The Cougars Sportspodcast, available on Spotify, is an outlet for sports coverage at Averett University on a weekly basis. With new episodes every Friday this gives students of the school a in depth look on the athletics that take place at the school.

The development of this platform for the students allows those working on it to acquire skills and real hands on experience within the field.

“I wanted to create a platform to connect with the students, that’s why we center our focus around interviewing athletes,” Dr. Jake Kucek, a communications professor at Averett said. “It also gives my students practice in all facets of production, from social media, to sound mixing, to hosting a podcast.”

Giving students experience is key for their future careers, this is something the podcast allowed versus a normal class.

“I believe this class is different for the way it puts students in action on the podcast instead of just teaching them about it,” Jake Braun, a sophomore on the staff of the podcast, said. “It’s a great hands-on learning experience for my future.”

With the podcast being available to more than just student athletes at Averett, this aspect allows different audiences to listen to each episode.

“There has definitely been a buzz around the podcast from both students and faculty,” Kucek said. “It has been a great success and I hope it keeps growing every week.”

Interviews are the main draw for the podcast, ranging from staff to students, the podcast has many capabilities with the tight knit family at Averett.

“My experience on the podcast was good,” Tyler Duffey, a freshman lacrosse player, said. “I had a good interview with Thomas, and I believe the podcast is very professional.”

The podcast was created during the spring semester which made those sports the highlights for the first episodes, creating ideas for the future of the podcast.

“I would like to either keep implementing the podcast into other courses, and tweak it accordingly, or possibly start an extracurricular program,” Kucek said.

The continuation of the podcast is also a want from the student athletes at the University.

“I would definitely like to see the podcast in the fall,” Brandt Brophey, a junior baseball player, said. “a lot of people on campus would like to hear about what those sports are like on a deeper level.”

The capabilities of the podcast are endless with a devoted staff, feedback from the audience is encouraged immensely.

“Such detail about Averett sports are available on the podcast,” Wesley Payne, a senior commuter student, said. “ covering games as well as key players from them just in case you missed the action from the past week.”

Available on Spotify the podcast has six episodes out to date and will be releasing more in the fall semester.