One of the newest Marlins to the fish tank is Sports Information Director Alysse Scripter. Coming from Mount Olive, she is looking to help promote and tell the story of each sports program on campus.
Scripter was born in Portsmouth, Va. and eventually graduated from Old Dominion University in 2014. Her family currently resides in the Virginia Beach area. She has had ties with VWU, as she interned for the former Athletic Director Joanne Renn. This internship made it an easy decision for her to come back to this area and work.
One of the easy things for her was coming back to VWU and seeing a handful of “familiar faces…Coach Elliot, Coach Hoover…the faculty and staff love the school they work with and the student athletes they work with.”
“Virginia Beach, Norfolk has always been a home to me…when I found out they had an opening… [I] put my name in the hat…it’s just a big homecoming event basically,” Scripter said. “It’s been great being back.”
Having connections when it comes to job searches always helps, but in this case it helps when you bring in someone who is very familiar with the school and the city.
In comparing her old job at the University of Mount Olive, she only had to work directly with 11 sports, now working with all 20 of the sports offered at VWU it is a step up.
Being a sports information director means wearing multiple hats at one time. Whether it is setting up the video feed, to keeping stats or creating promotional photos to post on social media, it is a demanding job and Scripter is up to the task.
One of the hardest things to do is come into this job mid-year, and Athletic Director Tina Hill wanted to emphasize that. “She came at a very difficult time… she hit the ground running,” Hill said, “which, again, is a credit to her skill set.”
Hill continued, “She has a large task…she is the key to making our events run.” Scripter is essentially the backbone to the intercollegiate sports program here at VWU. Most of the work she does happens in the shadows, which allows the spotlight to shine on the playing field.
“Her writing has really stood out to me as being very good…we should feel very fortunate that those stars aligned,” Hill added. Scripter has had high remarks among the coaches and her new colleagues at VWU.
Having a background in the sports field is something that is a very helpful tool when it comes to this job. One of the most difficult things is understanding every single sport that a certain school has to offer.
The SID must know the rules, how to score and how to properly describe almost every sport the NCAA has. When new sports are added to schools, it is the SID’s job to learn and write about a sport that they may not completely comprehend.
Scripter talked about how at Mount Olive, they were adding in a wrestling program, and she was fortunate that at prior schools she had worked some of that. She was a novice but still had some experience.
“You get a whole new set of students to work with…every sport has its own nuances that makes it different from other sports,” she said. “It’s an experience…it’s exciting work.”
Working in sports can be harsh sometimes, because it is a ‘what have you done for me lately’ kind of world where losing is not tolerated.
Scripter is looking forward to working this spring with the baseball, golf, lacrosse, softball, track and tennis teams here on campus. She is trying her hardest to meet everyone, but it has been a busy few months for her.
After the spring, Scripter will change her focus to the fall sport athletes who have not yet had the chance to have her attend their events. As each day goes on, she becomes more and more comfortable with the job and the people that she works with.
The sports information office is still looking for students who are energetic and willing to help out our sports programs. Scripter’s office is located upstairs in the Batten Student Center in the athletics suite.
Noah Riffle
nbriffle@vwu.edu
