Former cricket hero Brett Lee bowls up interview tips for junior journos

Former Aussie fast bowler Brett Lee estimates he was interviewed thousands of times during his 27-year cricket career.

Now he’s on the other side of the microphone asking the questions as a Fox Cricket commentator, which gives him a unique perspective* on the art of the interview.

Mr Lee, who took 310 wickets in the 76 Test matches he played for Australia between 1999 and 2008, believes the job of an interviewer like himself is to get the person being interviewed to open up.

“It’s trying to find out something about the person that hasn’t been told before,” Mr Lee said.

“That comes down to trust and it could take several interviews to get that nice moment you want from someone where they do feel vulnerable but they know that you’re not going to betray* their trust.”

Establishing* trust and being yourself were Mr Lee’s words of advice for budding* reporters preparing to enter the Kids News Junior Journalist competition.

And he said a key lesson he took from the early interviews he conducted was the importance of listening to the answers you were given.

“Rather than having five questions written down on a piece of paper, which is good to have as a guide in case you lose track or get stuck, I learnt very quickly it was important to listen to what people were saying, rather than thinking about my next question,” he said.

Mr Lee, now 46, was just 16 the first time he was interviewed by a reporter. He had just made a state U17s cricket team and the local television crew came out to do a story on him.

“I would have rather run a marathon than do an interview and stand in front of the camera, and now more than 20 years later that’s what I do for a job, so that’s quite weird,” he said.

“But it’s like anything, you get used to it and now I’m comfortable. That comes with age and it comes with experience.”

The Junior Journalist competition is free and open to students in Years 3-9. For more information or to submit your written or video entry by April 6, click HERE

GLOSSARY

• perspective: a point of view
• betray: to not be loyal to a person
• establishing: to create or set something in a particular way
• budding: beginning to develop or show signs of future success in a particular area

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QUICK QUIZ

1. Brett Lee played cricket for Australia between what years?
2. What does he say the job of an interviewer is?
3. Instead of relying on questions written on a piece of paper, what did Mr Lee say was most important when interviewing someone?
4. Why was he interviewed when he was 16 years old?
5. What would he have preferred to do instead of being interviewed that first time?

LISTEN TO THIS STORY

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Practise your interview skills
Interview somebody at your school – it might be a classmate, an older or younger student or even a staff member. Try to choose somebody who you don’t already know well.

Come prepared with 5 interesting questions, but as Brett Lee suggests, try to save these for if you get stuck. Build a positive rapport with your interview subject. Listen to what they say and try to delve deeper into the detail of the stories they share with you.

Make sure you keep a record of their responses – you could be filming, audio recording or writing down what they say.

Time: allow 20 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English; Personal and Social Capability

2. Extension
Review the notes or recording of your interview. Now that you have more time to think, what other questions do you wish you had asked your interview subject? What could you have said that might have resulted in them opening up more?

If you ask them nicely, perhaps they’ll agree to a second interview …

Time: allow 15 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English; Personal and Social Capability

VCOP ACTIVITY
I spy nouns
Nouns are places, names (of people and objects), and time (months or days of the week).

How many nouns can you find in the article?

Can you sort them into places, names and time?

Pick three nouns and add an adjective (describing word) to the nouns.