Sivakumar | Lessons learned along the way

The first student newspaper I ever wrote for was for my fifth-grade class. The paper eventually spawned a competitor, caused tears and got me into so much trouble that I decided not to get involved with student papers for most of my academic life.

If you had told me in the summer of 2008 that I would eventually become a staff writer for one of the most accomplished student papers in the world, I would’ve laughed. “Sounds nothing like me,” would likely have been the first words out of my mouth. But hey, I guess you really can’t predict these things, right?

So how did this all start? As with most things in my life, it revolves around sports. While writing I’m currently watching ESPN and split-screening this document with my last-place fantasy baseball team, a pretty common work setup for me.

My decision to join The Daily Pennsylvanian was actually more of a put-up-or-shut-up move. After years of consuming sports media I was reaching that point in a sports fan’s life where I started to think, “Man … what are these people talking about? I could’ve written a better article.” Dangerous thinking, I know. For once though, I actually decided to do something about it, talked to some friends of mine in the sports department and signed on.

It took maybe one article, actually more like one training session, for me to learn there’s much more to sports writing than just knowing how the game works. For example, knowing how to ask a senior who just played his or her last collegiate game why the team isn’t advancing to the postseason, or turning around and interviewing a player or coach after you just wrote something negative about them. Talk about needing ice in your veins.

So while my time at the DP has been eye opening for my sportswriting career, it has provided me with some of the coolest and most unique moments a college kid could ask for.

I’ll never forget my first game on the men’s lacrosse beat. Being from California I had zero idea of how lacrosse worked, yet somehow landed the beat. I sat down and opened my program and the first words were: “Penn has not beaten Princeton since 1989.” Oh great — a gigantic game and I don’t even know the rules yet. Wonderful.

First announcement over the PA system, “Welcome to Alumni Day.” Oh awesome — alumni might be reading this. No pressure.

I remember furiously taking game notes as my colleague Jennifer Scuteri explained the rules to me on the fly. It was a leaky system but it worked. But as the game went on I realized Penn was going to win and I was at its first win over Princeton in 21 years. Better yet, I thought, I get to interview the players and coaches afterward and document it for the whole school. It was such a cool experience, and the best part is that I’m the only one of the 2,500 I’m about to graduate with who got to live it.

I don’t know if I’ll ever write another article for a newspaper again. I’d like to dream that I’ll someday become the beat writer for my beloved Niners. (Actually while I’m dreaming, I’d like to be their starting quarterback.) But even if it never happens I still did it while I could, and now when I read an article and say to myself, “Is this a joke?” I’ll be totally qualified.

VIVEK SIVAKUMAR is a 2012 Engineering graduate from Cupertino, Calif. After graduation, he will study at Stanford and intern at Swipp before moving on to graduate school in computer science. He can be contacted at vivek.a.sivakumar@gmail.com.

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