Behind the Mic and In Front of the Mat

The last time I had been to a high school wrestling match was in college. I got done with my early morning board operating shift at WRFD one particular morning and stopped by Otterbein’s TV station on the way home to pick up a video camera. The three Westerville high schools, North, South and Central, were having a tri-match and the TV station needed b-roll. With a camera and a tripod with me, I managed to get what I needed and headed out.

Four years prior to this, I was a senior in high school and had done some announcing for some Solon wrestling matches. I didn’t wrestle much growing up but found the sport fascinating and didn’t mind announcing it from time to time. I managed to pick up the rules, some of the terminology and how much people got into the sport.

It had been a couple years since I had seen a match live in person and an even longer time when an e-mail I received asked me a simple question:

“Would you like to help announce the Solon wrestling match on Friday?”

I didn’t see any reason why not and said yes to the offer. It was another opportunity to get in front of the microphone again and for a sport that I hadn’t watched live in person much over the past few years.

Solon was to wrestle Maple Heights this Friday and I was able to do research on both teams. I was familiar with how Solon head coach Tony DiGiovanni, who is one of the most charismatic and passionate coaches around, had built Solon’s program over the past 29 years and Maple Heights has an even longer history. All I had to do was mention Maple Heights wrestling to my parents and both recalled how former coach Mike Milkovich, who now has a middle school named after him, made the program into a powerhouse in the 1960s and 1970s. It didn’t surprise me to learn his nephew, Jamie Milkovich, was keeping the tradition alive.

Going into the match, I knew Solon was ranked 9th in the state and Maple Heights was ranked 7th. Solon has some great wrestlers in the lighter weight classes like Anthony Collica, Brandon Thompson and Justin Kresevic while Maple Heights had Richie Robertson, Almonte Patrick and Aaron Pipkins to provide some depth in the heavier weight classes. By looking at these two teams on paper, it was evident this had the potential of being a good matchup.

When walking in to the gym and seeing the mats laid out, I had a feeling this was going to be a fun night. I couldn’t help but start to recall the times I spent calling Comet Classic matches and a couple of dual meets as well. It started to come back to me as I watched the Maple Heights wrestlers warm up as I walked in.

Before any wrestling took place, the sound system that usually plays the national anthem was having difficulty and “The Star Spangled Banner” could not be played. Public address announcer Nick Camino decided to improvise by singing the opening bars into the microphone and soon everyone in the crowd joined in. Whether or not you could sing didn’t matter at all; if you knew the words you could chime in. It was unrehearsed but still fun to hear as everyone sung the song in unison. I also thought Nick had a great idea by singing the opening bars.

I didn’t realize that the JV and Varsity matches are run at the same time and I was glad I was informed of this before it started! I was used to the JV matches occurring first and then the Varsity matches would begin. It comes to show you how long I had been away from the sport.

Within the first couple of matches, I started to feel the groove again for announcing them and had great help from my broadcast partner, Zach Mandel. It was the first time Zach called matches and did a great job with the color commentary. I made a couple mistakes on names at times but can learn from it and will be better prepared for next time.

Solon managed to get several pins early on and took a commanding lead by the time halftime rolled around (yes, I almost forgot they did take a break after the 145 pound matchup). When the last half of matches began, Zach and I had a feeling Maple Heights was not going down easily. A lot of the wrestlers they had in the heavier weight classes did pretty well in these matches. The JV matches had ended long before and with all of the focus on the Varsity matches, the gym got very loud and the crowd reacted to every take down, every reversal, every escape and every second of action. All of this and loud music in between matches reminded me how much fun the sport is to watch in person and helped make for a great broadcast.

When the last match ended, I couldn’t help but have a smile on my face. Watching a sport I hadn’t seen in person was a blast and it was great to be apart of the match. I got to be behind the microphone again and witness a fun matchup between two historic teams.

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~ by jeffrsabo on January 21, 2012.