Jaiden Fields Pursues Passions On And Off Field At Georgia

Jaiden Fields fell in love with the University of Georgia before she even knew she wanted to play college softball. She began attending softball camps at Georgia when she was in third grade, and never looked back.

Combine that love with the passion she found for sports journalism, and Georgia has been the perfect fit for Fields, who is currently a redshirt sophomore for the Bulldogs.

“I've always loved sports my entire life and I've always loved being in front of the camera or doing things with cameras,” said Fields, who verbally committed to Georgia during her freshman year in high school. “So just putting the two together, that's how I decided, ‘Oh, well maybe this will be a good route for me to take.’”

This past summer, Fields was an intern for Winning Edge Leadership Academy, which aims to develop the next generation of diverse leaders in the sports and entertainment industry.

Co-founded by Corinne Milien and Maria Taylor, Winning Edge has existed since 2015. Milien is a former coach and adjunct professor who worked as a graduate assistant under Pat Summitt at Tennessee. Taylor is a former Georgia All-SEC volleyball and basketball player. She currently serves as one of the broadcasters for ESPN's College Game Day and as a host for NBA Countdown and women’s college basketball.

As an intern, Fields edited and produced a podcast called #WeChangeGame. It was an 18-part series on which she worked with another intern, a volleyball player from Oregon. As part of her responsibilities, she edited audio, added music and created the graphic for the podcast. As a student-athlete herself, Fields said she understands both sides of the sports journalism field.

“We know what it is like to be an athlete. I think that's a great perspective to take when going into the sports industry. You're just able to relate to athletes, whoever you're going to be working with,” Fields said. “And I think that was such a big reason why I wanted to do it just because I kind of know how that lifestyle is. My brothers and sisters grew up playing sports. It's kind of been my whole life.”

Taylor and Holly Rowe, a sports broadcaster for ESPN, are two women in the industry who Fields says she looks up to. Fields has had the opportunity to meet both Taylor and Rowe on multiple occasions.

“You can just really tell that it's taken a lot to get where they are,” Fields said. “They had to start at the bottom and it took them a long, long time, a lot of work and a lot of different jobs working for free, doing whatever they could to get to where they are. It just shows that hard work really does pay off.”

Georgia’s 2021 schedule has not been posted yet, but Fields and her teammates are currently gearing up for their spring season ahead. This fall, the Bulldogs scrimmaged each other quite a bit since there were no fall games taking place between different programs, leaving Georgia eager to take the field this year.

“It's a whole new team since we had about 10 freshmen come in,” Fields said. “The energy and the togetherness just feels like one big family, so I'm excited to see us all compete.”

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