When local sports reporter and anchor Jamie Apody came to report a story on junior guard Donnaizha Fountain and senior guard Feyonda Fitzgerald for 6ABC, Fountain took the opportunity to get some experience in front of a camera.
Apody came back to finish the story the next week and let Fountain know that her signoff would be used for the story.
Fountain said it made her day.
“[Jamie] made me feel really comfortable, I really liked her,” Fountain said. “Wow, I can’t believe I’m going to be on 6ABC, that’s just crazy. I want to do it again.”
Fountain is focused on what her career could look like after she is done with basketball, even though she still has WNBA aspirations. She knows that she wants to be involved with sports even when she is done playing, and journalism is how she wants to do it.
“My mom actually just asked me if I wanted to be a coach when I was done and I said ‘No way,’” Fountain said. “I want to be in front the camera. I want to be a sports broadcaster, analyst or journalist, anything to do with any sport and a camera.”
Fountain has gained valuable connections in the sports media world from women’s basketball sports information director Lauren Ferrett. She plans to talk to the ESPN commentators after Saturday’s game against Cincinnati in McGonigle Hall.
As well as working with Ferrett, Fountain has worked with her adviser to find opportunities like seminars or internships that she can do to increase her journalism experience without taking time away from basketball.
Fountain recently hosted Temple Athletics, a show aired on TUTV and available online.
“It is awesome, it is my first time ever hosting a show,” Fountain said. “I’ve always learned what it would be like to do it but I never actually had the opportunity before. I was actually able to get eased into it my first show, even though I was nervous because it was my first show, because I was able to interview my coach Tonya Cardoza and my two teammates Fitzgerald and [Ruth] Sherrill.”
While working on the show, Fountain has learned more about other sports, giving her the ability to cover topics besides basketball.
“My second show for Temple TV, I did fencing, and I was always curious if they really hurt each other during the match,” Fountain said. “I just learned a lot from interviewing coach Nikki Franke, and now I’m going to go to one of their meets.”
However, she would prefer to do something covering basketball, especially women’s basketball. She has spent time watching as much professional women’s basketball as possible.
Fountain has also picked up a personal hero: LaChina Robinson, who played for Wake Forest University from 1998-2002 before she became an ESPN WNBA analyst. While Robinson is one person Fountain looks up to, she idolizes every woman in the sports world making an impact as a broadcaster or analyst.
“I’ve always looked up to the women in sports growing up,” Fountain said. “I saw her put in the work to get where she is and I know that’s what I’ll have to do when I hang it up and I’m ready for that.”
Kevin Schaeffer can be reached at kevinschaeffer@temple.edu or on Twitter @_kevinschaeffer.
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