Week Four: The last week

This past weekend turned out to be the last set of home games for the University of Calgary Dinos at the Jack Simpson Gymnasium, coinciding with the first weekend of basketball and volleyball playoff games. Only the men's teams in both sports hosted playoff games at the Jack...the volleyball team hosted a best 2-out-of-3 play-in series against the University of the Fraser Valley, while the basketball team hosted a mini-tournament where they got a bye into the quarter-finals, while hosting a play-in game between Brandon University and Trinity Western University.

I never got to do anything more than my usual relay of stats information to the on-air commentators in the days leading up to all the games, but I attended every game this weekend. I chose to act as an emergency back-up...no one asked me to, but I decided I needed to be there in case I was needed. As it turned out, I watched the games from the stands the entire time...but this came with an added bonus. I found out from a friend of mine who worked as a writer for the Dinos the kind of process that goes into creating the post-game story for the web...I discovered that the writer(s) conduct personal interviews with players and/or coaches from the home side (or both sides during the playoffs) and then implement quotes from said interviews into the game story. All the Dinos teams were successful at home in the playoffs last weekend, so their seasons continue with the volleyball team in Edmonton against the University of Alberta, while the basketball team heads to the Island for a semi-final game against the University of Victoria.

Now that I've had the experience of being a part of a sports broadcasting crew, I am forever grateful of the opportunity. I want to personally thank Ned Bosnak and Tanner Hill, my supervisors from Maverick Media, as well as a thank-you to on-air commentator (and SAIT Grad) Josh Arbuthnot for his personal feedback on my performances as well has his guidance and kindness towards my efforts. Finally, a special thank-you to the man who recommended me for this gig: Dinos Communications manager Lance McKenzie. Lance hired me as a PA Announcer for the Dinos women's rugby team back in 2021, and has since had me on for their games as well as some occasional hockey games at the Father David Bauer Arena. He said to me that my knowledge of Dinos Athletics and the Canada West Conference made me a good fit for Maverick Media to assist them with the broadcasts of the games on Canada West TV. I am very happy to have experienced this, and with this in mind my next step is to go Freelance...I'm going to reach out to local sports organizations across the city and work with them as a PA Announcer or a play-by-play commentator for games and/or tournaments, and I already have my first gig: as a PA announcer for a basketball tournament in December hosted by William Aberhart High School.