Junior Logan LaCroix and senior Adam Gold have taken on the job of sports commentary this fall. Adam helps Logan out with football commentating, while Logan also does field hockey and looks forward to basketball, as these are some of Kingswood Oxford’s teams that use the software company Hudl to stream their games.
This all started with Logan’s decision to get a head start with commentating to better prepare him for the future, as sports commentating is what he wants to pursue as an adult. Logan has always had an interest in sports, ever since he was a little kid. “My parents made me watch when I was really young,” Logan said. “I always liked listening to games in the car sometimes, and I like listening to the broadcasters.” As another way to further his experience with learning to sports commentate, Logan also had the opportunity to go to a week-long camp at Quinnipiac University this past summer for broadcasting and sports communications.
Towards the beginning of the school year, Logan was seeking approval from KO’s Director of Athletics Josh Balabuch to make sure this would be permitted. Logan was also looking for a partner to be the color commentator – the person who talks in between plays to help fill airtime – which is where he sought out his friend Adam. “Logan approached me around late August,” Adam retold, “saying, ‘Hey, I’m planning on doing this operation. I have a pitch for Mr. Balabuch. Most sports broadcasters have a color commentator. I don’t have one yet. Can you help make this happen for me?’” Adam said that he always thought Logan was a great guy and was quick to agree.
Adam explained that he does Strength and Conditioning in the fall, so he was able to do sports commentating with Logan at a few football games as a replacement for the three games that students signed up for Strength and Conditioning are required to help out at.
Once Logan and Adam were given the green light by Mr. Balabuch, they also had to meet with KO’s Director of Technology Daniel Bateson to make sure that it would be possible to commentate on the Hudl recordings successfully. Logan did the play-by-play for four KO football games this season, with Adam color-commentating at three of them. Upper School language teacher Ronald “Garc” Garcia was also involved and stepped in for color commentating when Adam was unavailable. Logan commentated on field hockey alone, so others didn’t have to learn a new sport. In terms of basketball, Logan’s color commentator will rotate for each game so that there’s less of a commitment and therefore fewer scheduling conflicts.
Logan reflected positively on the Nov. 15 New England Championship Bowl football game (where KO played Rivers School) because both Adam and Garc were color commentating, which was a fun experience for all of them. Adam mentioned one of his highlights over the season: “It was the game where Justin Morle ran for four touchdowns, as it was pretty crazy up in the box,” Adam said. “The following week, Logan would say the line he said after the fourth touchdown each time we passed each other in the halls, even one time from across the senior green.”
A challenge toward the start of this experience was when Adam and Logan didn’t have access to headsets for the first half of the games. “So, we stood under the camera and talked up[wards] so that the in-game microphone would pick us up,” Adam recalled. “Once the headsets came in, we were able to connect them to the broadcast and go from there.” Adam complimented Logan, reflecting on their experience. “I assumed from how polished Logan was since game one that he had done sports commentating before,” Adam explained.
Many people might be unaware of how much preparation goes into sports commentating. Throughout the week leading up to a football game, Logan and Adam would interview the players. “Say football’s playing on Saturday,” Logan said. “That week leading up to it, I’ll interview 10 players on the team or so, and just get notes on the other team as well as what KO’s game plan is and stuff [like that].”
Adam explained how the interviewing process typically went. “Since I’m a writer on the KO News, I was more comfortable with the interviews,” Adam said. “We met on the Monday leading up to a Saturday gameday to go over who would interview who. Often, Logan would get a handful of players, and I would get some players plus coaches’ interviews.” Logan also would sometimes go to a couple of practices if he needed to better understand a sport before commentating on it. He also prints out the team’s rosters (the jersey numbers with correlating names) for him and Adam or Garc, as it’s helpful so that they are able to explain who is doing what on the field with fluidity and without having to stop or question if they’re correct.
When asked about his inspiration within the sports broadcasting field, Logan explained that he watches football a lot. “My favorite broadcasters broadcast football … and those are the people who inspire me to broadcast,” he told me. He also explains that he loves the Cleveland Guardians baseball team, and his favorite sports commentator to listen to is Tom Hamilton, who even received an award from the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He also mentioned Gus Johnson, the play-by-play announcer with Fox Sports for both college football and basketball. “He’s very enthusiastic and very into the game, and I try to be enthusiastic when I commentate,” he said. “If you’ve ever listened to Logan’s calls on the games, you know he hasn’t gotten through a broadcast without mentioning THE Ohio State Buckeyes football organization.”
For anyone who might be interested in getting into sports commentary, Logan suggests making sure you have a partner, as the airtime is pretty hard to fill. “Try and keep a neutral tone about the game,” Adam recommends. “Obviously, it’s our broadcast so if any bias is going to happen on air, it will be in favor of KO. Always trying to compliment some aspects of the opposing teams’ players occasionally, but try and lift up KO football without looking for ways to tear down opposing teams.”
Both Logan and Adam are thankful that KO has provided them with this unique opportunity, and we wish Logan and his color commentator luck with the basketball season ahead.
