Remember me?
You may have seen my byline reappear recently and wondered…is that the same Kaitlyn McGrath who used to write about the Toronto Blue Jays for The Athletic?
Indeed, it was. (Although I know there is another Kaitlyn McGrath who works as a meteorologist in the US. I occasionally got weather-related tweets meant for her, and I often wondered if she received angry tweets about the Blue Jays. Anyway.)
It’s been about a month since I returned to journalism full-time after a little more than a year away from the industry. A year is a long time, so naturally, I felt some nerves about restarting my media career. On top of that, returning on a freelance basis brings its own level of uncertainty, especially since I’ve primarily held staff jobs throughout my journalism career.
But I’m happy to say that my re-entry into writing and reporting has been so enjoyable.
I’ve been able to reconnect with friends and colleagues, make new connections, and, most importantly, I’ve had the chance to share fun and interesting stories, which is what I most missed when I wasn’t writing.
Since my work is spread out across a few outlets, and I don’t have a permanent home for my reporting yet (hiring managers, I’m available!) I thought this space could be a place to showcase my recent pieces. I might also use it to occasionally share thoughts or musings (Does anyone want my takes on Survivor 50??), but I don’t have plans for a regular newsletter. Maybe that’ll change, but for now, it’ll just be semi-regular updates with links to my work.
On that note, here is what I’ve been up to:
I’ve done some reporting for The Canadian Press, including a very cool story on Canada’s women’s rugby team, which is one of the best in the world, launching the domestic Rugby Rematch Tour, which will include a game at BMO Field against England. I wrote about how that fits into the broader growth of women’s sports in Toronto.
For the Globe and Mail, I wrote about an awesome kid named Blake Savage, who got to throw out the first pitch at a Blue Jays game and meet some of his favourite players courtesy of Make-A-Wish Foundation.
I’ve also had the opportunity to co-host Blue Jays Talk on Sportsnet 590 The Fan with Sho Alli. Here are a couple of episodes from the Blue Jays series against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
That’s it for now!