Dec. 21, 2019 8:25p
WGTD’s ground-breaking, live video streams of football and basketball play-by-play is dedicated to capturing the excitement of high school sports. There’s also plenty of positive drama within the production itself.
In the three years that WGTD has matched video with our traditional audio play-by-play offerings, students from Indian Trail High School’s Communications Academy have played crucial roles in manning cameras and performing other duties.
For some of the students, the experience has been life-changing.
This past fall, three Indian Trail juniors and one Indian Trail graduate were part of the football webcasts.
Two of them—Natalie Lother and Abigail Walentowski, both 16-year-old juniors, talked about their experiences on a recent edition of Generation Now, one of our Saturday morning public affairs programs on WGTD.
Natalie’s primary role was serving as the main, ‘on-top’ camera operator. She says the job is helping to clarify her post-high school path. "I'm really into law and stuff like that but I also really enjoy film," she told program host Troy McDonald. "So I'm probably going to stay with film after this whole expereience," she said.
McDonald coordinates WGTD's sports productions and also serves as director.
Abigail said the job has helped her gain confidence, explaining that she was reluctant at times to try new things. "I was always shy, especially around new people," she said. "I definitely remind myself that (there's) nothing to stress about."
Both Abigail and Natalie say they’ve come to realize that work, while rewarding both financially and in terms of personal growth, can also be fun. "I'm having a blast," Natalie said.
WGTD Sports launches its basketball season Friday at Carthage College with the “GoSportsAmerica/Doctors of Physical Therapy Holiday Classic.” It’s an afternoon and evening of back-to-back high school games beginning at 1. All of the action will be captured live then archived as usual on WGTD’s Facebook page.
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