Time Out with Chris Navalta (former sports reporter)

Vince D’Adamo: What have you enjoyed most about being connected with athletics throughout your life either as an athlete or journalist?

Chris Navalta: I’ve always loved sports for as long as I can remember (I still remember first college football player I ever followed – Jim Harbaugh). When I got into sports journalism, it was fun just to cover games and be close to the action. But when I started following high school players and listen to all the different stories about what they went through in order to get to where they are, it made covering the games more gratifying. Prep sports was so fun to cover because you got the rawest of emotions, win or lose. There was no PR person to prep them on what to say. Players said exactly how they felt during that moment in time. I covered hundreds of high school players, all with a story to tell. I think that’s what I miss most about being a sports journalist.

D’Adamo: Which sports did you play competitively in high school?

Navalta: In high school, I played football and ran track and field. I will be the first to say that I wasn’t the best in either of those sports – or even decent. But you know what they say – “If you can’t play … coach.” Or in my case, “if you can’t play … write about it.”

D’Adamo: Even with the declining state of the newspaper industry, what kept you coming back every year?

Navalta: I was in newspapers for 13 years … by my fifth year, that’s when I saw the landscape shift. Online papers were sprouting, but I didn’t feel like my job was threatened because someone still had to write the stories. Even when I wasn’t working fulltime, I found ways to write for papers on a freelance basis. I always loved writing stories and it didn’t matter who I was doing it for.

D’Adamo: What have you enjoyed most about covering athletics in your hometown of Vallejo throughout the years?

Navalta: I mentioned the many different stories I got to know about athletes. The best part is when you get to see their road lead them to a level that many high school players won’t even sniff – and that’s the pro level. Having covered guys like CC Sabathia and Brandon Armstrong since their freshman year, being family friends with Mark Munoz growing up and having gone to high school with Bobby Brooks, and seeing them all become successful at the pro level, is an amazing thing. To see them where they started, and where they wound up, is pretty cool.

D’Adamo: Within your family who have been the most influential people?

Navalta: I would say my sister, Pati. You can say that I simply followed her path. We both worked at the same newspapers and we both love to write. I think we got it from our dad and grandma. She’s always been a strong influence in my career.

D’Adamo: Name a historical figure, dead or alive, in or out of sports, that you would most like to meet.

Navalta: Outside of sports, I’m actually closet U.S. Presidents buff. So I would say I would have loved to have met President John F. Kennedy.

D’Adamo: What would intrigue you about meeting him or her?

Navalta: I would be interested in knowing what his state of mind was like during the Cuban Missle Crisis. Talk about literally having the entire world on your shoulders. I work at a high-stress job today. And I know that a lot of us are under stress, but that had to have been the most stressful 13 days of anyone’s lives.