I don't know what got me into sports videographing. Growing up I had very little interest in sports. Instead, I loved movies and TV shows and as I entered my teenage years, I started to study and read up on how they were filmed and staged. Entering into college, I signed up for as many courses as I could to learn about film making and cameras. I even took a few creative writing classes to try to start writing my own scripts but I wasn't any good at it, so I stuck to being behind a camera.
A year into my college experience, I was trying to find a job that would involve my future career, which would hopefully be in Hollywood, filming movies. Being in Utah, I didn't have very many choices. It was either interning at a news station but I wouldn't use a camera or I was offered a job at my university's athletic department, and I would be filming different sporting events.
I took the job at the university. I was attending the University of Utah, one of the top schools in the Pac-12 conference, so at least the sports I would be filming would be very competitive. Over the next few years, I filmed basketball, football, baseball, softball, gymnastics, soccer, and just about every other sport. Half the time I didn't have a clue what was going on, but I became very good at listening to the director in my ear and following the action, plus I was making connections that would hopefully help me after I graduated.
Unfortunately, due to the pandemic interrupting nearly two years worth of school, I was a twenty-four year old senior. Most of my classes were done, I was only taking one a week, and I was just waiting for the school year to end so I could get my diploma, and move to Hollywood.
Trying to save as much money as possible, I was taking every job I could at the athletic department that needed a camera. And that's how I found myself on a Saturday in late March filming the Pac-12 gymnastics championship.
Out of all the sports I filmed, gymnastics was probably my favorite. There wasn't a ton of movement, unlike most other sports, the women were pretty attractive, and the events lasted all day, which turned into a nice paycheck.
The day before the championship, I was filming all of the athletes promo shots. Each university would bring their team in, I would film them as a group then do a few action spots and some full length body shots of the individual athletes, for the network to use as they competed. It wasn't hard work, but very time consuming.
Half way through the day, I was getting some food from the catering area, standing in line behind the team from Oregon State University. Last in their line was short, blonde haired woman, whose ass I was staring at as I waited for the food.
She must have felt my eyes on her as she turned around and said, "Hi, I'm Jade."
"Oh, hi, I'm Steve," I answered as she handed me a plate.
"You're one of the camera guys, right?" She asked me and I told her I was. "That must be a lot of fun."
"Yeah, it has its advantages," I said, thinking that this girl looked familiar. I probably filmed her last year or when the Utes competed against her school earlier in the season. "Well, I'll see you soon, I think we're next after lunch."
"See you soon," I said noticing her pearly white teeth as she said goodbye and went to sit with her team
Jade was the last to go for her team and we struck up a conversation again as I watched her through the camera lense. She was interested in how her shots turned out and I gladly let her get close to me as she watched on the screen attached to the camera. As she walked away, I noticed a slight wedgie going up in between her buttcheeks from her black and orange leotard. I was memorized as she bent over to grab her gear, snapping to when the director called my name.
The next day was a nearly twelve hour day for me with most it spent right behind the camera. My school, the University of Utah ended up winning the overall championship that day. I caught Jade's eye a few times and was happy to see her smile and wave to me. She won first overall on two of the events, but I only got to film one of them. She was super pretty, so I was glad to be able to look at her through the camera and not feel like a total stalker for it.
The next day, I was up early and went to a local coffee shop to get a coffee and do some studying for my last class. As I sat in the corner of the shop, I heard some giggling as a group of girls walked in, and looked up to see what I assumed was a bunch of college girls going for their regular coffee run. I went back to my studying, trying my best to ignore them as they loudly ordered and talked.
"It's Steve, right?" Hearing my name, I looked up to see that one of the girls had broken away from the group and walked over to my table. I instantly recognized that it was Jade.
"Hi Jade, yes, my name is Steve," I said as I sat my book down and took a drink from my coffee.
"Oh, you remembered my name. I wasn't sure if you would," she said.
"Well, I certainly heard it enough yesterday, between all the events you did and how good you did in them," I said with a laugh.
She laughed too and said, "I guess that is true. I just wish we had finished better overall."
"Yeah, can't blame you there. I'm sorry, I don't know much about gymnastics, so I just assumed that it was more of an individual sport," I told her.
"It is, but we also compete as a team. College and the Olympics both have individual events as well as team events. So, are you from around here?" She asked me.
I offered her a chair but she declined, so I said, "Yeah, I grew up not too far from here. Thought about going out of state for college but decided to stay and attend the U. What about you?"
"I grew up in Arizona but am going to school in Oregon. I actually came up here and visited Utah when I was trying to decide where to go to college," she told me.
"Why didn't you?" I asked.
"Lots of reasons. I ended up just feeling more comfortable at OSU," she said.
"Too bad you didn't come here," I said with a smile.
"And why's that? Because I could have won more yesterday?" She said.
"No, because then I could have met you sooner," I said.
Jade laughed and said, "It looks like most of my team has their drinks. We're planning on going out and exploring Salt Lake today. Where do you suggest we go?"
"How about instead of telling you, I text you some places so you don't forget them," I said.
"Oh, thats a good idea," Jade said. She gave me her phone number that I hurried to call so she would have mine, before her teammates started to call her over. I waved goodbye to her as she left.
Did she mention the Olympics? Still holding my phone, I got curious and I typed her name into my phone. I was a little surprised to find out that I just got the phone number for an Olympic gold medalist and who appeared to be one of the best gymnasts out there.