Everyone wanted basketball success at the Commonwealth Games in England – ex-` Sport player Sumbal Syed

Sumbal Syed is an award-winning freelance creative producer who has worked for ` Sport for over five years, creating content for shows such as Match of the Day, ` News, FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, Wimbledon, Tokyo 2020, Birmingham 2022 and Euro 2020 .

In 2019 she won a Sports Journalists’ Association award for her influence on the ` Sport news team.

Syed has a passion for all sports but especially basketball. He produced content around the 3×3 competition at last year’s Commonwealth Games, featuring the England teams and the stories of the athletes.

In this article for Basketball England as part of the South Asian Heritage Month celebrations, the Mancunian explains why England’s basketball success in Birmingham was one of her finest sporting moments and offers advice to basketball players looking to break into sports media.

All images – Sumbal Syed

Basketball is more than a game. It’s everything that goes with it – music, fashion, culture.

I fell in love with the Chicago Bulls the season Derrick Rose became MVP, and I remember building the National Basketball Performance Center and meeting the Manchester Giants.

When I was in high school, I wanted to be a journalist and knew that getting involved in knowing as much as possible about the sport would help me tell basketball stories as a pro.

In the run-up to the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, I began planning content for ` Sport’s basketball coverage, doing in-depth research into British sport and the stories of its players.

As a producer from a diverse ethnic community, the stories and backgrounds of players like Myles, Tèmí and Shanice were really relatable. I wanted to make them accessible to a wider audience.

England winning gold and silver was a turning point for me and one of my favorite projects to work on. From researching the players, getting to know them through our interviews and media packs, to seeing them win medals at the games, the ending was a fairy tale. And you could feel it in the crowd, the variety, the coming together, everyone wanted this success.

England’s men after winning gold at Birmingham 2022

I never felt like sports media wasn’t for me

I grew up with three older brothers, so sport has always been a big part of my life.

One of them was a big Manchester United fan and I remember seeing this poster of the team in primary school and it piqued my interest. But what I really wanted was to be an athlete.

I remember my gym teachers telling me to focus on sprint events because I could run really fast, but as someone who wears the hijab I thought, “I can’t dress like that.” I also had at the time never seen another athlete with a hijab so i thought maybe this is not for me.

My mother encouraged me to do what we thought was the next best thing: sports journalism. So that’s what I wanted to do from the age of 13.

My fledgling career began when I was in school, writing about Manchester United for an American football website that probably had no readers. But it was a start and an outlet for my passion.

I studied sociology at the University of Manchester and there were workshops on working in the media. From there I applied for an internship at the `, working in sports news, radio, online and content collection.

It was my first time in a media job and I didn’t know the hierarchy, who was the boss etc. I was just myself, joking and talking to everyone. The ` Sport News deputy editor was impressed with me and asked what I would think of freelance work. And so began my life in sports media.

I never felt like the media room was not for people like me. I was so determined to get in.

Representing different people in different industries is important and sometimes I love being an advocate for the British South Asian community but other times I’m just here to work as a media professional so please don’t pigeonhole me.

Behind the scenes: Sumbal leads ` sports presenter Tim Warwood (right) interviewing England’s Hannah Jump (left) and Shanice Beckford-Norton (centre).

Your life experience is your fingerprint

My biggest advice to people, especially young people, who want to work in the sports media industry is to use your life experience in what you do and never feel like you can’t do something new.

The content you consume, be it written content, videos, etc., is different from the content everyone else consumes. It’s your fingerprint. So when you go to these organizations, don’t try to be that organization. Be yourself.

Building a work portfolio is really the best place to start. It’s important to be able to show that you’re serious about the sport and about storytelling. Finally, network as much as you can because you will find someone who needs you now.

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