Kristina Costabile is a sports writer and editor for the Canadian Football League (CFL). She is a 2016 graduate of the Advanced Journalism program at Mohawk College. Before joining the CFL, she worked for organizations such as theScore, the Hamilton Bulldogs, Cable 14, the Hamilton Hurricanes, and the Hamilton Red Wings. She is a true example of what can happen when you set goals and do everything in your power to try to attain them.
Q1: Describe your position with the CFL. What does a game day versus a regular day at the office look like for you?
My job title is Content Coordinator. So on a regular day, one of my main duties is that I write, edit, and publish content onto CFL.ca. If I’m not writing the articles on my own, then I am editing the articles we receive from some of our freelance writers and then again I’m publishing them onto our website. I am also in charge of managing all of our freelance writers. I am responsible for their scheduling and just making sure that they are good to go on game night. On top of all this, I also manage all of our photography, so I have to communicate with all of our photographers across the country, as well as I handle our photography archives. Other than that, I find in sports that really anything can come up at any time, so at times you often have to just go with it, even if it’s not specifically something you would do on a normal day to day basis.
As for game nights, I could be doing one of three roles. The first role I could be doing would be writing the game recap that would later be uploaded to the website. The second role would be running the CFL’s social media channels. So this could be anything from posting live Tweets on Twitter to posting on Instagram to updating our Facebook. Though, if the games are in either Toronto or Hamilton where we can physically attend the games then we also use Snapchat to interact with the fans. For the third role, we call it quality control, as essentially you are editing highlight videos to include on the website, while also being the main point of contact for the person who is writing the game recap, and the person who is managing the social media channels.
Q2: When did you know you wanted to pursue a career in journalism? Was there anyone you looked up to?
I actually didn’t know at first that I wanted to pursue journalism. When I graduated from high school I went right into nursing school. Once I finished a year there I realized that it wasn’t for me. So I dropped out. I started to think, “what can I do with my love for sports?” I heard of journalism but I didn’t really know what it was all about to be honest with you. I thought that because I was a pretty good writer in high school that maybe this was something that could actually work. So before I applied to Mohawk College, I tried to arrange some meetings with people that I had watched on television because that’s what I assumed journalism was, that it was all about being in front of a camera. However, I now know that there is so much more to it. I first contacted Jackie Redmond from SportsNet, she would 
message me from time to time giving me tips about being on television. Another person I got in contact with later on was Amanda Stein who is now the web digital media host for the New Jersey Devils, but at the time I talked with her she was working for TSN Radio 690 in Montreal. I was able to come in contact with her because of Dan Gheesling. He was a contestant on the reality tv show, Big Brother and came to my College to speak. I got the opportunity to interview him because I worked for my school’s newspaper. After the show, we got talking and I mentioned that I wanted to get into sports journalism, so he gave me Amanda’s contact. She was very helpful and gave me insights on the radio side of things. Having these mentors definitely gave me a better understanding to what journalism was made up of, as I was receiving advice from both a person on television and a person on the radio.
Q3: On your blog you shared an old tweet of yours from 2015 that read, “One day I’ll be reporting at the #GreyCup. #CareerGoals.” Nearly a year after tweeting this you covered the 104th Grey Cup in Toronto. What are some of the challenges you faced that week? But most importantly, what did it mean for you to conquer this goal?
My first Grey Cup was nothing like I had even anticipated at all. In the best way possible though. Before going, I had only been to Hamilton Tiger-Cats games, but never the Grey Cup. I think the biggest challenge for me was just the amount of sheer work you have to 
do. To me, it’s surreal that my tiny office, not just my content team, but the entire office comes together and organizes Canada’s largest championship. So I think that the hardest thing was just making sure I was on track with things and making sure all the details were lined up correctly. It can be difficult because you don’t just work 9-5 and go home, you are instead working around the clock and making sure the event is as successful as possible.
Accomplishing this goal was very exciting. It didn’t matter what teams were playing, fans from all over the country were there because of their love for the game and the atmosphere that is associated with it. I am proud to be apart of something that brings people together like that.
Q4: Are there any key moments or turning points that you think helped you break into the sports industry?
There was a few of them. While I was in school I made sure that I got as much experience as I could because I knew that as soon as I left school I would have to face the real world. So this led me to trying a little bit of everything. I was lucky enough to intern for the Hamilton Bulldogs for two seasons where I was apart of the production crew and then coming into the third season, Cable 14 hired me to broadcast the Bulldog games. This was a pivotal moment for me because it made me realize that though I enjoyed my experience, I knew that I didn’t want to do pursue a long-term career in television.
Another key moment for me would be when I had my own segment on Mohawk’s radio station. On my segment I would talk all about sports for one hour every week. The thing that I liked most about doing this was that I had so much freedom to give my own opinion, and it didn’t involve me reading from a teleprompter. Instead it was like “here I’m going to tell you why Auston Matthews is so good or why the Patriots won another Super Bowl.” It was helpful because I have now pulled this over into my role now as I write opinion pieces for CFL.ca.
Q5: How do you think social media has impacted the CFL’s brand?
I think it’s such a positive tool because of the fact that it allows you to get so much content out there so quickly. I also think it’s great because if fans aren’t making the effort to go to the website, than they are able to scroll through our Twitter for 
example to see what is actually going on in the world of Canadian football. With that being said, social media lets us connect with our fans on a different level than ever before. I just talked to people out West the other day who had a question about one of the posts they saw on the website, so I think it’s very important to be active on social media and is crucial for sharing information about our brand.
Q6: What advice do you have for students who are considering to go into the sports industry as a potential career?
Get as much experience as you can while you are in school! Put yourself out there and say yes to opportunities that are presented to you. However, this is not to say that all opportunities will come to you. You will have to work hard and at times you will have to go out there and fight for them.
I literally did everything I could in Hamilton to get as much experience as I could and I used the fact that I was a student to my advantage. Like I said, I worked with the Hamilton Bulldogs for two seasons which led to Cable 14 picking me up to broadcast 
their games. I was also a side-line reporter for the Hamilton Red Wings Junior A team. Most of the jobs I had didn’t even have job postings I just decided to reach out to them myself. For example, when I was looking for internships I ended up emailing the news director at theScore in Toronto. There was no job posting but I decided to reach out to him anyways and say “hey I can do this, this, and this, and I feel like I can benefit your company because…” Within a week he got back to me and I was hired. So sometimes it just takes a little bit of courage. After completing this summer internship, I reached out to the Hamilton Hurricanes owner, a Canadian Junior football team, where I told him that I noticed that they did not have a very good online presence and asked him what I could do to help. He replied back giving me a list of things that I could do and asked if I wanted to take on the role. So yes… I think using the fact that your a student and getting as much experience as you can while you are one will definitely help you set yourself apart from other people.
Contributor: Kristina Costabile
https://www.cfl.ca/kristina-costabile
Written by: Justine Glenney
SPAD Players Tribune 