Sports have been a passion of mine for as long as I can remember. My earliest and best childhood memories involve a ball. I am happy to say I will be continuing my love of sports in a way most enthusiasts like myself would envy.
Growing up I played every mainstream sport in America. Basketball, football, soccer, and my personal favorite, baseball, were all pursued throughout my athletic career. Along with a few not-so-popular sports, all were enjoyed. I never played a sport I didn't appreciate and this includes cross country.
Throughout high school I always wanted to announce the games. Something about commentating games seemed intriguing to me. The only problem was they already had adults that volunteered to announce and a kid wasn't going to get the job over them.
I made my way to the scorers table fortunately. For volleyball games and basketball games I ran the clock and scoreboard. Being a part of baseball and soccer teams would eventually effect my availability and the spring would consist of only sports I played.
After graduating I needed to fill a sports void. I no longer was submerged in year round athletic events and was feeling deprived. That is when I gravitated towards sports radio. I fell in love as I listened to the MMM Ranch on my way home from work everyday.
For over two years the only exposure to sports I had was radio and television. My first college, Rose State, didn't offer a whole lot of options as far as Sports are concerned. Still I had an emptiness inside. I wanted to be more involved and more in the scoop.
Luckily after transferring to UCO in the fall of 2016 I met a great friend through eating an entire tub of cheese balls and got the connection I needed. A guy named Chisolm Holland interned for the radio show I very much enjoyed. He was able to plug me in and help me acquire an internship with them as well. To this day I still participate in my internship with the MMM Ranch for nothing more than the love of sports.
The MMM Ranch however is a sports talk radio broadcast. I have had a lot of fun participating and talking on air with my new friends at 107.7 The Franchise OKC. But I still wasn't getting to experience games like I wanted to. I wasn't participating in the action. Nor was I feeling involved enough.
About this time I enrolled in a class called Broadcast Audio Production. I needed it for my major which is Mass Communications - Professional Media. I had this teacher before online and really enjoyed the class. My internship had already taught me a lot of the things I needed to know which was a bonus.
After discussing my internship with my teacher I asked him what he thought about me doing the play-by-play for UCO sports. With him being a sportscaster himself he was thrilled with the idea and immediately hopped on board. Both of us were excited.
A few meetings and about a week later we were searching Hamilton Field House, where all the Basketball and Volleyball games are played, for plug-ins to figure out how we were going to broadcast the games. That day we ordered equipment and are now ready to roll for the rest of the home games.
Although the basketball season is almost over Baseball and Softball are just getting started. We have plenty of broadcasting to do this semester and I am looking forward to sharing the athletic experience with all of Edmond and the surrounding area.
99.3 f.m. ucentral radio is the schools station that we will be broadcasting from. you can also follow them on twitter @ucentralradio to get updates from their account.
Broadcasting has been a dream of mine since a very young age. I have been blessed with many wonderful opportunities and great people to help me get to this point. Most start out reporting class B high school games and here I am at a division 2 university. If it weren't for a few key people like Chisolm Holland and Professor Nelson the opportunities wouldn't have unfolded.
