Deerfield High School club broadcasts sports on Web

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Deerfield Sports Information advisor Dan McKendrick and sophomore Jacob Janower view the live Web stream of the Central Suburban League's gymnastics conference championship from the stands. | Michael Sean Comerford~for Sun-Times Media

Updated: March 3, 2012 11:24AM

A Deerfield High School math teacher and a sophomore perched themselves on the wooden stands away from the crowd at Saturday’s Central Suburban League gymnastics conference championship.

With a hand-held, high-definition Panasonic video camera, tripod, Dell computer and IHSA.TV software, the two streamed the tournament to the Internet.

They are part of a new program started in October called the Deerfield Sports Information Club, a unique sports Web broadcasting initiative at the high school that broadcasts live sports events and uses students as statisticians and play-by-play announcers.

“I don’t think there is another club like this around,” said Dan McKendrick, math teacher, sophomore basketball coach, Athletic Department intern and a mentor with the DSI. “As far as I know, this is the only extra-curricular club that does sports information.”

Other high schools may have video departments that take pictures at mainstream sports events, but Deerfield High School’s program is aimed at developing sports journalists and announcers.

The DSI is not run by a video teacher. It is run by the Athletic Department.

And the DSI covers sports other than baseball, football and basketball. DSI covers bowling, gymnastics, soccer, swimming and wrestling, too.

Deerfield High School’s gymnastics team might not get the crowds that a football game gets, but it won conference last weekend, and DSI was there to live stream the team’s success.

“My focus was to give kids an opportunity to get involved in athletics other than on the competition floor,” said Robert Rois, head of the Athletic Department, pointing to the Deerfield High School gymnastics floor on Saturday.

On Saturday, sophomore Jacob Janower sat at the Dell computer as McKendrick kept the Panasonic focused on the gymnastic events. Usually, two students work the camera and computer. But the new program has just eight to 10 members and can’t schedule students for every event, so teachers sometimes help out.

With a roster by his side, Janower watched the screen move and focus as McKendrick moved the camera.

Janower made sure each upcoming contestant had a name written on the screen, along with the event and the event number.

He showed up hours before the event to set up the gear. On a day when he or another DSI member plan play-by-play announcing, he gets the pronunciations of the contestants names from the coaches.

DSI members are paid $8.50 an hour for their work, and gain experience in behind-the-scenes sports reporting.

Junior Jake Porento announced all but one of last season’s football games.

“He’s interested in becoming a sports broadcaster,” Rois said.

Porento is one of the students who cross over between DSI and the high school’s video news program WDHS, run by multi-media teacher Brett Schwartz.

“When we cover sports, it is from a journalism point of view, more sports packages and highlights,” Schwartz said. “They (the Athletic Department) are dipping their toes in the pond and I think that is great.”

Janower, who said he is also interested in sports journalism, said not all games have broadcast smoothly.

“The battery went out on the second game of a bowling tournament,” Janower said. “We’ve had technical problems.”

Nevertheless, a wide variety of sports are making their way onto the Internet and can be downloaded live or later on-demand, at www.ihsa.tv/deerfield

“The only feedback I get is from the parents, who say they couldn’t make a game and watched it anyway, or they were on a trip and watched it when they got home,” McKendrick said. “It’s very much appreciated.”

DSI holds meetings before and after school, teaching students how to gauge a microphone to their voice levels, how to read a script and what to do during half-time or time-outs.

The program is still “in its infancy,” Rois said, but in the future he wants to get professional broadcasters to talk to his DSI team. WGN’s Steve Bertrand and Dave Kaplan live in the Deerfield area and Rois said he wants to get them involved with helping the program.

McKendrick said he can foresee field trips to ESPN.com or other sports-oriented stations or broadcasts in Chicago to give students a look at how the professionals do it.

Facebook and Twitter updates may also be in the program’s future, Rois said.

The program needs more students to cover more sports and seeks more females, too, for the all-male DSI team.

The format could grow to include features and post-game interviews. A move to a district-wide digital video delivery system may also be in the district’s future if money becomes available, teachers have said.

“We don’t do video compilations,” said Rois, which are usually sports highlights used by players for scholarships or by teams to psych them up before games. “But is it something we want to do going forward? Absolutely.”