| 14 December 2009
"Now THAT'S a Guys Girl" is a series based on women who passionately bring sports and gaming into our world"
Reischea Canidate is a popular fill in host on ESPN's First Take and is quickly rising up the rankings for female sports reporting. Though it may be enjoyable now, it was tough road to get to where she is at today.
Candidate attended college at the University of Southern California. During her freshman year of college she declared her major and wanted the specific job of being the NFL team doctor for the San Francisco 49ers. She later changed her mind when classes like Molecular Biology seemed entirely too difficult. "I always thought I was smart but that class made me feel like an idiot!". She later changed her major and ultimately received B.S. in exercise science .
Her "Ah Ha" moment came when Canidate along with her other track and field team mates from USC hosted a sports show. Immediately after is when she made the phone call to her mother who is quoted as saying "Finally you figured it out....I knew all along".
Continue reading to find out what markets Reischea had to work in as well as the discrimination she faced as being a female sports reporter.
Along the way, Reischea has worked in different markets such as Fresno and San Diego but didn't receive her big shot in the broadcasting world until 1998. Canidate was asked to cover the Fresno State women's softball team in Oklahoma City in which the Fresno team won the championship.
After the coverage of the championship softball team, Canidate was offered a job reporting sports in New York. One that proved much tougher than more laid back markets such as San Diego.
"New York is a different monster, if you do not know the ins-and-outs of every factoid, fans will call you out. Working in NY forced me to focus on sports other than baseball and football and I am very thankful for that".
Later on, Reischea received a job offer from ESPN where she currently hosts the morning sports show "First Take" and is also a host on ESPN news. "The best thing about working at ESPN is the team behind you. Every morning you receive a packet of sports stats, stories and trends in sports and suddenly I realized THAT's how these reporters know so much!". Proving that the team behind the cameras at ESPN are just as important as the faces you see everyday.
When asked in an interview if she was surprised at how quickly women have rose in the rankings as far as sports journalists Canidate replied "yes I think women have come far, but women still have much further to go. Women are not given the same credibility as a male in this field and that is something you have to fight for everyday".Canidate was talking in particular at her time working for WNY when a slip of the tongue about what division the Chicago Bears were in caused her sports director to actually give her a pop quiz as to what teams belong to what divisions. "It was a slip of the tongue and it happens. But I garauntee if it had been a male to say that, the director would not have questioned his knowledge of the game".
In addition to reporting sports, Reischea was also an active part in it. She served as a high jumper for the USC Trojans and plays basketball in her time off.
Reischea has also been recognized for her excellence in reporting with the honor of an Emmy nomination for her report on the vanishing presence of African Americans in Baseball.
You can watch an entire video on Reischea's bio here.
