Kevin Emmons, the founder of South Jersey Sports Zone, chronicled his journey of making a successful brand on social media during “Pizza With the Pros” on Monday, Nov. 7.
Emmons’ brainchild South Jersey Sports Zone provides high school sports coverage for schools in Southern New Jersey. South Jersey Sports Zone has grown an audience of over 5,300 followers on Twitter and over 1,000 followers on Instagram.
Emmons, 25, began South Jersey Sports Zone while attending Rowan College at Burlington County in 2017. Sports, he said, has always been something he wanted to make a career of.
“I thought high school sports was a great place to start,” Emmons said. “I’ve always had a passion for sports, especially on the high school level.”
South Jersey Sports Zone predominantly features varsity football and boy’s and girl’s basketball on both Twitter and Instagram. Player interviews, player information, game highlights, statistics and recruiting activity can all easily be found on these pages. It’s become a quick and easy way to check up on news that would otherwise go unreported.
Managing South Jersey Sports Zone is not Emmons’ full-time job. He works for the Pemberton Township School district, running the website, social media and publishing newsletters. The position was offered to him as a recent college graduate and was too good of an opportunity to pass on.
Before working for the school district, Emmons grew as a writer at the Burlington County Times covering high school sports. Balancing his personal endeavors with full-time occupations has been a challenge.
“I work full-time now. A lot of games I go to now, I leave straight from work… I know it’s hard trying to balance school and at-home life and stuff like that. I found a way to make the content, remain consistent,” Emmons said.
South Jersey Sports Zone has grown into a valuable conduit of information for those within collegiate and high school sports programs. Followers of the Twitter account include recruitment directors at the University of Notre Dame, coaches at Cabrini University, the University of New England, the University of Pittsburgh and countless aspiring collegiate athletes.
For Emmons, that’s one of the most rewarding aspects of the job.
“Looking back to where I was then to where I am now, I would’ve never guessed that it would’ve grown as rapidly as it did, so I’m definitely proud of that. I’m definitely happy that we still continue to grow it. I get shocked sometimes at how much it grew,” Emmons said.
Emmons has been out of college for just two years, and he’s the youngest guest that “Pizza With the Pros” has ever featured. As someone who has experienced success at a young age, he offered relevant and personable advice to students.
“Never say ‘no’ to an opportunity. That sticks with me, I remind myself of that every day,” Emmons said. “Even if you’re not confident in what you think you can accomplish — if you’re going to be able to do what’s asked of you, just do it and you’ll learn. It sounds pretty cliché, it sounds basic, but it all works itself out.”
Next week, Scott Franzke, the radio play-by-play voice of the Philadelphia Phillies, will join “Pizza With the Pros” fresh off the Phillies’ World Series appearance.
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