How does spending six weeks in Scotland sound? Now, how about spending six weeks in Scotland learning, observing and writing about the country and Scottish sports?
That’s the object of a sports writing course offered by the Wisconsin-River Falls Journalism department and taught by Jim Thies, who has been the sports information director at UWRF for 30 years.
“There are several key parts to the course,” said Thies. “Students have the opportunity to visit Scotland and learn about its culture on a personal and sports-related level. They will learn about traditional Scottish sports. It will give students a chance to see sports in a different culture and to experience life in Scotland, a country with a great sports history. The students will be able to hone their writing skills in a wide variety of articles,” said Thies, who has supervised hundreds of journalism students during his career at UWRF.
The class will run from May 22 to early July 11. The class members will travel within the country to learn about the sports in the Highland Games (traditional Scottish events such as the caber toss, stone and hammer throws, and tug of war). Students will watch football (soccer), tennis, cricket, and as a special experience, will visit the St. Andrews Links to see the Old Course, the home of golf, and the British Golf Museum.
Students will be expected to complete assigned readings and produce samples of each of the following types of articles: feature, opinion, pre-event, and post-event. Only 15 students will be admitted to the class. Students are expected to take the three-credit sports journalism course and a three credit Scottish Culture Colloquium course.
The $4,900 (plus approximately $1,000 for airfare) fee that students pay covers two program day trips, a bus pass for the summer term, a room and board plan including breakfast Monday-Friday and lunch Monday-Thursday each week. Students will also have full use of the Dalkeith House facilities that include numerous communal study and lounge spaces as well as use of kitchen when meal service is not running. Student participants also have access to program recreation equipment and the 1,000 acre walled estate grounds known as Dalkeith Country Park.
The class is one of several offered through the UWRF Wisconsin in Scotland program. For more information, visit the program’s web site at: http://www.uwrf.edu/wis/.
For more information about the course contact Thies at: Room 24, South Hall, 410 S. Third St., UW-River Falls, River Falls, WI 54022 or by e-mail at: james.g.thies@uwrf.edu