Reveling in the Joy of Team

    She went on to Lynchburg College where she majored in education with an eye on coaching, focused on lacrosse, and helped the program reach an unprecedented level of excellence.
    With Overton defending the cage, the Hornets went 53-19-1 (25-1 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference) and won four league titles.
    She was a two-time All-American (’85 and ’86), four-time All-ODAC selection, and league player-of-the-year as a senior.
    Twenty-four years after her final season, her NCAA Division III record for career saves (1,084) and LC mark for save percentage (.704) still stand.
    Overton coached field hockey at St. Gertrude in ’86 and ’87 and assisted with lacrosse at Collegiate in ’87.
    She served as defensive coach for the Yale lacrosse team for three years, then held the same post at Dartmouth for one before returning home and earning a master’s in sports management from the University of Richmond.
    “I had good coaches who taught me what to take from a win and what to take from a loss,” Overton said.
    “They believed in me.  My parents believed in me.  They said, ‘You can be whatever you want to be.  Just do it 110 percent.’”
    It should come as no surprise, then, that when she moved on to life after competing and coaching, Overton has held close to her heart the principles instilled in her by her mentors.
    “School sports was an immediate network of friends with a common interest and love,” she said.
“For me, it’s all about team.”
    Sixteen years ago, Overton joined CNN Sports in Atlanta as an intern, and her career has been an exhilarating ride ever since.
    “Coaching was fulfilling,” she said.  “I did what I wanted to do and had a great time doing it, but I looked at my horizon and wanted more.
    “I thought, let’s look at sports television and see what I can do there.  I was fortunate that CNN called back.”
    Eight years ago, she became manager of operations for CNN Sports.  Three years later, she added CNN Español to her busy docket.
    She oversees a staff of 40 and is responsible for content, work flow, technology, and ensuring that her departments meet the media giant’s professional standards.
    “I have two really different teams at CNN: different languages, different skill sets,” Overton said. “The secret is recognizing people’s strengths and nurturing those strengths.
    “I’m the coach, but it’s a different kind of coaching.  It’s translating what I did on the field to what I do in the newsroom.
     “I treat my staff as a team. I try to show them the challenges and how we’re going to succeed and have some fun succeeding.”
    Overton works 10-hour days, 5 days per week from her office in the CNN Center.
    Before she heads in, she checks email for an hour and does another hour of computer work when she returns home.
    She’s on call 24/7 and has learned from experience that breaking news seldom occurs at convenient times.
    “That’s when you drop everything and come in,” she said with a smile.
    “It’s definitely a lot of hours, but that’s what I signed up for.”
    The majority of the work of Overton’s staff appears on CNN International – World Sport which airs a broad spectrum of international events such as cricket matches, men’s field hockey games, and curling.  Soccer – fútbol – is the mainstay.
    Her department also supplies footage of sports highlights for more than 900 local affiliates for CNN Newsource.
    Her CNN Español team provides coverage of events that affect South America, Central America, Mexico, and the United States.
    Just as Overton became quite deft at handling anything that came her way in the athletic arena, likewise she has become skilled at dealing with the whirlwind pace of the 24-hour news cycle.
    “In sports, every practice, every game was different,” she said.
    “I knew that whatever I did (after her athletic career ended) had to keep me alive and engaged.
    “News is different every day.  There’re challenges every day.
    “I love it.”   
                   -- Weldon Bradshaw