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Jill Douglas

Jill Douglas

The sports journalist at the forefront of 91Èȱ¬ Commonwealth Games coverage believes "If you've got enthusiasm, determination and you love your sport - why shouldn't you be doing my job?"

  • You have to work hard. I worked very hard as a young journalist learning the trade and asking questions, understanding what a story is and being able to present that in a way that people would find interesting. Whether you work in news, sport, politics, whatever, it's exactly the same; a story is a story.
  • Before a big rugby game, I'll have spent most of the day before the match doing some preparation. That's a little bit like studying for your exams. You need to know the personalities involved, what the stories are surrounding the game and how they've come into this game. You do a lot of preparation. I like to go in knowing more than I need.
  • Pressure is something that you learn to deal with the more experienced you become. The best thing to do is to take a deep breath, make it simple, know what you're talking about, don't try and be fancy, don't try and be clever and just enjoy the experience.
  • You have to be quite disciplined as a presenter. You have to listen to your director, listen to your producer, listen to the people that are in the truck or in the studio behind the gallery, directing you and counting you. While I might suddenly want to start talking about something completely different, I have to stick to what we've agreed in order for all these other people to get their bits into the programme.
  • Whatever it is you decide to do in life, if you want to be the very best at it, you have to be able to make sacrifices.
  • Leading up to a live event you need to do your homework and go to bed early. Sometimes it's very tempting to go out with everybody else, but you have to think to yourself 'No, if I'm going to be sitting in front of a camera under a light in everybody's home tomorrow I don't want big bags under my eyes and not really know what I'm talking about'.
  • I don't think of myself particularly as a woman working in sport. I think of myself as a broadcaster, a journalist, and the right person for the job, regardless of whether I happen to be female or male.
  • You have to prove that you are credible. Always respect the people that you're talking to because these are the people who are putting themselves on the line. They're the stars of the show. What we do is facilitate you being able to watch it at home.
  • Get involved locally and see where it takes you. Go and work with your local radio station covering local sporting events or write a couple of articles for your local paper.
  • Get involved and learn how to recognise a story happening in front of you. Learn how to ask questions and be curious. Perhaps you need to go to college to learn some things that might help you on the way.

You should always have dreams. When you've got dreams and you've got passion, the hard work comes easily after that.

Mikael Forssell

Birmingham City footballer

Training ground

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Media zone

Pierre Dulaine

Video clips

Check out the video with the famous dance instructor Pierre Dulaine.

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