Canisius’ all student production returns

By: Andrew Nowel, Sports Layout Editor

Another fall season is in the books for David Dee and the ESPN+ crew in Science Hall, though the year is just beginning. As the students of Sports Field Production, JRN 358 and 359, get ready to enter the winter season, their semesterly project – the all-students production – has come and gone once again with each year building on the success of the last. For the students, it’s not just an important project in the classroom; it’s the beginning of a product on ESPN+ showing the future of sports broadcasting.

Dee, the director of digital media for Canisius Athletics, has been running the JRN 358 and 359 classes – Sports Field Production I and II – since he started at Canisius. His now grad assistant, Colton Pankiewicz, had a part for the first time, not only running the class but putting on an all-students production. “It’s turned from a cool experience into a legitimate product that the students put out to ESPN+,” said Pankiewicz on Tuesday. 

The idea behind the all-students production is what it sounds like: students run every position – from executive producer to each position inside the control room and at the sporting event. On Oct. 25, the event was a Canisius volleyball game. “It gives the students a chance to show me what they’ve learned so far, making it a good evaluation for them. They get to see sports in an entirely different manner and as a professor that is very cool to see,” said Dee.

Each position requires a different skill set, but from the beginning of the semester, Dee and Pankiewicz train students in every position to try to find where each student fits on the team. “It’s a lot like a sports team, just a different sport,” said Dee. While most positions are run from the control room in Science Hall, the cameras are set up in the Koessler Athletic Center and operating the camera for the broadcast is not something that everyone can do. “You either have an eye for it or you don’t. Stephen Lapage has the eye for it, so does Shane McDonough and John Mielcarek,” said Dee. Lapage, McDonough and Mielcarek ran the four cameras with Pankiewicz during the volleyball game. 

Paige Apps, the director of the broadcast, noticed how well each student did while she was directing. “Shane and John were amazing on camera. They just came in for part one of the class this semester,” said Apps, a junior at Canisius. JRN 358 is part one of the two-part class which meets alongside JRN 359 on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1-2:20 p.m. Most students take both classes in consecutive semesters as it goes through a full sports year of broadcasting at Canisius. “Having the experience to be able to take the class and then be hired onto the team is something you don’t get in many places,” said Apps on Tuesday. Apps took the class during the spring of her freshman year and fall of her sophomore year and is now in her second semester as a freelancer for the crew. 

Inside the control room, graphics, replay and audio are run with Apps overseeing the entire operation as the director. The Griffin’s own Hannah Wiley ran graphics while Peter Piccillo and Havana Austin worked replay, and audio was run by The Griffin’s Kaitlyn Belile. “Many of these students, Peter on replay for example, are actually doing the position they normally do outside of the all-student broadcast,” said Pankiewicz. Once the red light came on and the broadcast began, every student was ready to go. “I watched the students gain the confidence of a professional control room. It was a legitimate broadcast on ESPN+,” said Pankiewicz.

From the Koessler Athletic Center, The Griffin’s own Maggie Tifft alongside Luke Adamo called the game. In the sports broadcasting business, the positions of play-by-play and color commentary are known as ‘talent’ and both Tifft and Adamo were new to the positions they were doing. Tifft, a senior women’s lacrosse player at Canisius, was doing play-by-play for the first time while Adamo, a freshman, was doing talent for volleyball for the first time. Apps works with Tifft every Monday on Around Canisius Athletics, a weekly recap of Canisius sports, and she was very proud of how Tifft did during the game. “Maggie has never done play-by-play and I hardly noticed. In the director’s chair, if it’s not a problem, you don’t notice it,” said Apps.

The best part about the sports production crew at Canisius is that Dee brings in freelancers that he knows in the industry to work side-by-side with the students. From a student’s perspective, Apps recognized the importance of being able to work alongside professionals and how it helps the betterment of each student. “I think the fact that it’s not a lecture-style class is awesome because we get to learn from industry professionals who have been in the business for years,” said Apps. Dee sees the value in what each freelancer brings to Canisius and how they want to pass down their knowledge to students. “I think it’s great when the freelancers are able to help out the students because they like passing their information onto the next group of students. The freelancers are like assistant coaches,” said Dee.

The Griffs behind the scenes on ESPN+ will have another all-student production in the spring, and will continue to learn and develop their skills throughout the winter. The opportunities inside the control room at Science Hall are just one of the many things that Canisius offers in a variety of departments. “It’s not just a class, it’s an opportunity to go further in our field. It’s really cool because it gets to show how many students take pride and passion in this field,” said Apps.