Folks,
Haven't posted much around these parts for a while, but I had an experience the other day that I wanted to share with those on this board who are looking for "higher level" experience to test or develop their sports shooting skills.
Most of my time shooting I'm elbow-to-elbow on the sidelines, photo pits and baselines of pro and NCAA events, however I received a request from a buddy to cover a junior college football game this past Saturday, and to help him out, I agreed.
Here is what I found: I was able to get onto the field with no questions asked just by showing my gear at the gate and checking in with the SID representative. I also sought out and talked with the head referee prior to the game just to get his ground rules.
I was the only photographer ON THE ENTIRE FIELD for the ENTIRE GAME! There weren't even any student shooters. The action was relatively fast-paced (not at the D1 NCAA level, but certainly faster than most high school events), the game was played in the middle of the day, and I was free to go anywhere I wanted (other than, of course, between the 25's, like all football games). There were no parking hassles; no long hikes to the stadium; no issues finding a place to edit; no problems getting the WiFi to work; no requirements to ingest/edit/caption/upload images during the game; no fighting for position with other shooters, fans, alumni, et al on the sidelines. In short, it was pure sports shooting, plain and simple.
So, for all you guys wanting to experience shooting sports at a level faster than high school who aren't comfortable shooting (or are unable to shoot, for whatever reason) at the D1 ranks, why not give your local JuCo a try? Be forewarned, though: this isn't for beginners. These kid are still big and plenty fast, and you can get in trouble pretty quickly by not knowing what you're doing.
