As a journalist, the hardest part about a story is getting people to talk to you. When you're a student journalist trying to film a video documentary during a global pandemic, it's even harder.
When I first started this project, I had my hopes set high on who I wanted to interview, because why not? You don't ask, you don't get. I tried to make contact with virtually every Women's Super League (WSL) club, with the hope that I might be fortunate enough to garner co-operation from the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal or CIty. I wasn't.
But that didn't dampen my motivation. Upon more research, I stumbled upon a blog article about Yeovil Ladies Head of Performance, Ewan Greenhill. It caught my eye. Ewan spoke about the importance of tracking his player's menstrual cycles and the coinciding benefits towards injury prevention and well being. Before this I was unaware that teams below WSL and championship level also adjusted training based on period cycles.
Moments after reading the article, I knew I had to try and secure an interview with him, or someone at Yeovil. I reached out to the club via a media inquiries form, and to my surprise received a call from Ewan literally minutes after. The performance coach said:
"As soon as I saw the words ACL injuries and menstrual cycles you had my attention."
This was the first breakthrough in my project, and my journey from then on wards seem to fall into place like a well designed domino run, despite COVID-19's best efforts to break the rhythm. Ewan was happy for me to come to Yeovil and film a socially distanced interview which was a real result. Unfortunately this was at a time where the squad were completing a 2 week isolation period due to a positive covid test, therefore my plans to film outdoor and gym training sessions were cancelled.
Days after my phone call with Ewan, I also received a response from Esther Goldsmith, a research scientist and ambassador for leading sports science company Fitrwoman. The former elite dancer was happy to arrange a zoom interview and answer my questions regarding their research and plans for the future.
At this point, all that was left to secure was a case study of an elite player who had suffered an ACL injury fairly recently. Obviously my appearance throughout the documentary was providing the viewers with a grassroots perspective, but I wanted to speak to a player at a higher level.
Admittedly my optimism was beginning to waver after a week of relentless and unsuccessful chasing of WSL and championship players. My glimmer of hope was actually fashioned by the most cliche phrase you hear in journalism. It's not about what you know, it's about who you know.
Boy is that true. I remembered Ewan saying he had a strong link to a players in the Crystal Palace Ladies team, who play in the championship. I had recently reached out to one of their players, Ashlee Hinks, who tore her ACL last September. I hadn't got a response, so I asked Ewan if he could put in a good word for me - and it paid off!
Ashlee was more than happy to speak to me, and ended up sending me loads of great content to include in the documentary.
If this process has taught me anything, it's the importance of persistence, remembering the little details an interviewee tells you, and also, not being afraid to be a bit cheeky and ask for someone to put a word in for you.
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