Joe Gustafson has been involved in sports most of his life.

He played soccer all four years in high school, basketball through his junior year and baseball and football during his younger childhood.

The 22-year-old Minnetonka, Minn. native has also stayed active in his time at UW-Eau Claire by participating in intramurals and becoming somewhat of a weekend warrior.

So it would seem logical that someone majoring in print journalism, while having a large interest in sports, would look toward becoming a sportswriter as possible career choice.

With Gustafson, logic prevails.

"Yeah, I’m a big sports fan," Gustafson said.  

"(Sports) haven't been the only thing in my life," he added.  "But they've been a big part of my life."

It was his interest and fondness of certain classes in high school that helped push Gustafson toward print journalism as a major.

"I never wrote for the school newspaper (in high school)," Gustafson said.  "But I always enjoyed English and writing classes."

"When I was a freshman, I started at The Spectator."

And the rest, as they say, is history.

During his freshman year at UW-Eau Claire, he was a general-assignment reporter for UW-Eau Claire's student newspaper.  His responsibilities, along with writing news, included covering all types of sporting events.  

Gustafson became more involved with writing sports his sophomore year, as he became the sports editor of the publication.  

He is not a one-dimensional journalist however.  And his career path is not set in stone.

"If I had to guess what I’d be doing in a few years, (sports writing) is probably it," Gustafson said.  "But that isn't something I plan to do my whole life."

Gustafson said the late hours are one of the toughest drawbacks of being a sportswriter.

Last year he expanded his resume when he worked as a news editor for The Spectator his first semester and a staff writer his second semester.

Gustafson is the editorial editor for the semiweekly newspaper this fall.

He has also gained professional experience by working for the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram's sports department.  But due to time constraints, he had to resign in September.

"In a perfect world I’d be a sports columnist at a major metropolitan paper like the (Minneapolis) Star-Tribune," Gustafson said.  "But I don’t think that’s likely to happen." 

"You get to throw your opinion into everything (as a columnist)," he added.  "You could do a wide range of things, covering not just the pros, but high schools and colleges as well.  It's more creative writing than straight-forward journalism."

"(Being a columnist) is a hard job to get into, especially right away," Gustafson said referring to the likelihood of this situation.  "I don't know if I'd stick around long enough to become one."

Even though becoming a sportswriter may be an obvious career choice at this juncture in Gustafson's life, he said he is not 100 percent sure that is where he'll end up.  But one thing is for sure.

"I definitely know I want to be in journalism," Gustafson said.  "And I want to be at a newspaper."

While many childhood sports fans dream of calling the World Series or the Super Bowl on television or the radio, Gustafson said that is not the case with him.

"I've never been as drawn to the broadcast aspect," he said.  "In the print media, you can go more into depth.  I like that side of (writing)."