’s and women’s cross country teams. My first story was rough, but that was to be expected and all with the little experience I had in the role.

But I knew that as the cross country season went on, I was never to lose hope in myself, and believed that one day I could potentially be one of the sports editors and write for the beats I had strived to write for, which were football and basketball.

While my time covering cross country would be limited, my next big jump was when I got to cover the track and field teams. With that came my first opportunity to cover a meet in Ames, as none of the cross country meets were hosted by Iowa State and took place all over the country.

As I went on to cover the home track and field meet, I realized that this sport wasn’t my forte, which led me to ask my editors if I was able to cover the softball team since I was familiar with the sport, given my liking of baseball.

Now, this isn’t to say that I couldn’t write for track and field. I just realized that this beat wasn’t my cup of tea and saw another opportunity arise with the softball season having just gotten underway in the spring.

Once I got approval to switch beats, I was excited to see how the softball beat could continue to build my writing and reporting skills. Honestly, I firmly believe that writing for the softball beat showed the most improvement out of all my time here with the Daily.

This beat not only allowed me to cover multiple different home games, but it also allowed me to write previews for games and go in depth with my coverage since I had familiarity with the sport.

While it was a work in progress to start, I quickly began to feel more comfortable in this beat and found ways to improve my skills both as a writer and reporter.

Even at the end of the season, I had an opportunity to cover the Cyclones away from Ames, when Iowa State traveled to Iowa City for the Cy-Hawk series against Iowa.

Being away from the Cyclone Sports Complex was definitely an experience to be had, but it ended up proving fruitful, as Iowa State defeated the in-state rival Hawkeyes.

As I headed into summer break, preparing to be in what would be my third year at Iowa State, I was left wondering what beat I would be assigned to next as I headed into the fall semester.

It wasn’t until the late summer that I got pitched the idea of joining my two editors, Christian Royston and Logan Shanks, on the football beat for the 2023 season after another reporter who had apparently gotten the beat backed out to pursue other opportunities outside of the Daily.

While I was shocked in the moment to receive a message like that, I knew that everything I had done up to this point was well worth it and knew that I could potentially be something even greater by covering the most coveted beat on the sports desk.

Despite feeling like a little fish in a big pond, I knew that one day I would work my way up to being the big fish amongst the other big fish in the pond.

That is exactly what would happen, as while, again, I would say my beginning on the football beat left room for much improvement, it would end up being a starting point for what was to come.

Like the softball beat, the football beat opened up more ways into my coverage of the team, highlighted by doing my first-ever feature story of former Cyclone, now Houston Texan, wide receiver Jaylin Noel.

With encouragement from my editors and the belief I had in myself, I was able to write a compelling story about how Noel was primed to fill big shoes in a receiver room that had lost its biggest leader in Xavier Hutchinson.

As the football season began to wind down, I was assigned to cover the women’s basketball team, as their season had intertwined with the football team’s season.

During this time, I had already been in the thick of working a part-time job at the dining hall, while already having to juggle my classwork and writing for the football team.

At first, I wasn’t sure how I was going to be able to juggle all these different things at once, but I knew that I wasn’t going to let myself not try and multitask because I knew what I was capable of.

While my job at the dining hall would result in missing some home coverage of the women’s basketball team, I still found ways where I could work normal hours at the dining hall, while also being able to cover games at Hilton Coliseum.

On top of all this, being on the women’s basketball beat also allowed me to discover something new that I had never done before, which was being a part of podcasts, more specifically, the Daily Dish.

It was safe to say that I was, and am still not fully, comfortable with being on podcasts, as my public speaking skills were, and are, not top tier. Despite not being in front of a live audience, I would find ways to talk as minimally as possible because I wasn’t comfortable on podcasts.

However, with time, I was able to crawl out of my comfort zone and participate in podcasts much more, which led to me where I am now, co-hosting podcasts with my partner in crime, Brett Twelmeyer.

But briefly going back into the fall season for the football team, since they were able to achieve a record of 7-5, it meant that the Cyclones would be playing in a bowl game against a non-conference opponent somewhere in the country.

I would later find out that Iowa State would head to Memphis, Tennessee, for the Liberty Bowl against, conveniently, the host school, Memphis.

This game would also be slated during winter break, which meant that I would have to travel to Memphis during a time I had taken time off from school and work to relax at home.

Once I found out that I would be joining my editors on a trip down to Memphis, I was thrilled at the opportunity of covering my first-ever collegiate bowl game.

Being away from home at college was already an experience, but now to be in a different city, even farther away from home, was definitely something that gave me pause.

However, this trip down to Memphis ended up being one of the best road trips I’ve ever had as a member of the Daily, as despite Iowa State losing the bowl game, I would get to know my editors away from work and had a blast during my stay in Tennessee.

Following the conclusion of the football season, I was able to fully put my focus on the women’s basketball beat, with more coverage, previews, features and podcasts.

Despite being in beats I had never covered before, I was able to hit the ground running fast in both beats by having familiarity with the two sports I loved growing up. That then ties back into the belief I had in myself, as if I had believed that I wasn’t able to do this, I wouldn’t be talking about the experiences I had learned during this time.

This then leads into the past year, where an opening came along for both editor positions on the sports desk. However, during this time, I would receive an opportunity to cover Iowa State football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball for the Associated Press (AP). 

At the time, I wasn’t sure if I could take on a role as a potential sports editor for the Daily, while also doing coverage for the Associated Press.

But after realizing that I could find a way to juggle both being an editor for the Daily as the assistant sports editor and a reporter for the AP, I was eager to begin my senior year by covering all the sports I had sought to cover since beginning my time at the Daily.

However, another challenge would become evident in my last full year as a college student, as I saw a bigger responsibility in having to help lead and edit the desk’s reporters’ stories. 

While this would end up being my first time in such a leadership role, the belief in myself helped play a big role in helping the sports desk thrive for the 2024-25 year.

Needless to say, my final full year as a college student in this profession would end up being the most memorable, with all the different things I got to experience and be a part of.

Whether it was getting to travel to Iowa City twice and seeing the Cyclones win both times, or getting to travel to Arlington, Orlando, Kansas City and Milwaukee, or just having all the great moments at Jack Trice Stadium and Hilton Coliseum, I will cherish these moments for the rest of my life.

Everything I had worked towards, to where I am now, all goes back to the belief I had in myself and knowing what I was capable of doing.

If I didn’t believe in myself and my abilities, I would be nowhere close to where I am today. Who knows, I could be at a different school, in a different major, doing something completely different than reporting on Iowa State sports.

So while you’re at it, enjoy the moments you have and always remember to believe in yourself, because magical things can happen when there is belief in oneself.