Award-winning sports journalist and presenter, Nick Hope (Psychology, 2005, Grizedale) tells how he went from a shy first-year student to establishing a career in broadcasting across the globe.

Nick finds it hard to believe that his first-year self arrived at Lancaster lacking the confidence to pick up a ringing phone in an office, whereas the young man who left three years later was able to address crowds of hundreds, and already a dab hand at radio presenting to a virtual audience of thousands.

Now a well-established freelance radio and TV sports broadcaster with 14 years at the BBC under his belt as well as ’23 Olympics, Paras and Commonwealths’, Nick ascribes his transformation to the whole experience of being an undergraduate at Lancaster: “The biggest thing I took away from Lancaster was confidence,” he says. “The degree is important, but everything else is equally important.”

For him that means the whole package - a psychology degree that has fed his ethical approach to his sports journalism career, learning the broadcasting ropes at Bailrigg FM, competing in sports including the Roses competition, developing leadership skills through college activities and developing a huge network of friends.

The evidence of his success has been shown through several national industry awards and his recent third place in the International Sports Press Association awards.

“I could not have done what I am doing now without my time at Lancaster,” he muses, as he reviews his many current roles with sports bodies such as the International Olympic Committee, Fina (World Aquatics) Channel 4 and the Women’s Sports Alliance. His vocal support for Lancaster, as well as his career achievements, have also gained him a LU Alumni Award in 2022.

It was the Open Day which decided the sports-mad teenager from Wigan that Lancaster was where he was going to study. "It was wet and windy, but there was something wonderful about it and I knew that this was where I needed to be. There was a warmth about the place and I loved the collegiate system. The sports facilities were also a big attraction.”

He’d tried most sports as a teenager and competed as a swimmer in Junior National Championships until a serious overtraining injury at 14 stopped his dream of being a professional. So his strengths in the pool provided him a swift entry point to student life, first on the Lancaster team and later as its captain.

Almost immediately his confidence took wings. He started writing for SCAN. He threw himself into JCR activities at Grizedale, becoming a sports rep at the end of his first year. But he wanted to challenge himself further, so put himself forward for social secretary ‘at the centre of the action’: “That was one of the biggest learning points for me,” he recalls. ”There was nowhere to hide. You had to deliver and under pressure - which is good training for what I do now.”

In his second year, Nick started working on Bailrigg FM and soon had his own show - Nick’s New Musical Lunch. It was the taster he needed to decide journalism was the career for him.

HIs studies excited him too. His decision to study psychology was influenced by an inspiring teacher, Howard Parkinson, in his sixth form, but also because, being adopted, he was curious about the factors that made him the person he was. He was also fascinated by gender differences, inequalities and by the experiences of minorities, prompting him to write his thesis on gender stereotypes through history.

“Reading people was a key part of psychology and working out why they behaved the way they do. It’s the same in my professional life,” he explains. “With that comes a lot of responsibility. You may know how to make people speak, but then you have to think about whether it’s really what they meant to say. Even today I go back to coaches to check. I think there has to be a duty of care.”

After Lancaster, he followed the example of fellow student Anthony Baxter (now a deputy editor at LBC radio) to the University of Central Lancashire, to do a Master's in broadcast journalism. He then spent two years in London ‘sofa surfing’ with friends while acting as a ‘runner’ at the BBC - making tea, but using every opportunity to learn and build contacts on programmes like Watchdog and Rogue Trader, in order to land a job. He even borrowed a spare camera to teach himself filming and spent many of his days of sourcing and creating TV reports to gain further experience and prove his potential. After only two years his determination was rewarded with a job at the BBC as a BBC sports reporter.

“Giving a voice to those who would have otherwise gone unheard’ was the mission statement I created at the beginning of this journey. I’m proud to have dedicated my career to championing women’s sport and revealing stories behind athletes from diverse backgrounds, who have traditionally been overlooked by mainstream media.”

The self-styled ‘athletes’ journalist’ feels privileged to hear people’s stories and is particularly proud of having broken the story of the Syrian paralympic swimmer Ibrahim Al Hussein’s fight to reach his Olympic dreams, after being disabled in a bomb attack. He also prides himself on the bond he established with Olympic diver Tom Daley since the athlete was 13, which allowed Daley to trust Nick enough to write an exclusive about his sexuality and the impact of his father’s death on his career.

Nick himself competes internationally with the GB Masters team as a swimmer and has become a British and European Masters Games gold medallist.

Regardless of their sport’s profile, Nick believes successful, pioneering athletes should be noticed: “They should be regarded as megastars because of what they have already achieved. There are so many inspirational stories, so many stories of triumph over adversity and I aim to continue ‘fighting the good fight’ for many years to come!”