Dexter athletes take turns broadcasting basketball championship livestreams

By Ernie Clark, Bangor Daily News Staff

Last Friday’s Penobscot Valley Conference Penquis pod basketball championships weren’t merely a chance to win a title for several student-athletes at Dexter Regional High School.

They also provided an opportunity to hone their broadcasting skills.

Members of the school’s sports academy class took their turns playing in a championship game and then working on the broadcast team to livestream the other game of the boys and girls doubleheader on the DRHS YouTube page.

Members of the girls basketball team worked first on the boys’ game  broadcast, then played Central of Corinth. Three members of the boys team, fresh from a 63-48 victory over Central, described the Dexter girls’ 41-30 victory over the Red Devils.

“I just enjoy being at these games and being around the whole basketball lifestyle,” Dexter senior guard Parker Ponte said. “Growing up watching basketball, playing basketball and being around basketball just brings me joy.”

Ponte and senior forward Robbie Dorman handled play-by-play for the girls game, with senior forward Brett Kusnierz operating the primary camera from a perch high above courtside at Guiski Gym.

That followed the boys game broadcast by Dexter girls basketball players Abby Wakefield and Elizabeth Kinney, with team manager Olivia Peakes operating the camera.

This marked the third time the boys trio broadcasted a Dexter girls game this winter, fewer than a student team at the school typically has livestreamed games in recent years due to COVID-19 related differences in the schedules.

“We would have liked to have done it more, but a lot of our games this year are the same nights as the girls and we play at different places,” said Kusnierz, whose boys team travels to East Millinocket to face Schenck for the overall PVC North championship at 6 p.m. Tuesday after the Dexter girls host Penobscot Valley for the girls crown at 4 p.m.

The DRHS sports academy class was created several years ago by longtime faculty member and former coach Margaret Veazie after a former student, Zach White, had expressed interest in sports media.

Today the class, which typically numbers approximately 10 students but spiked to 18 last year, is active with all of the school’s sports media, including livestreaming games throughout the year and maintaining the athletic department’s website and social media accounts as well as Dexter’s athletic hall of fame.

“The kids that are in that class basically do all of that work, said Kristy Staples, who shares the sports academy teaching duties with Veazie, her mother. “They are so capable. I used to have to be there to get it going and make sure they knew what they were doing and that they did what they were supposed to, but now it’s so routine that I don’t even have to show up at the games. They run the computer program, they do all the talking, and they’re obviously very knowledgeable about sports.”

Schools like Dexter and Nokomis Regional High in Newport, which has had an active broadcasting program for many years, found themselves ahead of the curve when the need arose beginning last fall for schools to livestream athletic events after fans were not allowed to attend in person because of mass-gathering limits related to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Honestly, it made our transition a lot easier,” Staples said. “I know some other schools were panicked like, ‘What do we do, who do we go through,’ or ‘We don’t have the equipment.’

“We already had a brand-new camera we had written a grant for, our kids knew what to do and we had the systems in place. Most schools weren’t in the place we were in. We’ve written a lot of grants to get our technology.”

Using the equipment, with support from AOS 94 director of technology and information systems Paul Shaw, is just one element of the educational experience gained from the sports academy class.

Much as they might review video of their basketball games, the player-broadcasters also review their work on the air.

“After the games that we’ve done this year, Rob and I have gone back and listened to ourselves talk, and we try to improve on our commentary,” Ponte said.

“You’ve got to stay restrained,” Dorman said. “If you’re watching from the stands you can yell and comment on the [refereeing], but up there you have to focus on staying focused and being unbiased.”