Future Sports Journalist in the Making!

Wolverhampton Grammar School student, Luke Hemmings, recently had a dream come true when he joined Sports Presenter, Dan Pallett, and Senior Presenter/Journalist, Nicola Beckford at the BBC Studios in Birmingham. He also spoke with Breakfast Presenter, Rakeem Omar, live on BBC Radio WM.

Aspiring Sports Journalist, Luke, entered the 2023 BBC Young Reporter Competition and was voted the West Midlands Regional Winner for his report into heading the ball in football and its links to concussion. The Wolves fan was inspired to make his report after watching Raúl Jiménez suffer a fractured skull following a header during a match against Arsenal in November 2020. As part of his winning entry, Luke interviewed Nathan Howarth, Development and Operations Director at the Concussion Legacy Foundation. During his recent filming debut he was also lucky enough to speak to Dr Matt Perry who featured in the BBC’s Code Red documentary about Raúl’s injury.

A keen footballer since a young age, Luke is now a qualified referee and enjoys refereeing local matches for the Stourbridge District Youth Football League. Thanks to support from his School, Luke has already had the opportunity to work with BBC WM Sports Commentator, Mike Taylor at a BBC Young Reporter event hosted by WGS last year, and he participated in the 5Live Breakfast Show and 5Live Teen Summit at the Midlands Art Centre, Birmingham. This has whetted Luke’s appetite for a future career in sports commentary or sports journalism.

Luke shares with us;

" I was inspired to enter the BBC Young Reporter Competition by our Head Librarian, Mrs Rowley, who runs a Young Reporter Club. She encourage d a fellow student, Jaipal, who was last year's regional winner, and this gave me the confidence to enter the competition.

Being chosen as the West Midlands winner gives me hope for the future and the experience of recording my report with a professional crew was amazing. I really hope that you will see me on the TV or hear me on the radio again one day!”

At WGS we offer over 100 extra-curricular weekly activities and our BBC Young Reporter Club is one of the most popular. This year’s members are already honing their reporting skills and their topics range from the dangers of space debris to the benefits of doing ballet. It would be wonderful if we could achieve a hat-trick and a third winner from our School!

Thank you to Head Librarian, Mrs Rowley, for organising our BBC Young Reporter Club and for supporting the students throughout their submissions; we are so proud of everyone who participated.