HIGH POINT, N.C., Feb. 26, 2015 – Kyla Molina, a High Point University sophomore and native of Gaithersburg, Maryland, recently attended the NBA All-Star Weekend in New York City to gather sound bites from NBA players and legends and network with industry leaders. Molina attended the conference on behalf of The Basketball Channel, a 24/7/365 television network dedicated to the game of basketball.
The NBA All-Star Weekend, held this year Feb. 13-15 in Madison Square Garden, hosted a variety of basketball events, performances and games.
Throughout the weekend, Molina interviewed NBA players like John Wall of the Washington Wizards, and gathered sound bites from current and former players like Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors, Jimmy Butler of the Chicago Bulls, Anthony Davis of the New Orleans Pelicans and more. She also met influential female broadcasters including Sage Steele and Kristen Ledlow.
Molina first connected with The Basketball Channel during a summer internship in 2014. She continued to keep an active role with The Basketball Channel throughout the school year, and says she could not pass up the opportunity to attend NBA All-Star Weekend on behalf of the network.
“It was an incredible experience to meet so many current and retired NBA players and legends,” says Molina, a journalism major at HPU. “These are the people that started basketball. You watch them on TV and see them on YouTube, but to have the opportunity to meet people like Magic Johnson, Bill Russell and Julius Erving in person was unreal.”
For one of her journalism classes at HPU, Molina wrote a multimedia story on Harry Giles, a basketball player and junior at Wesleyan Christian Academy in High Point. Molina’s paper about Giles – who already has offers from colleges, including Duke University, the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Kansas University, the University of Kentucky and more – was then posted on The Basketball Channel’s website.
“I was really excited to have my story posted on their website,” says Molina. “To see that my hard work had paid off and put on a website was rewarding. Writing that definitely prepared me for future interviews.”
Molina says her experience at the NBA All-Star Weekend confirmed her eagerness for a future in sports broadcasting after she graduates in 2017.
“Coming into my freshman year, I was eager to get an internship and see what I could do,” says Molina. “The entertainment industry is difficult to get into and I want to get all the experience I can. Going to NBA All-Star Weekend gave me insight into the industry, but it also showed me how much more I need to gain experience, and how much harder I need to work. I have a career goal and I’m trying to do anything I can do to get there.”