RAMPing up sports: the faces behind “Around Canisius Athletics”

By: Andrew Nowel, Sports Layout Editor

Every Monday, the ESPN control room in Science Hall is buzzing with activity as four journalism students create a recap of the week in Canisius sports, called “Around Canisius Athletics.” The four members of RAMP (Ryan Patota, Andrew Nowel, Maggie Tifft and Paige Apps) work for about four hours to produce a feature that takes the viewer into the world of Canisius sports.

“Around Canisius Athletics” is a weekly show that recaps how the athletic teams at Canisius perform. It was started by Griffin Della Penna ‘23 while he was at Canisius and continued by Vinnie Christiano III (VC3) during his two years as the grad assistant for the Canisius athletics broadcast team. During VC3’s final year at Canisius, RAMP began to work with him on Mondays when he would tape and edit the program while learning multiple positions in the process. When VC3 finished grad school at Canisius, it was time for the four of us to take the reins.

The group officially formed last year, and developed a weekly show with a studio host that broke down how each team did the previous week. RAMP added onto what Della Penna and VC3 started and we continue to receive feedback from the two grads as well as the current grad assistant, Colton Pankiewicz, on how to continually improve the show.

RAMP works together to create the video that is posted on the GoGriffs YouTube and X accounts. Apps heads the project as the producer while Patota, Tifft and I each help by writing scripts and assisting in the editing process. “Everything really starts on Sunday night as I’ll send out texts on what our lead story could be, and then as a group, we’ll discuss to figure out what’s the big story,” said Apps, a junior dual journalism and integrated marketing and communications (IMC) major. The next morning, the crew gets in around 10 a.m., and taping the studio portion is how the day gets started. 

After the studio portion is taped, the reporter, who was in the studio, begins the editing process in the ESPN control room while the rest of the student reporters head out to tape what’s called a standup. A standup is when a reporter talks into the camera directly to the viewer about the news or information that they are reporting on. This past week, Tifft taped the studio portion while Patota, Apps and I went out “around Canisius” as Apps referenced to talk about the beginning of the spring season. “We pick different spots depending on sports and continuity. We try to pick a different place each week around campus to avoid doing the same spot multiple times,” said Apps.

The final process of editing happens once the standups are taped, and everything is finalized back in the control room. Where the success comes from the entire process is the motivation that each member of the group has throughout the day, says Patota, a senior journalism major. “Being motivated to do this every week is important. It’s helped all of us be prepared for what we want to do in our futures.”

Being a fully student-run production is something that we take a lot of pride in because not only does RAMP build our own resumes from the experience, RAMP also puts together a product that we are very proud of. “For us, we get to work on talent, editing and other aspects of production, which is a great learning experience for us and something we can take into the future,” said Patota. The goal of an entirely student-run production is to showcase students in the journalism program and what they can do in front of and behind the camera. “Being able to collaborate with your peers is such an advantage I think other schools miss in their weekly roundups. We’re all in similar classes and work games together, so we all have similar expectations for how things should run, and there’s a sense of pride in what we’re doing from everyone involved,” said Tifft, a senior dual journalism and strategic communication major. Tifft is also a member of the Canisius women’s lacrosse team, bringing the team aspect from her sport into the confines of the control room to create a positive atmosphere.

Taking JRN 358 and 359, the classes focused on sports production and broadcasting, give students the opportunity to be involved in different positions and gain the hands-on experience that is needed for a field in sports. Tifft noted that “the hands-on experience is unmatched because the ability to work on real productions as early as freshman year” gives students the full opportunity to hone their skills through nearly four full years at college. Personally, I have had the opportunity to work with professionals in the field and get involved in the production team early on to be able to feel confident as I finish my junior year at Canisius.

So when the next Monday rolls around, make sure to log on to the GoGriffs YouTube channel to check out the latest “Around Canisius Athletics.” From the grass or more accurately the snow of the quad to the dugouts and press boxes of the Demske Sports Complex, RAMP will be around Canisius to keep the Griffs informed and entertained.