by Ariana Diaz, Walter Cronkite School Class of 2022
Behind the scenes of every live streamed Sun Devil game, there is a group of talented students at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication that are responsible for making it all happen.
They're called the StreamTeam: The name that Mark Reda gave the students in his JMC 394 class, along with everyone else who volunteers to help live stream ASU's home sporting events.
The streams are done through a collaboration between the Cronkite School, the Pac-12 network and Sun Devil Athletics. The Cronkite School formally joined the picture four years ago as Sun Devil Athletics worked with the Walter Cronkite Sports Network -- a student-run organization -- and with the Pac-12 network for five years to produce the streams, with students coordinating most elements of the production.
Beginning in 2013, Cronkite students were the first at any Pac-12 University to broadcast, produce and staff live athletic events on Pac-12.com, making the students and Arizona State Athletics pioneers in streaming collegiate sporting events.
Before sports journalism was first offered as a degree at Cronkite, there were not many ways that students could get a hands-on approach in the field. The StreamTeam is one of the myriad opportunities that was created by the sports program to provide a unique experience for students interested in live sports event production that is officially managed by students and staff.
One of the most impressive things about the class is that many of the students who enroll in it have no prior experience, so they learn everything they need to know for their roles while in the class.
"Most of them have never done anything like this before," Reda said. "A lot of them want to be in front of the camera, but they really enjoy the behind-the-scenes that they end up wanting to get involved with [live sports production]. It's the opportunity for aspiring broadcasters, journalists, to be able to find out whether they like something or not."
Currently, the StreamTeam is composed of 23 JMC 394 students, approximately 17 StreamTeam alumni, and several other Cronkite students who volunteer on a week-to-week basis.
During each game, which occur year-round and include all sports, there is usually one director, two to four camera people, two to three announcers, and one to two students on graphics. Each game varies though, so one might have two students putting the stream together while the next has 10.
Reda says that besides teaching them the basics of live sports production, allowing them to choose what games to attend teaches them responsibility and accountability.
"They initiate almost everything because one of the things we're teaching along with just the basics of doing live sports productions is how to manage your time and manage your schedule," Reda said. "And also to be responsible for scheduling yourself and then being there when you schedule yourself."
This semester, the StreamTeam is live-streaming a staggering total of more than 140 games. This is the most games that the class has ever streamed, all due to 2020 fall sports being rescheduled to spring 2021.
Though it is challenging, the students and Reda have already been able to successfully tackle more than half of the games.
During this unique semester, Reda has received a great deal of help from his grad teaching assistant, Kelsey Collesi Ekeberg.
After having her own teaching career for several years in California, Ekeberg arrived at ASU in August 2019 to take on a different career path, leading her to pursue sports journalism at Cronkite.
Her role on the StreamTeam is to help Reda as much as possible and to be present at games that he isn't able to oversee, especially because the class is producing more games than they do in two regular semesters combined and there is usually more than one happening at the same time.
"Sometimes he'll set them up and come check-in or stop by, but my role has really been to try and take as much off of his plate as possible, as much as I can on my own, and to support him," Ekeberg said.
Ekeberg's role is a little more hands-off because the students are so well trained by Reda in his class. They always help one another and set up the streams and get started with little help, so by the time they are live, she can just observe and supervise from a distance to make sure that nothing breaks down.
One of the ways that the students are able to prepare for each game during their scheduled class is with a new exercise that Reda implemented into the JMC 394 curriculum after the sporting world came to a halt last spring.
With no games to live stream, Reda had the students watch professional broadcasts and review them by looking at camera angles, replay sequences, coverage and more. This gave them the opportunity to look at a live sports production with the eyes of a production person and not just a sports fan.
"That was the most fruitful thing that came out of the back end of the spring semester," Reda said. "We've incorporated it into the class, and it has worked really well. It's amazing how observant they are."
When Reda talks about his students, you can hear a lot of enthusiasm in his voice, and it's the same for students when they talk about their experience on the StreamTeam.
Amanda Valle, a current junior at the Cronkite School, is one of the many students who have been greatly impacted by the program.
She transferred from the University of San Diego in August 2020 after playing Division I softball to pursue sports journalism. Her roles on the StreamTeam have included being a color commentator and analyst, two things she had never done or even thought about doing before, but has thoroughly enjoyed so far.
Her passion for live sports production has grown from being on the StreamTeam, and it all started when she randomly walked into Reda's class last semester to observe and find out what the class was all about.
Today, even though she has a packed schedule with a full-time job, internship, and classes, she has found something she truly loves.
"Being able to represent all of the different women in our program, because there's not a lot in sports journalism, it's cool to have that," Valle said. "Learning from everyone and seeing your playbacks and hearing your voice on the video, and seeing the improvements in myself and the people I work with."
For Valle, one of the reasons that the class has been a great experience is because of Reda alone and his commitment to helping students excel.
"Mark is such a great teacher, and he really cares about his students," Valle said. "He always sends us job opportunities and internships to sign up for. I was talking to one of my friends who took the class last semester, and he said 'You have no idea how big of an impact Mark is going to make on your life.'"
Ekeberg shares the same sentiment about Reda and says how fortunate the Cronkite school is to have an instructor so passionate about what he does.
"The school is so lucky that they have someone that loves working with students as much as he does and puts in so much work," Ekeberg said. "He really wants to give students opportunities that are real-world opportunities."
Having Reda as an instructor and the opportunity to have such a hands-on approach to streaming games for the Pac-12 network are some of the reasons why students decide to come back to help even after their semester ends.
"What we've tried to build is a group of students that work together," Reda said. "One of my objectives early on was to make it more than a one-semester experience, so we have people who volunteer and then take the class and then continue to help out after they've taken the class."
Ike Everard is a junior at the Cronkite School and is one of the StreamTeam's alumni that has continued to help with live streams.
He was in JMC 394 during the semester of spring 2020, which was cut short due to the coronavirus. Because of this, he didn't get the full experience of being on the StreamTeam, so he decided to continue helping after the semester ended.
Currently, he helps with a lot of the general camera work and promo videos for the StreamTeam.
While in the class, he was able to learn not only all of the basics of putting on a live sports production, but also the importance of collaboration.
"It's really shown me how there can be so many parts and so many different individuals on a team who have to come together to put something like a stream together, and how everyone has to do their part or it can fall apart," Everard said.
His experience on the StreamTeam has grown his passion for the industry. He has gone on to participate in many organizations at Cronkite, including Inferno Intel, Blaze Radio, and State Press, to put his sports production skills to work.
Perhaps one of the greatest benefits of the StreamTeam experience is its ability to develop these passions for students, especially for those who might have never thought about working in live sports production, similar to what Valle has experienced.
"It's so much fun and nothing I thought I would be doing," she said. "The biggest thing I've taken away from this class is to not be scared to try things and do new things."
For Ekeberg, even as a grad assistant, the class has also served as a learning experience for her. She has been able to take a lot of the same thinking patterns that come with putting on a live sports production and has translated it to her position as a sports producer at Cronkite News.
Besides this, one of her favorite parts about seeing the students in action is witnessing all of their different talents and the potential that they have.
"I think what's really cool is that there are certain students that you see in their role, whatever it might be in the production, and you know that they are going to be somebody that's really good at that in the future," Ekeberg said."They're really good at what they do, but also, they want to learn more, they want to know what they can improve on. They don't have an ego about it."
The program that Reda has built around the StreamTeam truly shows the talent that Cronkite students embody and what can be achieved when you work with others who have the same passion as you.
"You're a StreamTeam-er for life," Reda said. "I've wanted to try and [create] that feeling because one of the things that I love most about my experience is working with a group of people. That's one of the reasons I liked working in live sports productions because it has a lot of the same characteristics as being part of a team."
Besides teaching them the technical aspects of live sports production, Reda also makes it a point to teach them the superstitions that come with sports.
He recalls a recent game where one of his students tweeted out that the baseball game they were streaming was 'flying by', something he says to never do but finds it happens often.
"I looked at the tweet and said 'you jinxed us because it was going by really fast, but then the next inning went really, really long,'" Reda said. "I replied to his tweet and said, 'What did he just do boys and girls? He jinxed us, don't ever do that again!'"
The StreamTeam gets to experience a lot of humorous situations during the games they cover, and it's without a doubt because the class offers them opportunities and real-world experience that they might not get otherwise.
When sports fans watch games, they might not consider all of the behind-the-scenes work that is done by the videographers, announcers, and analysts putting together the live streams.
For anyone who watches ASU sporting events on the Pac-12 network, they can now appreciate the group of talented and hard-working Cronkite students who are making it all happen and who have earned the great title of StreamTeam.
Ariana Diaz is a junior in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism who will graduate in the spring of 2022. Born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, she has interned at knoodle, a PR and advertising agency, and worked in the Cronkite PR lab in her Sun Devil undergraduate career.
Behind the scenes of every live streamed Sun Devil game, there is a group of talented students at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication that are responsible for making it all happen.
They're called the StreamTeam: The name that Mark Reda gave the students in his JMC 394 class, along with everyone else who volunteers to help live stream ASU's home sporting events.
The streams are done through a collaboration between the Cronkite School, the Pac-12 network and Sun Devil Athletics. The Cronkite School formally joined the picture four years ago as Sun Devil Athletics worked with the Walter Cronkite Sports Network -- a student-run organization -- and with the Pac-12 network for five years to produce the streams, with students coordinating most elements of the production.
Beginning in 2013, Cronkite students were the first at any Pac-12 University to broadcast, produce and staff live athletic events on Pac-12.com, making the students and Arizona State Athletics pioneers in streaming collegiate sporting events.
Before sports journalism was first offered as a degree at Cronkite, there were not many ways that students could get a hands-on approach in the field. The StreamTeam is one of the myriad opportunities that was created by the sports program to provide a unique experience for students interested in live sports event production that is officially managed by students and staff.
One of the most impressive things about the class is that many of the students who enroll in it have no prior experience, so they learn everything they need to know for their roles while in the class.
"Most of them have never done anything like this before," Reda said. "A lot of them want to be in front of the camera, but they really enjoy the behind-the-scenes that they end up wanting to get involved with [live sports production]. It's the opportunity for aspiring broadcasters, journalists, to be able to find out whether they like something or not."
Scenes from final day of StreamTeam's 12-events in 3-days streamtacular. All quiet at Phoenix Muni now but Sun Devils v Cougars will take the field at noon. Live Stream 1. ?@Cronkite_ASU? ?@Pac12Network? ?@TheSunDevils? pic.twitter.com/cgGeMBLEMK
— Mark A. Reda (@markaredaville) March 28, 2021
Currently, the StreamTeam is composed of 23 JMC 394 students, approximately 17 StreamTeam alumni, and several other Cronkite students who volunteer on a week-to-week basis.
During each game, which occur year-round and include all sports, there is usually one director, two to four camera people, two to three announcers, and one to two students on graphics. Each game varies though, so one might have two students putting the stream together while the next has 10.
Because each game requires the students to be there a few hours prior to it to set up and a few hours after to break everything down, they sign up for what games they want to cover on their own accord and based on what works with their busy college schedules. They do, however, need to cover at least 12 games by the end of their semester.Softball doubleheader Saturday. Game 1 in action. Game 2 at 5p. Let's play two! ?@Pac12Network? ?@Cronkite_ASU? ?@TheSunDevils? pic.twitter.com/BdbT57svng
— Mark A. Reda (@markaredaville) March 27, 2021
Reda says that besides teaching them the basics of live sports production, allowing them to choose what games to attend teaches them responsibility and accountability.
"They initiate almost everything because one of the things we're teaching along with just the basics of doing live sports productions is how to manage your time and manage your schedule," Reda said. "And also to be responsible for scheduling yourself and then being there when you schedule yourself."
Working camera for StreamTeam today for the first game of today's @ASUSoftball double header against @UWSoftball. Live on the PAC-12 Plus in just a couple minutes. @macfridayy @kachzeenan @KelseyCollesi @markaredaville @Cronkite_ASU @brettkurland pic.twitter.com/sPk9BsqflN
— Anthony Remedios (@ARSports20) March 27, 2021
This semester, the StreamTeam is live-streaming a staggering total of more than 140 games. This is the most games that the class has ever streamed, all due to 2020 fall sports being rescheduled to spring 2021.
Though it is challenging, the students and Reda have already been able to successfully tackle more than half of the games.
During this unique semester, Reda has received a great deal of help from his grad teaching assistant, Kelsey Collesi Ekeberg.
After having her own teaching career for several years in California, Ekeberg arrived at ASU in August 2019 to take on a different career path, leading her to pursue sports journalism at Cronkite.
Her role on the StreamTeam is to help Reda as much as possible and to be present at games that he isn't able to oversee, especially because the class is producing more games than they do in two regular semesters combined and there is usually more than one happening at the same time.
"Sometimes he'll set them up and come check-in or stop by, but my role has really been to try and take as much off of his plate as possible, as much as I can on my own, and to support him," Ekeberg said.
Ekeberg's role is a little more hands-off because the students are so well trained by Reda in his class. They always help one another and set up the streams and get started with little help, so by the time they are live, she can just observe and supervise from a distance to make sure that nothing breaks down.
One of the ways that the students are able to prepare for each game during their scheduled class is with a new exercise that Reda implemented into the JMC 394 curriculum after the sporting world came to a halt last spring.
With no games to live stream, Reda had the students watch professional broadcasts and review them by looking at camera angles, replay sequences, coverage and more. This gave them the opportunity to look at a live sports production with the eyes of a production person and not just a sports fan.
"That was the most fruitful thing that came out of the back end of the spring semester," Reda said. "We've incorporated it into the class, and it has worked really well. It's amazing how observant they are."
When Reda talks about his students, you can hear a lot of enthusiasm in his voice, and it's the same for students when they talk about their experience on the StreamTeam.
Amanda Valle, a current junior at the Cronkite School, is one of the many students who have been greatly impacted by the program.
She transferred from the University of San Diego in August 2020 after playing Division I softball to pursue sports journalism. Her roles on the StreamTeam have included being a color commentator and analyst, two things she had never done or even thought about doing before, but has thoroughly enjoyed so far.
Her passion for live sports production has grown from being on the StreamTeam, and it all started when she randomly walked into Reda's class last semester to observe and find out what the class was all about.
Today, even though she has a packed schedule with a full-time job, internship, and classes, she has found something she truly loves.
"Being able to represent all of the different women in our program, because there's not a lot in sports journalism, it's cool to have that," Valle said. "Learning from everyone and seeing your playbacks and hearing your voice on the video, and seeing the improvements in myself and the people I work with."
For Valle, one of the reasons that the class has been a great experience is because of Reda alone and his commitment to helping students excel.
"Mark is such a great teacher, and he really cares about his students," Valle said. "He always sends us job opportunities and internships to sign up for. I was talking to one of my friends who took the class last semester, and he said 'You have no idea how big of an impact Mark is going to make on your life.'"
Ekeberg shares the same sentiment about Reda and says how fortunate the Cronkite school is to have an instructor so passionate about what he does.
"The school is so lucky that they have someone that loves working with students as much as he does and puts in so much work," Ekeberg said. "He really wants to give students opportunities that are real-world opportunities."
Having Reda as an instructor and the opportunity to have such a hands-on approach to streaming games for the Pac-12 network are some of the reasons why students decide to come back to help even after their semester ends.
"What we've tried to build is a group of students that work together," Reda said. "One of my objectives early on was to make it more than a one-semester experience, so we have people who volunteer and then take the class and then continue to help out after they've taken the class."
Ike Everard is a junior at the Cronkite School and is one of the StreamTeam's alumni that has continued to help with live streams.
He was in JMC 394 during the semester of spring 2020, which was cut short due to the coronavirus. Because of this, he didn't get the full experience of being on the StreamTeam, so he decided to continue helping after the semester ended.
Currently, he helps with a lot of the general camera work and promo videos for the StreamTeam.
While in the class, he was able to learn not only all of the basics of putting on a live sports production, but also the importance of collaboration.
"It's really shown me how there can be so many parts and so many different individuals on a team who have to come together to put something like a stream together, and how everyone has to do their part or it can fall apart," Everard said.
His experience on the StreamTeam has grown his passion for the industry. He has gone on to participate in many organizations at Cronkite, including Inferno Intel, Blaze Radio, and State Press, to put his sports production skills to work.
Perhaps one of the greatest benefits of the StreamTeam experience is its ability to develop these passions for students, especially for those who might have never thought about working in live sports production, similar to what Valle has experienced.
"It's so much fun and nothing I thought I would be doing," she said. "The biggest thing I've taken away from this class is to not be scared to try things and do new things."
For Ekeberg, even as a grad assistant, the class has also served as a learning experience for her. She has been able to take a lot of the same thinking patterns that come with putting on a live sports production and has translated it to her position as a sports producer at Cronkite News.
Besides this, one of her favorite parts about seeing the students in action is witnessing all of their different talents and the potential that they have.
"I think what's really cool is that there are certain students that you see in their role, whatever it might be in the production, and you know that they are going to be somebody that's really good at that in the future," Ekeberg said."They're really good at what they do, but also, they want to learn more, they want to know what they can improve on. They don't have an ego about it."
The program that Reda has built around the StreamTeam truly shows the talent that Cronkite students embody and what can be achieved when you work with others who have the same passion as you.
"You're a StreamTeam-er for life," Reda said. "I've wanted to try and [create] that feeling because one of the things that I love most about my experience is working with a group of people. That's one of the reasons I liked working in live sports productions because it has a lot of the same characteristics as being part of a team."
Besides teaching them the technical aspects of live sports production, Reda also makes it a point to teach them the superstitions that come with sports.
He recalls a recent game where one of his students tweeted out that the baseball game they were streaming was 'flying by', something he says to never do but finds it happens often.
"I looked at the tweet and said 'you jinxed us because it was going by really fast, but then the next inning went really, really long,'" Reda said. "I replied to his tweet and said, 'What did he just do boys and girls? He jinxed us, don't ever do that again!'"
The StreamTeam gets to experience a lot of humorous situations during the games they cover, and it's without a doubt because the class offers them opportunities and real-world experience that they might not get otherwise.
When sports fans watch games, they might not consider all of the behind-the-scenes work that is done by the videographers, announcers, and analysts putting together the live streams.
For anyone who watches ASU sporting events on the Pac-12 network, they can now appreciate the group of talented and hard-working Cronkite students who are making it all happen and who have earned the great title of StreamTeam.
Ariana Diaz is a junior in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism who will graduate in the spring of 2022. Born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, she has interned at knoodle, a PR and advertising agency, and worked in the Cronkite PR lab in her Sun Devil undergraduate career.