An Inside Look Into “Schrett’s Takes”

Sports are an avenue that have changed so many people’s lives and can be a medium for bringing community, lessons, and entertainment. Additionally, sports are an essential part of my life and have shaped me into who I am. Because of my passion for and love of sports, I decided to start my personal podcast, called Schrett’s Takes. Schrett’s Takes is a small sports podcast that I began about two and a half years ago in April of 2020, at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. For now, it has 50 YouTube subscribers and 12 Apple Podcast subscribers, so calling it “small” seems appropriate.

How did I get started? Well, it all began when we got the call to go home because of Covid-19. Covid shifted my future, just like it did for everyone. After having the time to really think about what I wanted to do, I decided that I wanted to change career paths from finance to sports broadcasting. I knew it would not be easy, and I wanted to get ahead in the sports media world by doing something unique. Getting a job or an internship in the sports media industry is extremely competitive, even though, on the surface, it seems to be an easy industry to get into. Between the large pool of applicants and broadcasting programs at schools like Northwestern and Syracuse that carve out an easy path for people to immerse themselves in professional sports, breaking into the industry can be challenging.

I wanted to get ahead, and someone had mentioned that getting content early on would go a long way towards aiding my sports media career. Thus, I believed that it was essential to get my content out, and to use my podcast to teach me skills in audio and video production, as well as social media marketing.  With those goals in mind, Schrett’s Takes was born.

After two-plus years of episodes, I am nearing eight seasons of the podcast, with episodes airing on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, IHeartRadio, and Spotify.

Content-wise, Schrett’s Takes is not only about one thing or one sport. Even though I mostly talk about basketball, it is about building a sports community and giving people a place to share their stories and opinions, and to have a fun conversation. I will talk about anything, from the NBA to the Premier League or Amherst sports. At its core, the topic of discussion doesn’t really matter; the podcast is about having fun conversations around sports with interesting people, and the enjoyment people get from playing, being fans of, and debating their opinions about sports on a forum with me.

All of this has set me up to partner with The Student for the last year, and now I produce episodes with the help of Managing Podcast Editor Sam Spratford ’24. In these episodes, I bring Amherst student-athletes on to discuss their goals and their current seasons and to give the Amherst community an inside look into these athletes and their teams. It has been an amazing experience so far, and I will continue to post more content with them on a weekly basis.

Stay tuned for more information, but in the meantime, check out Schrett’s Takes on The Student’s website, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.