Ridwan Oyebamiji

Senior Chris Narishkin live-streams basketball game. Games can last up to four hours at a time. “As a camera man, it is my job to never miss the action during this time period,” Narishkin said.

For the past two years, Longhorns Sports Production (LSP), has filmed live games of sporting events, but as of the winter season, they extended their skills and now produce live-stream videos available to the student body on YouTube.

“By live-streaming, students are given the opportunity to participate in commentary and play-by-play, which is not something that is currently available,” sponsor Amie Gosset said.

Although it mainly consists of recording and commentary, students are required to take Advanced Broadcasting during school hours in order to participate in LSP.

“I heard the Advanced Broadcasting class was similar to a yearbook class in that I would be doing interviews and being apart of West’s press,” senior Chris Narishkin said. “What I didn’t realize was that I was joining LSP’s class. Advanced Broadcasting was set up to be the backbone of the club where the members create advertisements and live-streams while doing the actual recording after school.”

After gaining fundamental skills in Advanced Broadcasting, LSP members put their learning into action during live-streams and work to remain unbiased in their commentating.

“The most difficult part is staying neutral and trying not to bring too much of an opinion into the game,” junior Collin Krewson said. “I have to keep in mind that people rooting for both teams are watching the stream, and I can’t be biased towards one team.”

Not only do LSP members face the obstacle of remaining neutral commentating in real-time, but they must also juggle the task of maintaining Oral Broadcasting Software to keep visuals and audio aligned during games.

“It’s not easy to keep track of everything that’s going on. I have to make sure I’m timing the advertisements right, changing the score and setting up scoreboards, especially during a tournament where I have to rapidly adjust settings in order for the next live stream to run smoothly,” sophomore Avik Banerjee said.

Despite the struggles, they plan to continue live-streaming throughout the spring season for girls soccer, next fall for football and boys soccer.

“The equipment that we have right now is a miniaturized sample of the equipment that they use in places like Busch Stadium,” Gossett said. “So when they go into the outside world, they’re already familiar with it.”