“I expect to win everything” – Taylor Rooks about journalism, competition and game – Essence

My hair was still within the pin curls after I logged in for the primary time with enlargement Taylor Rooks. This morning I made a typical routine of beauty conservation (hair, nails, skincare) and the day before preparing for my trip to New Orleans for the weekend “Big Game”, and I wanted to make sure that that my hair still looked straight over the weekend.

Girls who understand this ,. And friends? She got it immediately. Another black girl who understands that preparing for hair before traveling is as vital because the journey itself.

Traveling to this point – Zoom will call before the third annual battle battle of the paddles, where he’ll compete through the Super Bowl week – there may be a story about the relentless ambition and unanimous authenticity (in addition to a friend of a black girl who’s consistently not and consistently has her hair through her hair on a regular basis). Long before she was nominated for the Sports Journalist Award, Emma, ​​who became synonymous with groundbreaking interviews, Taylor Rooks was a baby who grew up in a family of athletes who knew exactly what he wanted.

Its growth by sports media was not a straightforward line. It was a series of strategic movements through which each interview built his fame of somebody who could draw stories that other journalists omitted. At Bleacher, Report has grow to be greater than only a reporter – he’s a storyteller who understands that each athlete wears the universe of experience outside their skilled achievements.

“I’m incredibly competitive,” he tells me. “I expect to win everything, even when I know that I’m not even good at it.” This is a philosophy that defined her profession, because what, as well as to the relentless drive, through which the interview with the best names in sport, can transform what it means to tell athletes’ stories. It can also be the identical spirit that she competed within the battle of P & g o Paddles, where she joined forces from Atlanta Falcons QB, Kirk Cousins ​​to compete in an exclusive tennis tournament.

In the third annual P&G Battle of the Paddles, an exclusive table tennis tournament that connects the elite NFL players and celebrity fans.

Her approach to journalism doesn’t apply to questions on the surface level. It’s about creating real human connections. “When you talk to someone and sit with him, especially when it is an hour, what we do in my BR program, it’s really like a ping pong match,” he explains. “You give and take. You always have to have a good continuation. You always have to listen. “

In the case of skyscrapers, authenticity means a desire to share a chunk of yourself. “When it comes to experience between people and people, you must have an element of openness,” he says. He offers an example of interviewing Spencer Dinwiddie, through which sharing his own experience of his grandfather’s loss allowed him to open deeper. “When he tells me how sad he was when he lost his grandfather, and I know that I also have the same experience, and I can talk to him about it, let him open more at the moment.”

This authenticity is revolutionary, especially for black women in sports media. It is a component of the generation by prescribing rules, making a space through which athletes might be defenseless, where their humanity is as vital as their sporting performance. “It is really important for you to tell black stories,” he says. “Black women improve sport. We are extremely addictive to space. “

Her interviews became legendary – not for Gotch’s moments, but for an actual human connection. Talk to Wayne Gretzky during Masters in August, GA last 12 months (which I might be first -hand witness). She even left seasoned fans like me, seeing the hockey legend in a very latest light. It just isn’t about the questions he asks, but about the space he creates for an authentic story.

He refers to the philosophy divided by Dallas Cowboys Kicker Brandon Aubrey: “I play the game, not the opportunity.” For the tower, this implies specializing in human history, not the performance. Regardless of whether he conducts hours of interviews in his Bleacher report show, whether he competes within the Ping Pong tournament, at all times plays to win.

Her competitive spirit runs deeply. It brightens the conversation about the unexpected intensity of athletes – Saquon Barkley transforms Connect 4 right into a championship match, Jayson Tatum treats golf because the game of seven NBA finals. These usually are not just anecdotes. They are windows within the psychological world of elite athletes, world skyscrapers have created her domain.

“I am probably the most competitive in the peaks,” he admits. “The partner is very important and early determination of the rules is very important.” It is a metaphor for all her approach – understanding the game, setting rules and playing to win.

Looking to the long run, she just isn’t completely happy that she stays in front of the camera. “I want to make more productions,” he reveals. “I want to enter both scenarios and unclosed. I want to be able to tell stories that do not have me in front of the camera. “This shows her understanding that an important story doesn’t apply to a storyteller – it’s about the story itself.

As for the upcoming Super Bowl? “I would just like to see how eagles get it,” he says only a number of days before one in all the largest rematch within the history of NFL. (ATTENTION of the editor: I might also like to see how the eagles get it).

To sum up the interview, I’m hung up with top-of-the-line quotes I even have heard for a very long time: “Being a black woman is my favorite brotherhood, of which I am part,” he says. He understands the importance of this statement – the heritage of black women in sports media, which forged space where it didn’t exist before. “I feel great gratitude to all black women who did it in front of me,” he adds, speaking within the history of storytelling who refused to silence.

Taylor Rooks not only change sports media. He imagines again what is feasible when an authentic story meets uncompromising perfection. And he does it with competitiveness that refuses to limit.