My Perspective

Basketball Commentating

Matthew May, Broadcast Editor

On Tuesday Dec. 8, I started commentating for the North Polk basketball games for the girls and boys. I have had a total of 5 games since then, and all of those games were very different for commentating. 

The first game I did was the girls’ basketball game against Caroll, I was asked to do it alone. I was very unsure of what to say or do during the game, but I managed to get through it even though I was very unassertive with a certain approach. For each game, I hope to have a similar attitude that is somewhat cheerful no matter the result, but also keeping collective and calm. I was kind of nervous at first and possibly repeated myself, but in the future I am trying to prevent myself from being repetitive. 

In the boys’ game that night, I was not alone, I was accompanied by Aaron Dose and that game had very different commentating experiences because the energy in the gym was very different. I was a lot more comfortable in the second game because I was not alone and I had a better idea of how to handle it. 

On Tuesday December 15,  I had my second pair of games at home versus the ADM Tigers. The first game of the day was the girls’ game and I called the game with Evan Groepper. The game felt smoother than the girls’ game a week prior. 

In my second game of the night, I felt a lot more comfortable and felt the flow of the game a lot better. In the boys game that night I did that game with. Dose and. Groepper. This game was personally more difficult because we only have 2 microphones and we had 3 people. I struggled with this because I had the first quarter off . I couldn’t tell what had been said and it was so loud that I had trouble hearing Dose and Groepper. On December 22nd I had my 5th game. It was only a girls game that night and I was able to do it with my peer, Coby Lundgren. We had a good game that unfortunately the Comets lost but it was the game I felt most comfortable.

I did get through the game however and I’m looking forward to improving my craft for the upcoming games. I have been very thankful for being able to do this and look forward to continuing.