Diabetes is a chronic condition that presents unique challenges, even for athletes like Riley Black, who excel while managing it.
Link to Interview with Riley Black:
Riley Black is a division 1 baseball player for the Tennessee Tech University Golden Eagles. Inspired by Emyle Watkins’ Masterclass and my own health journey, I wanted to interview an athlete with a disability. In Black’s case, like many athletes worldwide, that disability is diabetes. According to the 2025 ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), diabetes is recognized as a disability. As a diabetic myself, this was a perfect opportunity to connect with someone who not only shares my experience but has also excelled as an athlete. Black said something that many people might not think about why Diabetes is a challenge for him.
(7:57) “When something hard is coming in at you 80, 90 miles per hour, you have to be locked in at all times,” Black said. “So, I mean, when my body is low for example and I’m feeling shaky or you know, I’m not thinking straight…I can’t do much.”
Throughout the semester, we explored various aspects of sports interviews, including the importance of setting. I suggested to Black that we conduct the interview in the locker room or on the diamond rather than meeting after a game or at a coffee shop on a Sunday morning. We ultimately chose the locker room because it provided a quieter environment. Based on Week 4’s assignment, I knew that interviewing him in a familiar space, where he felt “at home” as a baseball player, could help reduce any anxiety or stress.
Another key consideration was sending Black the questions in advance. Per his request, I sent him six questions two nights before the interview.
Before diving into the interview itself, I also carefully considered the title of the YouTube video. Emyle Watkins’ words stuck with me, that athletes with disabilities should not be defined solely by their condition. They are athletes first. That is why the title is not “Diabetic Athlete” but rather “Athlete with Diabetes.”
My approach was to create a conversation rather than a formal interview. A back-and-forth, question-and-answer format would have made a 15-minute interview feel awkward, so I told Black beforehand that I am also diabetic. Throughout the interview, I shared some of my own experiences to help lighten the mood and create a more natural flow. Watkins emphasized that when discussing disabilities, the conversation should not abruptly shift away from the topic but should instead use transition sentences to expand on questions. While I’m not sure if I am supposed to quote myself in this assignment, at timestamp 8:33 to 8:51, I made a joke that helped ease the environment and used a transition to smoothly lead into the next question, which Black laughed at.
(8:33) “Highs is a bad feeling, but I still think everyone says what’s the worst feeling in the world, it’s not a breakup, its low blood sugar,” Hett said. “Baseball is a team sport you kind of mentioned, do you manage this more individually at least for tech or is this something in your life that your coaches and teammates all know?”
Earlier in the semester, we analyzed the Lance Armstrong interview as a case study. In that interview, the interviewer was very direct, but when Armstrong strayed off-topic, the repeated attempts to redirect him were not very effective. I took a different approach by entering my interview with prior knowledge of other professional athletes with diabetes, hoping to use that as a natural transition in the conversation. This approach allowed the athlete, whom I had just met for the first time in person, to give more genuine responses.
(6:22) “Jay Cutler, who is a quarterback for the broncos had Diabetes and it only happened once, but he had to come out of the game in the third quarter,” Hett said. “Just a normal drive cause his bood sugar was low and he ran to the stands and he went to a fan and he ate a hot dog.”
Enough about me, let’s dive into his responses and what I learned from this interview. Black is an interesting character. He is a fifth-year student at the university and the starting catcher for the baseball team. If this were a broadcast, I would want the audience to get the full experience. I also want to highlight the challenges diabetes presents for athletes to establish a baseline. Black shares valuable information, including the ideal blood sugar levels and what his were at the time of his diagnosis.
(2:41) “A normal person’s blood sugar is supposed to be 80 to 120, is what they told me,” Black said. “And then they said, Riley, I don’t know how you walked in that day, you were supposed to be in a sugar coma, your number was 999.”
I also found it interesting that his responses were often humorous. Even when discussing his disability, his joking manner helped soften the weight of the topic. Earlier in the semester, you (Sam) encouraged me to dive deeper into my questions. At the 3:37 timestamp, I followed that advice by revisiting something he had said and asking an unscripted, in-the-moment question. His response felt genuine and even led to another story, he recalled a time in his younger days when he had to eat a honeybun on the sideline during a game to regain energy.
(4:00) “I remember I was low during an inning, and I got like a honeybun and a Powerade and like right after, of course you have that honeymoon phase where it’s just like its working but it’s not working,” Black said. “I was like dude this is pretty sick, I can eat this whenever I want, and my mom is gonna buy it for me so let’s go.”
Another key aspect of the interview is that, as an athlete, Black has a full support team and specialized equipment at his disposal. He uses multiple monitoring systems for his blood sugar, including an insulin pump and a Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM). Unlike defensive linemen in the NFL, Black avoids eating before games to better manage his blood sugar. However, this approach does not apply to all events.
(7:02) “There has been several practices though where it’s just like a weird scenario,” Black said. “Where like my number is 60 below and it’s just staying at 60 below. And I’ve had to tell coach…I can’t practice for 30 minutes. I was starting to see double, stumbling all over the place…and I don’t want to be the odd kid out but at the same time, when your body is saying two things at once, you have to accept that and take a break for a sec”.
One funny moment of the interview I noticed after listening to the game footage was that Black was eating while we were talking. I had to ask him why he was eating, and I found this to be comical.
(9:43) “I’m actually low right now,” Black said.
One of the last questions I asked was inspired by Watkins’ comment that every story has another side. I could have delved deep into the doctors, treatments, and all the things Black does to manage his diabetes, but instead, I asked him what he would say to the younger generation of kids. Being diagnosed as a child is tough because you do not fully understand it, but he said he wouldn’t trade the experience for anything.
(10:20) “I wouldn’t trade diabetes for the world,” Black said. “I think it has made me who I am today, made me stronger, physically, mentally, emotionally. And, it has opened other doors where I can talk to other people. Back home I had two or three kids that got diagnosed and their parents came to my parents, and we talked.”
On an ending note, I do not agree with what Watkins said about athletes with disabilities being like every other athlete or portraying them as normal, because to me they’re not. They are special, uplifting, and inspiring because of the odds put against them (Check Hansel Emmanuel). Black has defied odds as a diabetic and one of the main reasons is his relationship with God.
(10:44) “Yeah it sucks. I mean if you look at it, you’re no longer in the category of being a normal person, you have something that is constantly on your mind and your body,” Black said. “Taking you away from being who you thought you were going to be in a sense. Obviously knowing a spiritual background like this is who God made me to be, so it’s a different story for me.”
At the end of the interview, I realized I had only 14 minutes and 33 seconds. I apologize for this and will accept points off for my mistake. If I could go back, I would ask him more about how his faith has helped him get through difficult times as a diabetic. Despite this, I had a blast doing the interview and can confidently say that this is my best and favorite interview yet.
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