Voicing a Sport - Alex Cuesta & Dave Hyatt
From the Talking in Ovals Podcast
Alex Cuesta and Dave Hyatt are first and foremost, fans. They’ve been athletes themselves. And coaches. They’re teachers and friends. But maybe more than anything, they’re fans. They love track & field and cross country. And that is what inspired them to start the Running in Ovals podcast dedicated to the sport, the practitioners of the sport, fans of the sport, and they’ve adopted a mission of building and growing the sports of track & field and cross country running from the grass roots. They talk to everyone from the high school level to the pro level. They talk to the reporters and promoters of the sport. Officials and parents and try to address everything in between as advocates for a sport that deserves more.
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Hello Friends. Welcome to the Story Forge Podcast. I’m Lyle Smith, your host. I’m first and foremost in my career, a storyteller. I work with my clients to recast their brand stories in clear, compelling, language that communicates their value quickly to their best customers. And that’s what I’m after here on this show. To get at the stories of people who make things that matter. Some are business people, some are creative people, some are in service or healthcare roles. Leadership roles. Some are committed deeply to changing the world through their work and making a better place for all of us to live.
For those of you who know me, you know I’m a runner. Or was a runner. And I’m a fan of the sport of track & field and cross country and running. And as a fan of the sport, and the practitioners of the sport, I’ve always been disappointed in the way the sport gets covered in America. The coverage has always been limited and without calling out names, I think the play by play has been so often amateurish. There are some newer retired athletes turned broadcasters who are raising the bar, which gives me hope, but there was often not much else to look forward to.
Then, when I moved a few months ago to Boulder, Colorado, an old friend I’ve known from my running days. Probably since we were 10 or 11 years old - Andy Martin, tuned me into a show - a podcast called Talking in Ovals. These two guys from Jersey are talking about track and cross country, he told me. So I gave it a listen, and I’ve been following Dave Hyatt and Alex Cuesta every since. They’ve had high school champions and olympians on. They’ve had coaches and shop owners and talked about the sport from the amateur school side to the pro side and everything in between. They even invited me on as an old broken down former competitor. But mainly - they are fans trying to make the sport better for everyone who comes next. And what’s more appropriate for The Story Forge than that? They’re making things matter.
It’s a long one, because I loved the conversation so much. So settle in, or listen to it in sections. This was a good conversation. Here’s Alex and Dave from Talking in Ovals.
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