This past week I have been interviewing the area state golf participants in preparation for the state golf meet this week. I have been interviewing high school athletes now for over 30 years and you would think I would be experienced enough to ask the right questions and make it look easy. For some reason I still struggle with conducting a good interview.

Interviewing teenagers can be a challenge in itself. Some of the things I’ve learned over the years is never to ask a yes and no question, start casual to put them at ease, and let them know I am listening and I really care about what they are saying and interested in what they have accomplished. It’s very important to do your homework and know what you are talking about. Interviewing is really an art form; it’s like a dance. It usually goes okay but sometimes I’ll have some mental lapses and it doesn’t always go quite like I’d like it to.

This week doing the golf interviews was fun and again I struggled with some interviews and some went great. For example, I have interviewed Lindsey Lund a good number of times, she is the defending Class A Individual State Golf Champion and Lindsey always gives a great interview, she’s always upbeat and smiling and says a lot of positive things. However, I was upset with myself after the interview, because during most of my interviews with Lindsey I’ve asked her if her mom Lisa is going to bring her famous chocolate chip cookies and will I be getting one? Lisa is known for bringing cookies to her kids athletic events. I love it! But, do I really need to mention that every time I interview Lindsey? When I got done, I said to myself, “geez, I ask her that every interview”. It’s not a bad thing but maybe I could come up with something else to end with. The Dawson-Boyd girls golf team is easy to interview, they all do so well. I felt bad that I wasn’t able to interview Claire and Carson Stratmoen the day I was with the Blackjacks.

Other interviews that I did this week was the LQPV-DB state track athletes, Brayson Boike and Brynn Gloege. Now I don’t usually cover track during the season and maybe I should. I really didn’t do my homework on both of them before I started the interview. I knew Brynn, was a state champion Shadow and on the cross-country team. Brynn qualified in the 800-meter run, but I didn’t know that the 800-meter run was two laps around the track. So, I sounded pretty dumb when telling her that 800 is four laps and she laughingly corrected me letting me know it’s only 2! Brayson is 6’8 inches tall and while standing next to him during the interview all I could think about was how tall and big he was. So I really wasn’t thinking of questions to ask. I wasn’t at the top of my game. Brayson is one of the most athletic kid I’ve covered in my broadcast career.

Molly Halvorson and Kate Ulstad will represent the LQPV girls at state golf, both of them came into the radio station to be interviewed which was fun. Talking to them you could tell that they are very good friends and love to golf and spend time together. Kate has really improved her golf game this year and is thrilled to golf at state again. Molly is a veteran at state. I really didn’t have to ask many questions they both just talked and laughed their way through the interview.

I went to the Canby golf course to interview Jack Abrahamson and Maddie Richter. I interviewed Maddie last year at state golf, but this year she knocked the interview out of the park! She was great, I asked a few questions, and she was off and running. Maddie is very well spoken and did a great job. I told her when we got done that she talks so well, she should go into radio someday.

While interviewing Minneota Viking freshman Owen Dalager, I was shocked to find out that this is his first year out for golf and he has never golfed before this spring! Two of his friends that are on the golf team talked him into going out. Here he is in the state golf tournament! That is crazy stuff.

Interviewing the LQPV boys golf team was challenging. Most of them were first time interviews with me, so they didn’t really know what to expect and I could tell some of them were very nervous. Not Carson Besonen, this will be Carson’s fifth state tournament! He is one the best golfers in the state. When interviewing Carson, it’s like I’m at the Masters interviewing a professional. He does a very good job. Going to miss him next year.

So, after 30 some years of interviewing student athletes I am still learning a few things in how to conduct a good interview.