BEHIND THE SCENES: WOMEN IN SPORTS

By Dan Harralson

As The Tide Times made the rounds during the 2009 SEC Football Media Days, we saw several different things ranging from different levels of how the SEC Media Days operation goes about. We have been numerous times in the past and have noticed that a lot of recognition is without telling of the contribution that women make working these events. We had a pleasure (and very thankful) to discuss and interview big names of the SEC. Ranging from Mike Slive, Nick Saban, Duce Staley, Tony Barnhardt, Chris Stewart, Rich Brooks, Joe Schad, Mark Richt, Lane Kiffin: Okay you get the point, we talked to numerous people. We came across four young women who have an influence and a love for their job, sports, and mostly like us running The Tide Times. We noticed that Kristen Kenney (XOS/SEC Digital); Lauren McKeeman (WRUF 850 AM Gainesville, FL); Jenn Hildreth (Fox Sports); and Rachel Baribeau (Sports Journalist) all work at what they love best and have great stories behind them. The names may come unnoticed to some, but we would like to share their bio's and greatly appreciated work with the fan bases.

JENN HILDRETH: FOX SPORTS
Jenn Hildreth is probably the most recognizable face to many SEC and ACC fans. She is recognizable not only during fall Saturday’s, but year round covering many sports. Jenn joined FOX Sports in the fall of 2002 and has been making a name for herself ever since. An award winning feature reporter, Hildreth has won several Emmy's for her work on ACC All-Access and SEC-TV. Beginning in the 2006-2007 seasons, Hildreth was the primary sideline reporter for FSN's national Sunday Night Hoops games, as well as a regular contributor as a feature reporter to the College Hoops Tip-off Show (also a national broadcast.) The many sports that Jenn has covered for FSN South include, ACC men's and women's basketball, volleyball, lacrosse, men's and women's soccer, SEC football, SEC men's and women's basketball, swimming and diving, baseball, gymnastics, and indoor/outdoor track. Last season, she segued from reporter to the host of ACC All-Access. Prior to joining FOX Sports South and SportSouth, Jenn worked as a high school sports reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. During this time period of 1999-2001, she also was a feature reporter/producer and sideline reporter for Larrison Sports Productions. The Norwood, NY native received her bachelor's degree in English and Journalism from Emory University in 1999 and she was a 3-sport varsity athlete (soccer, basketball, track and field).

KRISTEN KENNEY: XOS TECH/SEC DIGITAL
Kristen is a 2006 graduate of The University of Miami. She has a double major in Broadcast Journalism and Studio Art. As a senior, Kristen played soccer for the Hurricanes. Soccer is a sport that she played all during high school in Virginia. She and the Hurricanes finished the 2006 campaign with an 8-8-1 record, in her only season playing for “The U.” Since graduating, many opportunities have came her way. Kristen has worked for PBS and as a NPR reporter, landing her on-air television time. In 2004, she broke through as a reporter and as a co-producer for a documentary on O.J. Simpson. From 2004-2006, she covered University of Miami football, the Miami Heat, Miami PRO/AM wakeboard tournaments, Mercedes Benz Fashion Week, and numerous red carpet events. Her most recent on-air documentary took place in Africa, turning into one of her biggest success stories. While filming the documentary Project Tanzania, Kristen contracted malaria and soon recovered three days after. Not many people have the capability to recover from this deadly disease. An estimated 350-500 million people suffer from malaria, but for only five dollars she was able to survive. The harsh reality is that most people cannot afford the five dollars to become cured from this disease. Kristen came up with an idea to create a cause for the fight against malaria. She started a website www.malaikaforlife.org for people to learn about her experience with this deadly disease. The main objective is to also inform people that many individuals are not that fortunate to have five dollars to be cured and help donate towards the victims. While running this great cause, Kristen will also work as the new XOS Production Content Supervisor and On-Air Talent. XOS is now in partnership with the SEC to provide all video content of all twelve SEC institutions. Late August is the projected launch date for SEC Digital and can be seen on www.secsports.com

RACHEL BARIBEAU: SPORTS JOURNALIST
Rachel Baribeau has worked for numerous sports outlets and has achieved many personal dreams. Rachel is a 2003 graduate of Auburn University, majoring in Journalism. While at Auburn University, Rachel worked for the War Eagle Warm-Up Show on 97.7 FM THE KICKER... in Columbus, GA. She was also a sports editor for the Eco Latino newspaper and then freelanced for Sportsvisions on ESPN2 in Columbus, GA. Going into the 2008 football season, Rachel was contacted by ESPN to help interact with fans on the ESPN College Gameday Report. She attended weekends where many major college football games were being played. Some of the major games she has covered are Ohio State vs. Penn State, Alabama vs. LSU, and Alabama vs. Auburn. On top of living her journalism/sports reporting dreams, she has played professional football, has driven race cars at Rockingham, and takes golf lessons from Mark Immelman (the brother of Trevor who has won the Master's.) She became the first known female sportscaster to play professional football. She joined the Columbus Lions of the American Indoor Football League. She went through training camp for five days in January 2008. “It was one of the most rewarding things I have done and learning the camaraderie and breaking down film and everything else that goes along with a football team,” Rachel mentioned about her experience with the Columbus Lions. For the past three years, she has been on the In the Zone Show (an ESPN affiliate in Columbus, GA.) Recently, Rachel was hired by Tidesports.com and The Tuscaloosa News to become their online anchor. Rachel has touched many women in the sports business by showing anything is possible if you work hard enough and to place your heart into whatever you do. Please visit her website www.rachelbaribeau.com for all of her great work.

LAURA MCKEEMAN: WRUF 850 AM
Laura McKeeman is probably one of the biggest Florida Gators fan you will run into: and on top of that, she is employed by WRUF 850 AM to cover the Gators. WRUF is located in Gainesville, Florida and has numerous call-in shows during the week to talk University of Florida athletics. WRUF can be streamed online at www.am850.com including The Sportscene with Steve Russell. Laura and Steve both covered the 2009 SEC Media Days where we learned more about the station. McKeeman is also on a weekly television show called Gator Country. She is alongside Buddy Martin on Gator Country and all shows are archived. Insider Recruiting is a Wednesday segment on Gator Country, in which Justin Wells and Laura breakdown the Gators recruiting. The recruiting show can be seen streamed live on www.gatorcountry.com (airing from 8-9 PM ET.) Laura is a former Ballet Instructor and has performed ballet since a very young age. She attended the Universal Ballet Academy preceding her time in Gainesville. As a Junior majoring in Telecommunications, Steve Russell has probably already seen how well as a co-host he has working for WRUF.