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Mic Check: Kendall Smith's Road From the Living Room to the Sidelines
- 3 hours ago
- 7 min read
Interview by Brylea Smith | July 15 2026
Long before she ever stepped onto a professional sideline, Kendall Smith was already preparing for the spotlight.
As a child, she would spend countless hours at home using her family's video camera to record her own personal SportsCenter recaps, clutching the toy ESPN microphone she had desperately wanted.
While her peers were simply watching sports for fun, Smith was busy envisioning her future career in front of the lens.
Today, that childhood dream has become her daily reality.
Smith has built a career as a team reporter and host for the Charlotte Knights and Charlotte Checkers, covering everything from player interviews and pregame shows to major-league call-ups and championship hockey. But her path to professional sports broadcasting began years before she ever stepped in front of a television camera.
Growing up, sports were always a part of her life.
Instead of her family gathering around the TV to watch the newest TV show, they watched that night’s sporting event. But that wasn’t enough for Smith. She wanted to dive deep into the games and break down top plays.
“My brother would finish his Little League games, and I would be asking him so many questions,” she said.
Her most prized possession came to her at 10-years-old: her toy ESPN mic. Back then, she would interview anyone she could get her hands on, making her own talk show. It’s one of the only toys she still has today.
At 15-years-old, she got her first taste of working in sports. Her brother played baseball for their high school team, which found itself needing a public address announcer.
Smith had never done anything like this yet, and although she was typically confident, she didn’t know if she could do it. With the support of her family and her father guiding her through the first game, it became the start of building a serious career.
Through this, she would meet Jim Morrison of Carolina Sports Network.
She completed an internship with Morrison, where she gained hands-on experience covering sporting events throughout the Charlotte area. This included the Charlotte Hornets, Charlotte Knights, college football and college basketball.
“That internship was life-changing in so many ways,” Smith said. “I was covering NBA games at 17 years old, and just being around high-profile athletes like that at such a young age, it made me realize the etiquette, the way you have to act, how you have to carry yourself.”
The experience also taught her one of the most important lessons in sports journalism.
“At that point, you're not cheering for teams anymore; you are unbiased,” Smith said. “You have to be completely focused on the job that you're doing, so that internship helped me to just realize how things worked.”
After graduating from high school, she attended the University of South Carolina, where she majored in broadcast journalism with a concentration in sports media.
Wanting to keep the momentum from her high school experiences, she joined the student TV station, Student Gamecock Television. By her sophomore year, she became station manager, making her the youngest in the organization’s history.
During her time, she managed more than 125 students, many of whom were older than her. Learning how to balance different personalities and perspectives while also elevating the station became one of her biggest challenges.
“I had to learn how to cater to as many people as I possibly could, while still trying to elevate the station," Smith said. "The goal is for everyone to get better while also putting out a great product."
The experience pushed her to grow as both a leader and a communicator, skills she still uses every day.
COVID struck during the second half of her freshman year, eliminating the chance for a normal semester of college. In order to keep herself connected with the world of sports, she started a podcast. Smith interviewed other people who worked in the sports broadcasting industry. Those conversations not only helped her continue developing her skills but also helped her build relationships she still maintains today.
One of her interviewees was Wes Mitchell, who worked for Gamecock Central. He ended up offering her a job covering South Carolina sports, with a primary focus on football and recruiting. She ended up spending her junior and senior years in college traveling across the Southeastern Conference to cover South Carolina football.
Around the same time, Smith set a goal for herself: to work for the Charlotte Knights. The summer before her senior year, that became a reality. She was given the opportunity to intern with the communications department, where she was able to dip her toes into player interviews.
While working with the team, another unexpected opportunity emerged. That summer, she was approached by Charlotte Checkers' Director of Creative Services, Zac Harvey, who asked if she would be interested in auditioning to be their host.
Her answer was yes.
Soon, Smith was juggling many roles. In her senior year of college, she accepted a full-time position as the Knights’ team reporter and host, along with stepping in as the host for the Checkers. The route from Charlotte to Columbia quickly became second nature to her.
However, putting that much effort into work came with a cost.
Smith’s senior year of college looked different than most others. So much time was spent driving or working in another city that she missed out on some of the memories that make a senior year special.
“It was different, because not any of my friends were in the same position, so I did feel at times I was missing things, but they were also supportive of me,” Smith said. “It was not a traditional final semester of college, but it was worth it, and I look back on it, and I'm glad that I did exactly what I did.”
After graduation, Smith remained with both organizations and continued expanding her broadcasting portfolio.
In addition to her responsibilities with the Knights and Checkers, she began working as a sideline reporter for college athletics and conference broadcasts, including coverage for the American Conference.
As she settled into her role with the Checkers, she wanted to bring a part of her childhood into her reporting to make it more distinctive.
For years, she was also a competitive figure skater, spending countless mornings at ice rinks perfecting her skills.
"We've all been up at 5 a.m. at a cold ice rink in the middle of winter to chase our dreams," Smith said.
Smith made a difficult choice to not pursue skating further because she wanted to attend college. Still, the sport was such an important part of her life that she knew she could never leave it behind.
To intertwine her past with her present, Smith asked if she could skate with the players during interviews to make the interviews more personal. Her background in figure skating also allows her to analyze the game from a technical standpoint.
"I'm watching things that people might not pick up on," Smith said. "How are they generating speed? What edges are they using? There are a lot more similarities between hockey and figure skating than people realize."
That shared experience has become another way for her to connect with athletes and better explain the game to viewers.
One of the biggest moments of her career came in 2025 when she made her national television debut on the NHL Network during the Calder Cup Finals.
"In the moment, I tried not to think about it as myself on national TV, because I didn't want to be nervous," Smith said. "I just wanted to think about it as another game, even though it wasn't."
Only after the broadcast ended did the significance of the moment truly sink in.
"I saw the texts, I saw the videos, I saw that people were tuning in from across the country," Smith said. "It was just this huge wave of gratitude, of joy, of happiness. I was just so proud at that moment, and I thought back to all those young versions of myself that wanted so badly to do this as a job.”
While she hopes for more national television opportunities in her future, she remains focused on appreciating the ones she already has.
“At the end of the day, comparison is the thief of joy,” Smith stated. “Nobody's path is the same as yours, so I'm just going to continue to be grateful for what I have, and know that hopefully my time will come. But right now I am in a great spot, an awesome situation, and whatever opportunities come my way next, I know it's all part of God's plan.”
