TAMPA, Fla. — Much has changed in the way the media, players, coaches and fans watch high school sports.
“I still remember the days of VHS tapes and VCRs stacked on top of each other,” joked Jefferson High School football coach Joe Midulla. “We press ‘pause’ and ‘record’ and ‘play’. Then you have to take all that to the post office and send it out.”
Those days are long gone. In the digital age, information is a click away. Now Varsity Sports Network wants to make high school sports match-ups just as easy to access. VSN partnered with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to host High School Football Media Day at Raymond James Stadium, where VSN live streamed interviews with more than two dozen teams in the Tampa Bay area. It was their 16th and final stop on the statewide tour.
“Promoting high school athletics has been a forgotten art,” said VSN’s Dan LaForest. “We want to bring it back to the front and center.”
Midulla said the whole game has changed since social media became a one-stop shop for high school highlights.
“The way media has exploded, especially with social media and all…guys like me who’ve been around a long time — it’s unimaginable.”
VSN streams for free on its website, and it’s also available via Roku, Apple TV, and Amazon Fire TV. LaForest said the key to increasing visibility is making the state smaller on a broadcast level.
“College coverage has been limited to social media. We want to bring it back to the way it used to be,” added LaForest. “Where it can be on TV. And we can do things and make it bigger and broader. We’ve got some great athletes right here in the state of Florida. We’ve got to find a way to showcase them a little bit better. .”
Tampa Tech is coming off a 14-1 season where they fell one win short of a state title. Head coach Jayson Roberts said his team’s slogan at Media Day is “Unfinished Business.”
“With the season we had last year, we’re going to have everybody’s best shot. We’re going to be everybody’s Super Bowl,” Roberts said. “To be able to say they beat Tech would be a notch on the belt. So we’ll get in the mindset of expecting to take everybody’s best shot.”
Senior Fred Neal said the Titans’ formula for success is simple.
“We have to work, work and keep working,” Neal said. “When you get tired, you have to keep going. You always have to keep going.”
Neal said the combination of Media Day, the first day of school, and preseason practice marks the beginning of a long road back to the state playoffs.
“It builds a team bond. We didn’t really think about this, but then it came,” added Neal. “It helps us know more, work together more, build ourselves… so we can get ready for Friday night.”
Opening night for the 2022 Florida high school football season is Friday, August 26.
Copyright 2022 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Sign up for the Morning Headlines Newsletter and receive up to date information.
