Big 12 Media Day diary: Ashleigh Fontenette
Oct. 20, 2010
Hey Longhorn fans, Interviews, interviews, interviews. That's what it has been like for Texas Women's Basketball the last few days. Before practice on Tuesday, we had our preseason media day in Austin, and on Wednesday, Coach G, Kathleen Nash and I traveled to Kansas City, Mo., for Big 12 Media Day. Not only were our freshmen introduced to the Austin newspaper and television reporters on Tuesday, but they also got to wear their Texas uniforms for the first time. All of us had one-on-one sessions in front of writers and video cameras to talk about the upcoming season, preseason workouts and our new assistant coach Ron Hughey, among many other topics. We also filmed personal profiles for TexasSports.com (which you'll all see in the future), were interviewed by our teammate Cokie Reed and took group photo shoots. The freshmen all seemed to handle the attention on Tuesday pretty well, but it reminded me of my first media day in 2008. The interviews have all become a little more natural since then, but I sometimes still get a little nervous when multiple microphones pop up out of nowhere. It's all good practice, though, since my career goal is to become a lawyer and that will involve lots of public speaking down the road. While the rest of the team stayed back in Austin on Wednesday and enjoyed an `off day' from practice with massages, Coach G, Kat and I made a quick visit to Kansas City. (Don't worry. Kat and I were able to schedule our massages a day earlier than everyone else.) Our team host, Barb, picked us up when we landed in Kansas City and took us to the Sprint Center where we met with the media for a few hours. Coach G started off the afternoon session with a Q&A that all of the head coaches did individually throughout the day. The three of us filmed interviews with FSN and Big12Sports.com, and then Kat participated in a student-athlete panel hosted by television announcers Debbie Antonelli and Brenda VanLengen. When the panel finished, we had an open session where six of the 12 teams were available for more interviews. We crammed a lot into just a few hours, and before we knew it, Barb was taking us to the airport to catch our flight back to Austin. It was fun to be back in Kansas City, even for just a few hours, and to picture the Longhorns playing there again in March at the 2011 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship. That's all for now. Until next time, hook'em Horns!
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