The Rostrum Group

Identity first

Before the why, there's a who.

Most communication training starts in the obvious place: delivery — posture, pacing, eye contact, the mechanics of sounding confident. The Rostrum Group starts much deeper: identity. Our work covers the whole arc of an athlete's career — Build, Reveal, Build again. This isn't your average communication training. It's built on lived experience, psychology, and repetition to develop confident, prepared athletes in any conversation.

Build it

While you compete, you build a self around the sport — identity the game hands to you. We help you shape it deliberately, not by accident.

Reveal it

Voice is the vehicle for identity — and in rooms full of people who shape your future, that voice becomes even more valuable. We help you define it so it earns the respect your words deserve.

III

Build again

When the game ends, that doesn't mean who you are ends with it. Through lived experience and the psychology of how identity forms, we help you navigate the rebuild - turning the hardest transition in sport into the moment you find out what you're meant to do next.

Three methods of The Rostrum Group

TheStudy

Learn at your own pace

Self-paced education. Field notes, guides, and courses to build your communication on your own time.

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TheForum

Identity, shaped on stage

A signature keynote series that carries the Rostrum Group philosophy from the stage into the work it inspires.

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TheNetwork

Stories from inside the game

The next chapter — long-form storytelling about identity in sport: the Living Library, conversations, and original features that follow athletes through the arc no one talks about.

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Who's behind the work

Thirteen years rinkside — on both sides of the mic.

Sarah Merrifield built her career in rooms where communication isn't optional: live on air, rinkside, no second take. A four-time Emmy winner and current NHL rinkside reporter for the Utah Mammoth, she founded The Rostrum Group to help athletes do the one thing the game never teaches — know who they are, and say it on purpose.

The Rostrum Group

Communication for every arena.

We develop communicators who command every one of them — athletes, executives, and everyday professionals who speak with intention and leave a lasting impression.

Flagship

Podium

For athletes

The only vertical that offers private 1:1 coaching.

Tier I

Field Notes

Digital Downloads

Self-paced guides to build your communication, one piece at a time.

Tier II — Most Popular

The PlaybookComing Soon

Virtual Course · Self-Paced

The full curriculum, on your own time.

Tier III

The Podium

1-on-1 Private Coaching

Private, intentional coaching — offered for athletes only.

Enter Podium →

Beyond the arena

Communication is universal.

Everyone has a story to tell. You don't have to be an athlete building a professional brand to want to communicate better in everyday life. Explore our resources for navigating conversations of every kind — from the everyday to the difficult.

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Everyday connection

Dialogue

Practical guides for the conversations that connect us — at work, at home, and everywhere in between. Listening, presence, influence, and showing up the way you mean to.

Difficult conversations

Crucible

Tools for the high-stakes moments most people avoid — hard feedback, conflict, boundaries, accountability, and repair. How to say the thing without burning what matters.

Keynotes & Speaking

Forum.

Sarah Merrifield · Keynote Speaker

Keynote Breakout Fireside Workshop

Sarah brings the thesis behind The Rostrum Group directly to the stage — built on more than thirteen years inside professional sports media and the psychology of how identity actually forms.

Two signature keynotes and a media-training intensive, sharing one throughline. Before the Why, There's a Who turns the mirror on the room — the title is real, but it isn't the whole of you. Communication on Purpose shows how that identity becomes voice, on the record and under pressure. And the media-training intensive gives athletes the traditional, in-the-room reps the game never teaches.

Book Sarah for your school, conference, leadership summit, players' association, or team gathering.

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Rostrum Network Coming Soon

The next chapter — stories from inside the game.

Beyond coaching, The Rostrum Group is building a home for long-form storytelling about identity in sport: The Living Library, authentic conversations, and original storytelling that follow athletes through the arc no one talks about — who they become when the game ends, and why leaving the game is more difficult than getting in it.