Pembina Trails student headed to cover the big leagues

He may not be old enough to get official media accreditation, but Carter Donnick has certainly earned his spot covering football among a sea of professional sports journalists.

The Fort Richmond Collegiate student has a passion for both sports and writing. He grew up watching his dad’s favourite team, the Seattle Seahawks. In grade 7 he created his first mock draft guide.

“It was about 100 pages on Microsoft Publisher. That was kind of the first main thing I did and from there it kind of developed,” shared Carter.

Last year, he decided to start sharing his work. He joined Twitter and his followers started growing, to the point that Dynasty Football Factory approached him. The website, based in Vegas, has been publishing Carter’s articles, which can get thousands of views. He is the site’s youngest writer.

“This young man has been an absolute pleasure to work with. His youthful spirit, passion and open-mindedness is a constant breath of fresh air,” shares Dynasty Football Factory’s CEO, Michael Goins.

“Carter possesses an unrelenting ‘go-getter’ attitude and a mindset which says no challenge is too daunting. In fact, Carter has tackled many articles focused on the lesser-known players, which aren't exactly the most inspired tasks, but he has taken ownership of pride in doing so and has enjoyed some eye-popping success.”

Dynasty says Carter’s combined views, for all of his published works up through the end of 2018, is roughly 17,027.  He is averaging an impressive 1,216 web hits per article. Carter’s work focuses on college football, the players’ development and transition into the NFL. His stories have traction, and as a result, the Fort Richmond Collegiate student is traveling to Alabama in January to cover the NCAA Senior Bowl.

“This is a dream opportunity. I just put myself out there. Everyone on my site has my back and my parents have been super supportive; all those factors have helped.”

Carter would have to be 21 to get full media access. Instead, the 17-year-old plans to focus on the practice sessions, observe and write about certain prospects. It will be the first time he has watched college football live. The opportunity to connect with other journalists alone will be worth the trip.

“Ideally I would like to break into sport journalism. It is early, but I am likely to go into communications or sports journalism in university and keep on doing this. I want to uptake my articles and evaluations, so that hopefully I get my big break.”

Congratulations Carter. We look forward to watching you Accomplish Anything.