Reflections From My Trip to San Diego for a Play-by-Play Broadcasters Retreat
Teams from around the country attend different camps to help prepare for the upcoming season. As a play-by-play broadcaster, I thought I should do something similar.
Last week I flew out to San Diego to attend a play-by-play broadcasters retreat hosted by STAA focused on enhancing my play-by-play broadcasts. I had the opportunity to share my material with nine other broadcasters from around the country. It was a great experience but it left me with a lot to reflect on.
Stay with me. I'm going to be very real with this post.
Being compared to your peers is rather intimidating. Everyone has a different style and approach to doing broadcasts. When it was my turn to show my material, I was internally struggling with what would be blasted on the speakers to everyone. I brought a stretch of a game that I would consider my worst material of last season. I didn't bring my best game or highlight because I wanted to get as much help and advice as I possibly could get.
Sometimes you have to bring yourself down to the bottom to find that extra push to help propel yourself to the top.
The material I brought was a 12-minute stretch during the 2018 Class AA boys basketball championship game between Yankton and Harrisburg. That clip was in the middle of the second quarter in which both teams were struggling to score.
They weren't the only one's struggling. I was also. I failed in providing a clear picture to the listener as to what exactly was going on. I failed to give the time and score on a frequent basis, or even detail who had the ball. Essentially, I was an offensive lineman who refused to listen to the snap count in the huddle and was called on two consecutive false start penalties.
Truth is, I failed you during that game. That has stuck with me all summer long. It has been difficult to wait for the start of the next high school football season because of my feeling of needing to redeem myself.
I'm a perfectionist at heart and always strive to give you as the listener a fun and entertaining broadcast. Most games tend to be very smooth and great, while other games sometimes derail. It's how we all bounce back and learn from those games that don't go perfectly. This retreat has helped me step back and take a much needed breath.
My top priority has always been to highlight the student athletes and make sure to detail why every game is important to them and the school. The kids and the schools deserve the attention and the spotlight. We have a lot of great athletes and stories from this area. All of that will continue to be my main goal every night.
What will change is adding more detail to all the games you hear. I'll be diving deeper into each of the schools around Sioux Falls and providing more content and context during each game. I walked away from that retreat with many ideas and ways to enhance the broadcasts that you hear on Friday nights during the football season and the multiple nights per week during the basketball season.
Play-by-play isn't as easy as picking up a microphone and broadcasting. Much like an athlete, it takes practice and commitment to improve. I'm committed to bringing you the best quality broadcast of the area's high school teams every single day, and I will continue to work to provide that.
And trust me, I'm ready to get started again and share everything that I've learned! Kickoff is just five weeks away!
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