It is a sad day in the Otago Daily Times sports department — but an exciting one for our youngest member. Jeff Cheshire is leaving the newspaper and heading off for some international experience. We asked him to look back on six years in a job he has loved and lived.
It had been my dream job at first.
Being paid to watch sport, meet the country’s biggest stars, live the high life, travel to the highest level sporting events.
By the time I finally landed the role in 2016, I had been plugging away as a contributor for various websites — much of which was voluntary work — for more than seven years.
It was an eye-opening experience. The reality of sports reporting was far from the fantasy.
But on reflection, perhaps it was the other way around. Perhaps it really was everything I had wanted it to be — I just had not realised it beforehand.
Reduce it all and it always comes back to a kid in boots, chasing a ball around a muddy field, or someone in sneakers trying to throw a ball through an iron ring.
Young people and their dreams. Stars and their successes, their failures. Yesterday’s heroes, with all the memories in the world to relive.
And it matters, all of it.
Not for the wins and losses, but for the ecstasy and heartbreak.
A series of moments, all unremarkable on their own, piled upon one another to form something quite remarkable.
It generates the strongest of feelings in us.
And what could possibly be more important than how we feel?
Who will ever forget the look on Erika Fairweather's face when she saw her time in her Olympic debut in Tokyo last year?
The shake of the head, the stunned disbelief as she processed qualifying for the 400m freestyle final.
It was a moment, a feeling, we all shared with her.
But it was no different from the look of disbelieving joy on Georgia Te Au's face, as she was named Dunedin club basketball's most valuable player a few years ago.
"It's more than a game," the latter of those two once said to me.
"Well, technically it's just a game. But some of us invest a lot of emotion in it.’’
I cannot put it better than that.
One stage was infinitely bigger than the other. Yet the emotion is what makes sport and, if you invest in it, you can find that anywhere.
It is there at the Olympic Games, the World Cup final or the highest rungs of professional leagues.
But it is there, in exactly the same way, at the Edgar Centre on a freezing cold weeknight, and on a local club field on a wet and windy Saturday afternoon.
That is what this job has been. Telling these stories, and increasingly learning it is about conveying that feeling, rather than regurgitating facts.
Names such as Sir Richard Hadlee, Steven Adams and Hamish Bond were a thrill to meet and interview.
But outside of the name and person, there was nothing especially memorable about any of them.
Sometimes it is in the most unexpected places that the truly great interviews crop up.
It is the ones that have the interesting back story, but mostly the ones who will talk about it in such an open and raw way.
Anna Grimaldi's career was one that always seemed intertwined with my own journalistic one.
The Dunedin long jumper won a surprise Paralympic gold medal in Rio in my first week in this job.
A nervous, and incredibly shy, 23-year-old reporter was physically shaking before picking up the phone to do the victorious interview.
Yet it was what followed that made it more special.
The connection grew, as it did with so many, and the nerves dissipated.
A broken foot a year late threatened to derail her career.
She reached some dark places during that rehab period and, more than anything, she made you feel her words as she described what she was going through.
When she came out the other side, winning gold in Tokyo last year, it made that triumph all the more thrilling.
The highs and lows came in following teams, too.
It did not have to be the All Blacks — and it very rarely was.
Try telling a 15-year-old rugby-obsessed Jeff, who had just started this crazy journey after clicking on a Facebook ad seeking volunteer sports writers for Bleacher Report, that a career highlight would be watching the Southern Steel win the ANZ Premiership.
He probably would have laughed.
That day in 2018 will stick long in the memory, though.
A delayed flight forced me to boost up the motorway, after landing in Wellington, arriving in Palmerston North 10 minutes before centre pass.
Hungry, stressed and tired, needless to say my mood was rather filthy as the Central Pulse quickly piled on a 32-20 lead.
Then Wendy Frew flew over the signage, momentum shifted and the Steel scored the last seven goals — Te Paea Selby-Rickit hitting the final one to secure the most unlikely 54-53 win.
I shared a glance with Steel media manager Kate Buchanan on full-time.
Neither of us spoke, but the look on our faces said the same thing — "what the hell just happened?".
Unforgettable. That emotion, eh.
Ditto with the Southern United women.
The sound of Terry Parle urging his team on, after Renee Bacon's late go-ahead goal in the 2017 season opener, to close out its first win in years will always remain special.
Watching that team go on to win the Covid-adapted South Central series last year, under Graeme Smaill, felt like something of a completion of that journey.
Then there was the eventually doomed Southern United men's team that rose from the bottom of the table to the cusp of the top four.
That did not come without its controversy, and Paul O’Reilly’s move to bring in Irish imports had its share of detractors.
The majority have since left, after decent stretches in the South, although six years on Danny Ledwith remains in the city as a coach — long after the demise of the team.
How I loved covering that club.
Another highlight was the return of the Otago Nuggets and, while the NBL Showdown championship in 2020 was great, it was the first home game in seven years that really stuck out.
That feeling of not really believing that you were there.
The strange familiarity that somehow did not feel quite real, almost like being transported back in time to the team’s last stint in the league.
More recently, being there to see them win the first full league title, and experiencing the changing celebrations, was something I will never forget.
But covering club games was as much of a thrill — the majority of which I did as an aside to my job, out of personal passion.
And so much more.
It all comes back to the feeling.
You can find that feeling anywhere, at any time, in any sport. You just have to look for it. Invest in it.
London is calling for this reporter. And you can bet sports will feature heavily on the itinerary.
Lapping up those moments, each as unremarkably remarkable as the next.
Cheshire reflects
Top five interviews
Anna Grimaldi (Paralympic champion)
Made you feel her words, especially in the 2017 interview after breaking her foot.
Tori Dugan (Southern Hoiho)
Open, raw, inspiring and articulate. Probably the best interview I’ve ever done.
Toni Power (Southern United)
Seemed like a cool story of a footballer moving south and switching positions. Then, halfway through, she slips in that she lived her early life on an African game reserve. Wild.
Sam Timmins (Otago Nuggets)
Great insights and put things into words in a way you could relate to them. Had plenty of cool experiences to talk about.
Te Huinga Reo Selby-Rickit (Southern Steel)
Maybe the best thinker on their sport in the South. Another who gave great insights and was exceptionally well-spoken.
Top five moments
Otago Nuggets champions (2022)
Being in the winning locker room as the Nuggets won their first NBL title — cannot beat it.
Southern Steel champions (2018)
Similar situation. Had a stressful time getting there, scarcely believable comeback and, of course, was there for the celebrations that night.
The rising youth
Following kids from their school days through to the top is always buzzy. Erika Fairweather, Kate Heffernan, Zoe Richards and Eva Hofmans all stick out.
Grimaldi’s gold (2016)
I had been in this job for four days when Anna Grimaldi won gold in Rio. It was my first big story and front page. The nerves in making the phone call to her later that day is something I’ll never forget.
Southern United women win (2017)
The South Central Series title was amazing. But seeing this team break its winning drought four years earlier was unforgettable.
