Toronto Star's Randy Starkman

Toronto Star Sports Writer, Randy Starkman

By Craig Richenback

No matter how long a person has been in the journalism business, there are always things that come up that cause them to rethink how they do their job.

Despite being a sportswriter for 28 years, Toronto Star amateur sport columnist Randy Starkman says he is always adjusting his style to keep current and to stay ahead of his peers.

"I'm still learning all the time," said Starkman, speaking to the Centennial College sports journalism program at The Centre for Creative Communications, on March 3, 2009. "Sometimes I won't ask the athlete because I don't want other people to hear. I'll go ask the coach.

"Okay, I've got a good relationship with the athlete, but ... some of these coaches are just incredible sources of information."

Starkman touched on various topics during his visit including the difficulty of being a print reporter at the Olympics, the financial trouble that all newspapers are facing in today's economy and the idea of role models to children.

"I talk to my daughter at times, I try to share some of the stories that I've learned," Starkman said. "Who would I rather have my child look up to, Chandra Crawford or Miley Cyrus? Luckily my kid hates Miley Cyrus."

Starkman was impressed by the sports journalism program and says he would have liked something like this when he was going through school.

"If this was around when I was a kid, there's probably a good chance I would have gravitated more to it," he said. "I wanted to be a sports journalist. I didn't want to study Utopian literature."

Starkman has been a sportswriter for 28 years and has covered 11 Olympics, starting with Sarajevo in 1984.

The Sports Journalism program at The Centre for Creative Communications, Centennial College, features 12 courses over 12 consecutive months and is unique in Canada. It offers training in print, online, radio and television and finishes with a six week professional placement.

For more information about the Sports Journalism program, contact program coordinator Malcolm Kelly at mkelly@centennialcollege.ca.