No, it's how you get to start, probably while still in education, but you learn about framing, focus, white balance, learn about direction (forget the ball -- y

No, it's how you get to start, probably while still in education, but you learn about framing, focus, white balance, learn about direction (forget the ball -- you want to follow the ref at this point), on a larger event you'll be part of working as a team which is an essential soft skill many graduates don't have, on a smaller even you'll be learning how to interact in a professional environment on your own, you'll be meeting people who can help you, you can A colleague of mine was on a camera at the weekend, he's not a cameraman, he's an engineer, he had to be there anyway to set up the camera, plug in the various cables, and get the pictures out. He was filming 3 people stood at lecterns and panning the camera between them as appropriate, which meant making his own decisions based on the flow of the conversation, speed of the pan (I don't think there were any zooms needed), etc. It's hardly thrilling work, and you could probably automate it. I've seen that type of automation system used for radio visualisation -- hell I've set it up on occasion, but AI isn't as good as an engineer with a little situational awareness pointing a camera, let alone a creative picture correspondent.