At age seven, Samantha Coffey found a red polo shirt from her mother's dresser and ran off with one of her father's legal pads. Those items would help Coffey blend in as a 'Kid Reporter' for Scholastic at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy, where she would follow around her older siblings, who were actual Kid Reporters.
Scholastic would give their Kid Reporters a red polo with a logo and official Scholastic notebooks to cover various events. Coffey was too young at the time to actually report for Scholastic alongside her older brother, Sean, and her younger sister, Alex. But out of jealousy and the desire to write, Coffey insisted that she would also participate.
"I was just doodling pictures and stuff and making incoherent statements, but that is definitely an early reporting memory that I have," Coffey said.
A couple of years later, Coffey was finally old enough to report for Scholastic. One of her most memorable moments with the publishing company was covering a Women's Premier Soccer League game. With the help of her mother's Portuguese translational skills, Coffey was able to interview Brazilian soccer player, Marta Vieira da Silva—commonly known as Marta—who to Coffey is considered as "the best female player of all time."
"That was the first real writing memory that I have of a story telling adventure that I was able to do," Coffey said.
14 years later, her brother, Sean Coffey, finds himself as a news anchor for WBRE, Eyewitness News, and her sister, Alex Coffey, is a feature writer, covering the Oakland Athletics for The Athletic. Their father, Wayne Coffey, is a former sports reporter and author whose book, "The Boys of Winter," became a New York Times Bestseller. In addition, their mother, Denise Willi, wrote for Scholastic.
It comes as no surprise that Coffey, a senior captain for the Women's Soccer Team, is following her family's footsteps of reporting and writing. Here at Penn State, she majors in print journalism and minors in sociology, with the goal of pursuing journalism — planned for after what Coffey hopes will a long soccer career.
"Writing, other than playing soccer, is one of my favorite things to do," Coffey said. "Just the history it has in my family, specifically sports writing, I would love to do that in any way shape or form kind of after I am done playing."
Growing up surrounded by writers, Coffey's love of the craft and passion for storytelling came naturally to her since an early age. Coffey said that her family has had a huge influence on her, and that writing is deeply rooted within her "family blood."
"I think is really special to have influences like that and role models like that in my life, and just to kind of share that bond to as a family," Coffey said.
According to Coffey, it is no accident that writing has always been something that she loves. She said her father has instilled certain values of writing within her from a very young age. Coffey said her father acts as her "personal peer editor," constantly giving her advice in hopes of consistently improving.
Because of him, Coffey said she is a better writer.
"The fact that they are all in that field, all pretty much involved in sports journalism, is really special, and it is convenient for me because I always have people to absolutely shred apart my papers," Coffey said. "I send something to my dad, and it comes back with x's and lines and highlighted in red."
Coffey, however, never knew until recently that journalism is what she wanted to study.
Two out of her four collegiate soccer seasons was spent at Boston College, where she majored in English, and where majoring in journalism was not an option. When Coffey transferred to Penn State, her athletic advisor, Jim Weaver, suggested journalism based on her interests.
"I knew I loved to write, and I wanted to study anything that would kind of allow me to do that," Coffey said.
While Coffey is very open-minded in regard to which direction she wants to go in the writing field, she is certain of her love of sports writing — specifically covering her favorite sport: Soccer, of course.
"I would say anyway I can continue around soccer after I am done playing would be the dream," Coffey said. "I love sports writing and it does have a deep family history, so I haven't done a ton of sports writing honestly up until this point. But I am hoping I have those genes and that is something I can potentially do."
Coffey said that her love of writing and journalism goes beyond analytical news writing. Coffey knew this passion of hers was always innate, but it was reaffirmed in her current column writing course that she is enrolled in this semester. The passion was sparked in her high school personal narrative class – Coffey's favorite class over her grade school career.
In the class, Coffey said she wrote a piece about her habit and progression of journaling. This habit of her's gave her the reputation of being labeled as the "notebook girl"— something her teammates will "roast" her for -- all in good fun.
"I just love to write, and I always have," Coffey said. "I will literally write about anything. I get made fun of on the team because I always have a notebook. I have a soccer notebook. I have a journaling notebook. I have different notebooks for my bible studies. I have one for just about every occasion, and I take notes when it makes no sense. I always have one on me."
Not only does Coffey journal in order to remember what she's learned or experienced throughout the day, but she said journaling is also a meditative and cathartic method for her to record and reflect upon different aspects of her daily life.
Writing has also led Coffey to producing sermons that she said she has been able to preach to congregations in different churches and bible study groups. Through Penn State Christian Athletes, Coffey was able to meet with the chaplain at the State Correctional Institution in Benner Township, here in Centre County, and attend their Easter Sunday service. Coffey wrote a sermon about that particular experience, in which she then delivered it to her own church.
"It has just led me to a lot of different things and different opportunities which I'm really grateful for," Coffey said.
Writing is something that Coffey said makes her feel close to God, and it is also a "vessel" for her to serve Him—which is her ultimate goal. Through this channel, Coffey hopes her future in writing will take her "in any direction that it may."
"I am passionate about [topics] like racial injustice and gender inequality, that I feel like writing can really be an amazing vessel for me to use in fighting for those things," Coffey said. "But I just really want it to take me where it does and a lot of that goes back to my faith, and how that is the foundation of my life."
Coffey would definitely be considered as a gregarious person, as she said she wants to tell stories, be around people and share what she has learned about those individuals, because there is "so much value in human life." Wherever the path may lead her in journalism, Coffey said she knows she wants to follow in her sister and father's footsteps and find untold and unique stories—something they both have done, and still continue to do.
"I guess I just really want to tell stories in any capacity and represent people who may not have been heard," Coffey said. "I wouldn't say I have one definitive tangible goal."
What interests Coffey greatly, in particular, is sharing stories and unknown details of athletes. To Coffey, sports are an "interesting vessel" for writers to exhibit athletes' passions and outside interests beyond what occurs in a game or match.
"I just kind of love digging deeper into things and being able to share stories in a unique way, and I think writing really is an incredible vessel to do that," Coffey said. So, I'd definitely say staying around soccer as much as I can, but I definitely don't want to put a limit on it. I'd write about anything, and I am excited to see where I am led in that regard."
Broadcast journalism is also something that Coffey has not totally disregarded, and she said she would be interested in possibly following her brother Sean's footsteps.
"A lot of retired, professional players end up doing commentating and working for Fox Soccer, ESPN FC, and that would definitely be a goal of mine," Coffey said. "But I definitely didn't want that to be my main focus in college. I can definitely say I enjoy writing more than anything."
Coffey will not even limit herself of potentially becoming an author of a book, like her father, one day. According to Coffey, reading her father's books and observing his talent of storytelling has inspired her.
"I would love to potentially be able to pursue something like that—potentially write a book in some capacity," Coffey said. "I don't know about what, or when or how, but that's definitely been a goal for sure."
"Why not?"
