--- title: Sports Reporter Got Hit by a Football On Camera description: Football reporter Melissa Stark was sharing a game update before an NFL match in London when she got hit by a stray ball. canonical: https://time.com/5430885/football-reporter-hit/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-10-22T15:36:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-13T08:03:41.998Z og:title: Sports Reporter Got Hit by a Football On Camera og:description: She may not have been expecting the hit, but she recovered like a pro og:url: https://time.com/5430885/football-reporter-hit/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd0621e00ed2ac748/69893d23457a525aa8d5faf3/screen-shot-2018-10-22-at-11-04-48-am.png?branch=production&width=480&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 480 og:image:height: 270 og:image:alt: melissa-stark-nfl og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Sports Reporter Got Hit by a Football On Camera twitter:description: She may not have been expecting the hit, but she recovered like a pro twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd0621e00ed2ac748/69893d23457a525aa8d5faf3/screen-shot-2018-10-22-at-11-04-48-am.png?branch=production&width=480&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Sports Reporter Got Hit by a Football On Camera and Recovered Like the Pro She Is > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=6695314a-b1b3-4c2b-967b-9431c6b76b1c&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Sports Reporter Got Hit by a Football On Camera and Recovered Like the Pro She Is [Watch (HLS stream): Sports Reporter Got Hit by a Football On Camera and Recovered Like the Pro She Is](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/PSFYAPxO.m3u8) (0:41)  _Published 2018-10-22. A football reporter is laughing through the pain after getting beaned by a ball on the field at Wembley Stadium in London._  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Oct 22, 2018 3:36 PM UTC  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Oct 22, 2018 3:36 PM UTC No man — or woman — is safe on the field. That’s the lesson learned by [football](http://time.com/5412533/football-concussion-rates-drop-rule-change/) reporter Melissa Stark, who was delivering an on-air segment before an [NFL game](http://time.com/money/5429618/nfl-games-today-how-to-watch-online-for-free/) at [Wembley Stadium](https://www.chargers.com/news/recap-chargers-top-titans-20-19-in-london-thriller) in London when she was hit right in the head by a stray ball. Sharing the clip on Twitter, Stark had a sense of humor about it: “Hurts more every time I watch it… London, I’ll never forget you!” she joked, adding that she was thankfully “already off the injury report.” Stark was in the U.K. in advance of a L.A. Chargers vs. Tennessee Titans match when the errant football found the back of her head (and not whatever its presumed target must have been). As she noted in her tweet, she’s been covering the NFL for two decades — and getting interrupted by an unexpected ball in that way while on air was a first. “I’m really not in a good area here,” she said as she continued to give her report, flinching from further potential hits but staying focused on getting the facts of her report across against the odds. Followers applauded Stark’s flawless recovery and commitment — and even had an idea or two about how to protect against future hits. > [](https://twitter.com/melissastark/status/1054013861580496896) > [](https://twitter.com/BlairCrgn/status/1054015662786457600) > [](https://twitter.com/ijustine/status/1054225050679693312) > [](https://twitter.com/melissastark/status/1053987893763604480) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5430885/football-reporter-hit/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5430885/football-reporter-hit/"},"headline":"Sports Reporter Got Hit by a Football On Camera and Recovered Like the Pro She Is","datePublished":"2018-10-22T15:36:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-13T08:03:41.998Z","description":"\"Hurts more every time I watch it\"","url":"https://time.com/5430885/football-reporter-hit/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","Sports"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd0621e00ed2ac748/69893d23457a525aa8d5faf3/screen-shot-2018-10-22-at-11-04-48-am.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd0621e00ed2ac748/69893d23457a525aa8d5faf3/screen-shot-2018-10-22-at-11-04-48-am.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"melissa-stark-nfl","caption":"","creditText":"Twitter","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5430885/football-reporter-hit/","name":"Sports Reporter Got Hit by a Football On Camera and Recovered Like the Pro She Is"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Sports Reporter Got Hit by a Football On Camera and Recovered Like the Pro She Is","description":"A football reporter is laughing through the pain after getting beaned by a ball on the field at Wembley Stadium in London.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/PSFYAPxO/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-10-22T19:21:36.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/PSFYAPxO.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5430885/football-reporter-hit/","duration":"PT41S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5430885/football-reporter-hit/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```