With a full agenda on the schedule that would indubitably edify the crowd in the scant three hours allotted, everyone did what all good announcers do by showing up early to breeze past the preliminary check-in period and find seats in the world-class auditorium.
Mike Gosz, Athletic Director for Sussex Hamilton High School, opened the NASPAA clinic.
Providing a warm welcome to this outstanding NASPAA event was Mike Gosz, Athletic Director for Hamilton High School. Gosz delved into his presentation, Expectations for Announcers, from the school administrator's point of view. He also provided outstanding, logical insights into several important aspects of P.A. announcing for all sports and events in general, especially as applied to high school basketball announcing.
The A.D., particularly on the high school level, is often the person in charge of the P.A. announcer as well as various other activities, including opening and closing the facility, lighting, event security, sweeping the floor, and many other details.
The P.A. announcer can assist the process by arriving early and checking with the A.D. regarding any late-breaking news or changes, discussing event details including crowd behavior and sportsmanship expectations, security issues, and so on.
Mike Jakubowski, Marquette University Basketball P.A. Announcer and clinician, let attendees know what they need to do to become better basketball P.A. announcers.
Gosz, a polished presenter, segued into his introduction of clinician Mike Jakubowski, P.A. announcer for the Marquette University Golden Eagles men's basketball program, and a host of other events including internationally televised bowling championships and more.
After thanking Gosz and the Hamilton staff for hosting the event, Jakubowski took time to state his appreciation to the attendees for coming out on a blustery day. He made a few brief comments to reiterate the purpose of the clinic and to review the agenda.
Gary Vaillancourt, P.A. announcer for William Horlick High School, addressed sportsmanship and proper conduct.
Jakubowski then introduced Gary Vaillancourt, P.A. announcer, for William Horlick High School, Racine, Wisconsin. Vaillancourt covered a topic of growing importance to P.A. announcers and to society in general; Sportsmanship and Conduct.
His presentation centered on several keys to how announcers do their jobs, positive ways that announcers can enhance sportsmanship, foster appropriate crowd conduct, and more.
Jay Hammes, Athletic Director for William Horlick High School, covered matters concerning event security and societal changes.
Next up was Jay Hammes, A.D. at William Horlick High School. He is also the founder and president of Safe Sport Zone. His years of experience in athletic administration and managing athletic events at one of the largest high schools in Wisconsin, along with his work with a distinguished national leadership training program, provide Hammes with the background to serve as a vital resource on event security.
Throughout the country, he shares "best practices" with schools to help better manage event security operations and is deservedly considered one of the leading event security experts worldwide. Plus, he's also an elected official in Wind Point, Wisconsin-in charge of police, fire, and safety-as a Board Trustee.
Event Security and Crowd Management was the topic for Hammes, and he handled it with excellence and obvious expertise. Some very practical themes arose during the presentation, vital for public address announcers, athletic directors, and everyone to consider. Does each organization that you work with have an event security plan, an exit plan in case of emergency, and are these and similar plans documented - and practiced? What can you, as the P.A. announcer, do to help? Hammes gave attendees some things to think about.
Next, Jakubowski deftly explained the responsibilities of each member of the table crew in relation to the game of basketball. He brought his perspective on the overall matrix of activities surrounding event production, also drawing from his 10 years' experience running the scoreboard for the Milwaukee Brewers baseball club. With his eyes on the clock like Brett Favre managing the two-minute drill, Jakubowski kept the clinic on time and came up with a unique and appropriate idea to take advantage of the clock and the wireless microphone by having everyone give their name, sports announced, years of experience and any unique or "signature" announcements. Jakubowski's impromptu thought to pass the microphone around was an excellent idea and the crowd greatly enjoyed learning about each other and having the opportunity to be heard on the public address system.
Before being dismissed for a brief break, clinic participants learned that there were more than public address announcers, or those interested in becoming announcers, in attendance at the clinic. Attendees included people from throughout Wisconsin and from northern Illinois, men and women, athletic directors, television and radio broadcasters, people with various high school and college P.A. backgrounds and others were there for this inaugural Wisconsin event.
Among them was the Director of Game Operations for the Milwaukee Bucks, Mike Schnieders, who shared how he had to fly an announcer to Milwaukee from Houston last year because he knew no local public address announcers who could cover a game for him. During the break there was a brief opportunity for everyone to personally introduce themselves to each other, then return to the auditorium for the Announcing keynote address delivered by Jakubowski.
Starting with an efficacious smile, he engaged the group by starting, suitably enough, at the beginning of his preparations for announcing a basketball game. He brought a prop for this, his announcer's bag, which is of the kind suitable for carrying a laptop computer and often confused as a computer case, but it's simply a soft leather briefcase with numerous pouches. Jakubowski listed the items that he feels are essential to doing his job. These included:
- Fine-tipped black marking pen
- Digital camera
- Cough drops
- A fresh bottle of water
- Three-ring binder containing a pad of paper
- The script for the game (more on this shortly)
He recommends that the P.A. announcer arrive early at the event to go over the rosters, the names, and their correct pronunciation. Jakubowski talked about conducting a vocal warm up, then a check of the microphone and sound system.
Important to announcing success is what he termed "proper microphone technique," involving breathing, breaks or pauses, posture, and even liquid intake. Doing a lot of speaking will tend to make the mouth, throat, and vocal chords a bit raspy and dry, although he stressed the need to modulate liquid intake with the ability and time to obtain a timely restroom break
Horlick-Park Tickets Available Online
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Announcers Brave Elements to Attend NASPAA Clinic