Cheers From Taiwan

In my first year in college, I traveled to the United States to watch Kevin Durant, my favorite athlete, play basketball in person. Being seated behind the bench and along the player tunnel cost me a fortune but it was totally worth it because I got to watch Durant make every single move clearly. Prior to the start of the game, I took advantage of this “VIP seat”, generating the courage to ask the security guard if I could take a picture with him.

Taking that courageous step was the best decision I have ever made in my life as Durant not only took pictures with me, but also gave me his autograph, which completely fulfilled my dream and solidified my love for sports. From that moment on, I have been determined to pursue a career in the sports industry with the aspiration of meeting Kevin Durant again, but hopefully, as a professional journalist who asks him questions rather than an enthusiastic fan who buys a ticket to the game.

My name is Yi Rou Tai and people call me Stella. I’m a sports girl who came all the way from Taiwan to the United States for a master’s degree in sports journalism at Arizona State University. Last August I left my hometown, Taipei, where I was born, raised and have lived my entire life. It was not a decision made lightly to get out of my 24-year comfort zone and cross half the globe to start a new chapter, alone, in an unknown city, to pursue my one big goal: learning and aiming to be a sports journalist.

ASU’s sports journalism program caught my attention when I was planning to seek a sports-related master’s degree. The courses are well-organized, from teaching students basic writing, editing and broadcasting skills in the boot camp to offering each of them a chance to participate in professional sports games from a certain media position on behalf of Cronkite News. These hands-on experiences were exactly what I was expecting which made me firmly decide to rise to the challenge of studying abroad.  

The knowledge and experience I gained in Taiwan before coming to ASU prepared me to better handle the obstacles and challenges I have faced at Cronkite. I did my undergraduate in Taiwan at National Taiwan Normal University, where I got my bachelor’s degree in English because I was passionate about excelling in a foreign language and exploring American culture. My ability to speak fluent English diminished the fear of learning from professors and interacting with my peers in English. I am glad that language hasn’t served as a barrier to me living a good life.

After graduating from college, I took a two-year gap to make sure I was knowledgeable and mentally capable of embarking on a new overseas journey on my own. During this span, I tried several different job positions. First, I worked as a social media editor at Eleven Sports, in charge of editing baseball highlights and running social media platforms. Later, I took up a one-year journalism internship in the sports department of United Daily News, where I was responsible for writing and translating sports news.

My last job was to work with an English broadcaster in P League+, which is a Taiwanese men’s professional basketball league founded in 2020. Not only did I assist the sportscaster in preparing broadcast matters, but I also wrote scripts for him to do game recaps on ICRT. These experiences laid a solid foundation for me to be able to further my education in the United States and to be admitted to ASU.

Although I am still only midway through my master’s degree, what I have learnt in Cronkite is invaluable. I realize journalism is fascinating to me not only because reporters and writers can reveal first-hand news, but also because they can decide the way news is presented to the public. I have been lucky to experience trying different roles presented by the school courses, whether as a beat reporter or a broadcaster, to  something like a game production team member. 

Looking back, I still remember how much of a struggle It was when I came to the US last year. I missed my family and friends in Taiwan and didn’t know how to mingle with a whole class of American students as the only person whose native language is not English. I truly thought I was not going to make it to the end of the first semester, let alone through the entire program, which spans around 18 months. As frustrated and anxious as I was in the beginning, I am glad that I didn’t give up and chose to stick with it, as I have experienced so many new things that I would have never tried if I wasn’t attending ASU.

It is my dream to establish a career as a beat reporter to cover two of my favorite sports, basketball and baseball, here in the United States. However, I’m aware of the fact that sports is a highly competitive industry in the United States. If things don’t work out for me here, hopefully I will be qualified to work in the sports industry back in Taiwan, where I’d look to bring some positive influence on our sports business with the knowledge and skills I had acquired at ASU, even if in a subtle way.

Above all, I will always value everything I have learnt, everyone I’ve met and every experience at ASU as there is no doubt that it is going to benefit me and my future in every aspect.