UTEP’s Paige Wood: From golf to the sidelines

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- Breaking into sports broadcasting demands countless unseen hours and Paige Wood, a student-athlete at UTEP is putting in extra work as she kick starts her career in journalism.

Pursuing a career in sports broadcasting takes more than talent, it takes time, dedication and a lot of work behind the scenes.

For Wood, she's been balancing life on the golf course while studying for the sidelines throughout most of her collegiate career and she's always believed she can do it.

"I thought okay, I know it's a lot of hours I'm signing up for but I know I can do it," Wood said.

She developed a love for golf at a young age.

"I wanted to do something that nobody else was doing," wood said. "It started with tournaments and practice and I really just stuck with it for the next 11 years."

She went on the play at Oklahoma City University for four years and she took the student in student-athlete very seriously. She spent countless hours building a name for herself on the sidelines.

"I found a disconnect between athletes and their stories being told," Wood said. "I was able to brand my own sports channel, I started doing sideline interviews and a sports show."

She created a sports show called "Mack Chat".

"Mackenzie is my middle name so that's where Mack Chat came from," Wood said. "Some of my friends that were on the basketball team started to notice that I was going to all their games and covering it and reporting on it, so they kind of bought into in. They would see me in the hallway and shout, "hey mack chat". Now, I'm really grateful that they see my posts and they always comment, "Mach Chat is back", or "look at Mack Chat on the big stage"."

It took many overtime hours outside of school and golf practice but the overtime hours paid off. She was given the chance to advance her golf and journalism career at the Division 1 level for the UTEP Miners for her final year of eligibility.

"It was a lot of unpaid hours and a lot of hours that I just put in because I was so passionate about it," Wood said. "Coach steve Sims reached out and said they have a spot open for me and asked if I would you like to join the team. I knew that because I was looking for jobs in this industry I thought well, I need to find a way to continue what I want to do."

And that's how her journey as a sideline reporter for UTEP athletics all began.

"I treated it like a full time job," Wood said. "I was up from 8a.m.-8p.m. studying the game, studying the roster, studying the players, and trying to come in and fill big shoes of just covering Miner athletes."

For Paige, the heavy workload was nothing she couldn't handle. The lessons she's learned as an athlete have carried over into her career.

"I missed a lot of birthday parties, I missed a lot of fun high school events, but I've learned the power of dedication and sacrifice because that's what it takes to play at the next level or be good at the next level," Wood said.