ORANGE AND BLACK FLASHBACK: Courtney Carter
May 28, 2013
ORANGE AND BLACK FLASHBACK
Courtney Carter (2000-04)
West Linn, Ore., native Courtney Carter is an accomplished former Oregon State women's soccer player who now calls the Big Apple home. Carter currently works in New York City for ESPN as a director for the network's Sport Management Group, but made her name in Corvallis on the pitch of Lorenz Field during the early 2000's. The former forward played in 77 career matches, scoring 16 goals and dishing out eight assists. She amassed 40 total points in four seasons playing for former head coach Tom Fennah, on 110 shots and added three game winning goals to her stellar resume. Following a season in which she led her team in points and goals scored, Carter suffered a season ending leg injury, while playing abroad in Costa Rice, which enabled her to shift her focus from her game to her work as she took part in a number of impressive internships in NYC. The soon to be New York transplant came back for her senior season (2004) and led the Beavers to a 10-9-1 overall record, narrowly missing the NCAA Tournament.
What would you say was the highlight of your playing career in Corvallis?
"There are a few moments. One was when I was actually injured but it was a moment I could celebrate with my team. It was my fifth year (2004) and my last game, we were playing Arizona State who was ranked 10th at the time, and we had to beat them to make the NCAA Tournament. So Jodie Taylor (2004-07), scored the winning goal and we all came out to celebrate. It was the last game of the season, the last game of my career and we all thought we were going to the tournament by winning that game. Unfortunately we didn't go, and they (NCAA Selection Committee) didn't select us, which was heartbreaking. Still, that was a very good team moment."
You are only one of a dozen players in OSU women's soccer history to have recorded a hat trick, having done so in a match on September 27, 2002 vs. Air Force. What does it mean to you to be a member of such an exclusive club and what do you remember about that game?
"It is always a special day as a player, especially as a goal scorer, that is kind of your job and all too often you can go without goals for a long period of time. So any day when all the cylinders are firing correctly it is special. I remember the girls were so celebratory with me, not only on an individual effort because there was no way I would have three goals without the team giving me the perfect passes, assists and build up, so it really was a team effort. I actually scored two goals within 26 seconds of each other. It was like boom, boom. I guess they didn't see me coming a second time. It was just one of those days and I kind of remember the run back from the second goal and then not so long after the announcement over the loud speaker that I broke a record (of shortest time in between goals), so it was just a really nice moment as a player to really have all the hard work pay off in a short period of time."
Following your junior season when you led the Beavers in goals scored (8) and points (19), you suffered a leg injury that sidelined you for the 2003 season. How challenging was coming back from that setback and what did you learn in the process?
"It was really tough. I broke my leg in Costa Rica of my senior season, so I was going into my senior year as captain and I thought this was our year. I was as fit as I had ever been and I was coming off of a different injury but I was just really excited to get back on the field. In the second game of our tour though Costa Rica I broke my fibula, so that would have been my last season. The decision to redshirt came because I am a competitor and I am an athlete. I came to build this program and my goal was to go to the (NCAA) tournament. My work wasn't finished, so obviously it was heartbreaking, but for me on the other side of things, as far as my future, I was able to secure myself an internship with the New York Knicks and New York Liberty because of my injury. That's because east coast schools are on semesters, so I actually had gotten this internship with the Knicks but wasn't able to give them a full 12 weeks based on our (OSU's) quarter system, which would have made me unable to graduate on time. Because of that I had to turn down the internship and then three weeks later, I broke my leg, which then allowed me to medically redshirt and be in New York and still graduate."
"I broke my leg for a lot of reasons and I think one of them was to be an emotional leader for the team that year and then personally I think I had to go through that to grow as an athlete and as a person. Then there was the opportunity to come to New York, so I am almost indebted to the phenomenal pain that I endured."
When you played at OSU, Linus Rhode was an assistant coach for then head coach Steve Fennah. What do you remember about him as a younger assistant?
"Well it's interesting because I actually knew Steve Fennah before when I played for him in high school during my freshman and sophomore year at Jesuit High School (Portland), then he left because he was hired at OSU. But as far as Linus, I think it goes back to being a Portland kid, because I grew up playing at a very high level of soccer in Oregon, so I would go to University of Portland soccer camps and see Linus play as a player (at UP). What you did if you were a high level soccer player in Portland was go to watch the Portland Pilots play. That's how you learned, by seeing the women and the men play, so I actually grew up with him (Linus) being a camp counselor of sorts. So when I started playing for Steve (Fennah at OSU) and Linus joined the coaching staff (in 2000), it was one of things where I thought, `Okay this is a great move', and got me amped about continuing to build the program and really taking the team to the next level."
"Linus had an ability to not only motivate, but associate to girls and that is a trait that is not teachable. It is something that I think Linus has because he can be your coach but at the same time you want to perform for him because you respect him. He helped me through one of my injuries and getting fit after those. The training in terms of being a dangerous goal scorer helped me as a player, but more than that, it helped me through all of my injuries and stuff I had to go through because it is nice to be able to relate to somebody when it comes to that off the field. He really does remind me of a Clive Charles (legendary former Portland men's and women's head coach) in his coaching style as well as his motivational style."
What was the best part about being an Oregon State student-athlete?
"The community. The reason I selected the school over Washington State, Cal, San Diego or any of the other schools I was looking at was because when I stepped on campus it felt like the community was not small enough that I knew everyone but just big enough for that perfect size. To give you some perspective, the fall that I was a freshman (2000), was when Dennis Erickson and Chad Johnson had just gotten to campus, so the Fiesta Bowl year was my first football season. It was a great time and I think building off the success of a football team or a basketball team is always good for the morale of the athletic department. I think that (former athletic director) Mitch Barnhart was a phenomenal leader and a student-athlete's AD because he listened to us. That trickled down into the coaches and I think that really allowed us to be a community of student-athletes, whether that was the great academic support that we had or making sure we had what we needed to travel or to train. All those little things added up so I think OSU in general is a phenomenal place because it is a perfectly staged community and you can find those niches within the school that really allow you to grow if you choose to."
If you had any advice or pearls of wisdom based on your playing experience for members of the current OSU women's soccer team, what would it be?
"Well I live by a saying. It's `Age quod agis' and it Latin it means `Do well whatever you do'. It is quite simple because whether you are helping your grandmother wash dishes, getting in that fitness that you don't want to do or studying for that test, don't cheat yourself because you're the only one who is going to be losing as a result. So just do well, whatever you do and everything will fall into place. Also enjoy what you're doing because if you do it well, you are going to enjoy it, but if you don't enjoy, then find something you do enjoy and do that well."
Following your graduation, what made you decide to continue your connection with sports and eventually land a job with ESPN?
"I had my internship with the Knicks and then I had to come back (to Corvallis) and play. I finished in December of 2004 with school. Then I had an offer to go back and work for Madison Square Garden and the teams there, so the Rangers, the Knicks and the Liberty. I was an account executive for MSG Sports from 2005 through the middle of 2007. During that time I sold sponsorships for the teams, the arena and Radio City Music Hall to advertisers. From there I went over to Major League Soccer in marketing a couple months before we signed David Beckham. Then I was in business development with Soccer United Marketing, selling sponsorships for the MLS, US Soccer, the Mexican National Team, Chivas Guadalajara and Gold Cup Champions League. Also when I was there we launched women's professional soccer, so I was the one who basically worked with the league. We were the commercial partner of Women's Professional Soccer or WPS and we signed all of the founding sponsors of the league launch. It was kind of funny because fast forward my life seven years and I was launching a league for players I had played against, like a Hope Solo, who I played against growing up and she was also a Huskie, so I played against her in college too."
"After I was done with marketing Major League Soccer and WPS, launching the league, I loved it and didn't want to leave. Growing the sport I love and have so much passion for was a blast and the sport saw so much growth. When I was there we launched the Portland Timbers and Mike Golub who runs the Timbers is a friend of mine because he was with the (NY) Rangers when I was with the Rangers, so it is a very small world. At the end of the day I had a relationship with the people at ESPN because of our broadcast relationship with Major League Soccer and somebody had called me about a position. 
To be honest I would have never left the MLS for anyone else but ESPN. My experiences up to date had been with teams, the NHL, NBA and WNBA and a venue (Madison Square Garden), plus my experiences with a league in international soccer which were great but I didn't have the media experience and marketing experience. I figured I would not take that much of a pay cut to go from sales to marketing, so I was experienced enough to get a pretty decent position over at ESPN. It was a non-traveling job, nonetheless I was traveling about half the time, so it was a great personal decision for me to move over to ESPN to kind of focus on my media skills. Three years later, I got promoted and now am a director over at ESPN in what we call our sports management group."
What is your day-to-day work like with ESPN?
"I work for the sports management group which is the group that manages the sports that we broadcast, so they manage the relationships between the leagues, our producers and the sales team. We put together proactive sales opportunities and help our sales force to keep the market place and sell them. The properties that I work specifically on are Grantland.com, Major League Baseball, World Series of Poker, ESPN Films and then also Branded Content, which is a form of storytelling where we create and produce content to associate with advertisers. When I left the MLS and went over to ESPN I wanted to kind of flex my creative chops again because my former role was co-marketing, which was mixing ESPN brands with advertisers brands and creating commercial spots and promotions. When I did that, I also on the side made a movie, produced a short film and just really kind of got a knack for production, so my new role is perfect."
You produced a short film? That is impressive, what is it called and what was your role in it?
"It's called Heart's Gamble. It is a short film and can be found at heartsgamble.com. I happen to be dating the lead and the person who wrote it. He had success in the theatre with it and as an actor it is hard to break through, so we just figured we would make a short film, which turned me from being a supportive girlfriend into a producer. We just came off of the circuit and won a bunch of festivals, so it has been a fun year and a half!"
CARTER'S CAREER STATS
GP G A PTS SHOTS GWG
77 16 8 40 110 3
Q & A with Carter (Oct. 2003): /ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=30800&ATCLID=207868014
OSU_College_of_Business_Article_on_Carter 
Carter's Short Film website & bio: http://www.heartsgamble.com
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