PD sports writer Kienan O’Doherty: Journalism and tennis actually have some things in common

Editor’s note: “Behind the Byline” introduces you to those who write stories, snap photos, design pages and edit the content we deliver in our print editions and on pressdemocrat.com. We’re more than journalists. As you’ll see, we’re also your neighbors with unique backgrounds and experiences who proudly call Sonoma County home. Today, we introduce you to sports writer Kienan O’Doherty.

Growing up in Mill Valley, I was one of those kids that played every sport under the sun.

Baseball, basketball, soccer. You name it, I played it. Except for football, that is. I was second on the wait list after sign-ups and never got to don the pads, which to this day I’m pretty thankful for.

Like most kids, I dreamed of being a professional athlete. My childhood friends and I would spend hours at Boyle Park, fantasizing of how we would be the next middle infield tandem for the San Francisco Giants. We would practice turning double plays over and over again, just like Rich Aurilia, Jeff Kent and Ray Durham would at what is now Oracle Park.

After all, a kid can dream, right?

As years progressed, I slowly realized that I had yet another dream, a desire that brings me here today.

You see, I’m 75% Irish. That means I’m blessed, and sometimes cursed, with the infamous “gift of gab.” I love a good conversation, yet sometimes talk too much. It is one of the greatest gifts in the world, if you know how to use it.

That being said, my dream then turned to being a play-by-play commentator. I was enamored by it; listening Duane Kuiper, Mike Krukow, Jon Miller and Dave Flannery on the daily, reading books by Jim Nantz and Al Michaels (which I still have, by the way). I would learn any way I could.

I started the broadcasting club in high school at Stuart Hall, calling all the school’s basketball games by myself. That continued in college, as I called both men’s and women’s soccer, and even some NCAA tournament games. I would still like to do that again someday in some capacity.

While I did do sports broadcasting, there wasn’t a major for that profession; the closest thing we had was journalism. So, I took a chance and majored in it despite never having written for a newspaper.

Turns out, it was the best way to use that gift of gab. I always think to myself, if you can’t talk about it, write about it.

It was rough starting out. Those collegiate days were filled with late nights, constant black ink on our newspapers, and low grades (thanks, Paul Kostyu). I tried and tried to find something that could relate, but I just couldn’t. Until I did — through tennis.

The sport I started the latest was the one I would play the longest. I began playing tennis at age 12 and played all the way through college. Today, I try to get out as much as I can, but my Wilson Blades are a little rusty.

So, how the heck do tennis and journalism correlate? In a lot more ways than you would think.

See, writing a sports story is kind of like a tennis point; the serve is the lede, and dictates the way the story is going to go, just like the serve dictates the point in tennis.

The serve is also one of the most powerful shots in a tennis player’s arsenal, as is the lede of a story. You want something that sets the tone early and keeps the opponent guessing.

Your footwork and movement is the way in which you write the story, taking the reader through the game as eloquently as possible.

As you build the point up through your groundstrokes — forehand and backhand — the excitement mounts, kind of like keeping the reader on the edge of their seat, wanting to see how that walk-off came about.

With your opponent now deep in the corner, you come to the net for an easy put away shot. This, like for the story, is the final dagger — the culmination of the adrenaline-filled journey the reader just experienced.

It’s been this thought process that has kept me going, from my first gig at a hyperlocal paper in southeast Ohio (close to our Executive Editor Richard A. Green’s hometown), until now.

Though I’m still young in my career, I’ve had the privilege of covering many cool athletic events, from Ohio State football to the Columbus Blue Jackets, to high school state championships. Athletics is in my blood and it’s never going to leave.

That, plus that infamous “gift,” is a pretty good combo.

Athletics can relate to just about anything, you just need to find the what and the how. I’m lucky to have found mine.

You can reach Staff Writer Kienan O’Doherty at 415-887-8650 or kienan.odoherty@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @kodoherty22.