The idea for the Upper School club known as Providence Day Sports Network (PDSN) started in 2012 and became a reality in the fall of 2014. Initiated and headed up by Ed Prisco, PD’s Sports Information Director, this student-run club began with the participation of Jonathon Hoppe ‘16 who always had a dream of broadcasting. After PD, Hoppe attended the respected S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and just began a role in Columbus, GA as a Sports Anchor/Reporter at WTVM, the ABC affiliate in the station, where he will cover high school sports, the SEC, and more while continuing to serve as a freelance play-by-play announcer for the ACC Network Extra and ESPN3. 

In the earliest days, PDSN announcing was primarily focused on field hockey, soccer, and lacrosse, until Prisco approached Hoppe about broadcasting the upcoming basketball season. “We teamed up with a company called ‘High School Cube’ that winter to put the games online,” says Hoppe. “Our first game was a highly-anticipated game against Wesleyan Christian Academy. The game was highlighted by Wesleyan's Harry Giles (a current NBA player who played collegiately at Duke) and, of course, PD's own star Grant Williams. While we lost the game, it was relatively close but set up two years of PD dominating the Charlotte area and beyond. What made that game so special was the demand. Since WCA is in Winston-Salem, there were quite a few fans on both sides utilizing the service. This reinforced the importance of live streaming athletic events.” 

Jonathon Hoppe announcing a Varsity Boys Basketball game in 2016

Hoppe is incredibly grateful for the opportunities he was given at PD that have allowed him to pursue a career in broadcasting. “Coach Prisco, as well as the kids who are putting in the hours to ensure the events are available online, deserve a ton of credit,” Hoppe says. “It is incredibly difficult to produce multiple events at once and the crew at Providence Day has made it look easy. I hope the community appreciates how hard they are working to relieve some of the burdens that come with playing sports in the COVID-19 era. They deserve a lot of credit.”

In addition to having an administrator, every Upper School club also has a faculty Advisor. Ted Dickson, Upper School History Department chair, joined PDSN as the club Advisor. He has also served as an announcer for several years while training students new to the club. Dickson was instrumental in connecting PDSN with the Charger Club, for whose support Prisco and the PDSN team are extremely grateful. The Charger Club provided funding to purchase cameras, tripods, headsets, software, and other equipment that allowed PDSN to take it to the next level. Matt Scully, Director of Digital Integration & Innovation, provided the club with a much-needed powerful Apple laptop, and Jordan Ellis, Theatre Technical Director, donated a broadcast switcher. The team was on its way. 

Above: Ted Dickson and Ed Prisco announce a Charger football game while members of the Stream Team work their magic behind the scenes (2017)

With the purchase of new equipment, software, and technology, more students were needed to continue the progress and that’s when the Sports Club began to expand and the PD Sports Network developed. One of the key students who took the challenge and advanced the operation was Connor Thomas ‘19. Thomas had a perfect combination of broadcasting, technology, and leadership skills. His three years leading the team, along with technical assistance from classmate PJ Milam, formed the foundation of what exists today. Thomas is currently attending Elon University majoring in Cinema and Television Arts and Strategic Communications. 

“My sophomore year at PD I wanted to be part of something great,” says Thomas. “I was introduced to Coach Prisco and he told me all about PDSN. There I was able to learn and grow as a person through producing and broadcasting. Coach Prisco allowed me to be creative and helped push the boundaries of what was possible with the equipment and people we had. I remember when I first came we had one camera and a computer; by the time I graduated, we had three cameras with a full video studio setup and a six-person dedicated team. This would have not have been possible if it weren’t for the efforts of Coach Prisco, Mr. Dickson, and the whole PDSN crew. It's amazing to see what can be created when passionate people come together for a greater purpose. PDSN let me find my place at school, and I am proud to be a Charger.”

When Hoppe graduated from PD, his announcing role was quickly taken over by Matt Bowling ‘17. Bowling is currently serving as the lead play-by-play announcer and media director for the Oklahoma University hockey team while earning a degree in journalism from the prestigious Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication. “My role with the hockey team has allowed me to utilize the skills I developed through PDSN, as I’ve been responsible for producing and overseeing others’ production of media content for the team, including feature stories, game recaps, coach and player interviews, and social media,” he says. Bowling still follows PD’s streaming: “I’m really glad to see that PDSN has not only survived but continued to grow and improve as a new generation takes the reins! The quality of the broadcasts has gotten better every year I’ve tuned in. It’s so important for kids aspiring to work in sports media to be able to get experience at the high school level because that will make for a much easier transition to top-tier college programs. I’m very happy to see that PDSN is still giving students that opportunity.”

Berkley Cassell, Will Campbell, Dylan Riddell, Connor Thomas, and PJ Milam (2017)

At the beginning of this school year, Director of Athletics Nancy Beatty, who has been supportive of the streaming initiative since heading up Athletics in 2013, gave the team the challenge of streaming all athletic events because of fan restrictions. The Charger Club, once again, provided even more funding to expand live streaming beyond the MAC and Overcash Stadium to the tennis courts and the Upper Field. Matt Scully, Director of Digital Integration & Innovation, provided the team with a few iPads, and Tech Services’ Kevin Todd, Network Administrator, was instrumental in developing an ingenious plan of laying ethernet cables and expanding outdoor wifi capabilities. 

“Prior to Covid -19, the process for streaming our athletic events was evolving at a reasonable and manageable rate,” says Beatty. “Once we received the green light in September to compete in athletics without spectators, the need for streaming exploded overnight! Mr. Prisco and his team accepted the challenge to live stream every event on campus and spent countless hours in the planning process. What once began with a single iPad years ago has grown into a major production for our Stream Team!” Beatty believes there is, “much love and Charger pride with every streamed event.”

2016 Providence Day Sports Network  (PDSN) 

(Top Row) Matt Bowling, PJ Milam, Kevin Wolf, Berkley Cassell, Dylan Riddell,
(Front Row) Jacob Sienkowski, Mark Ma, Ajay Hassani, Cole Cummings, and Will Campbell

Streaming from the stadium is much easier than other locations on campus, but Prisco and the team made it work. For soccer and field hockey games on the Upper Field, 100 feet of ethernet cable was rolled out every game day from the Levin Family Extended Day House to the field to connect iPads for streaming. “Tennis was much more difficult,” says Prisco, “but the team rose to the challenge. On every match day, you could find seniors Jackson Sykes and Carter Craig and junior Adam Lawrence laying down 400 feet of cable from the MAC conference room, across two sidewalks and the main road, down to the center of the tennis courts. From there they would connect a Cisco router and then move on to securing three different iPads to the tennis court fences which allowed streaming six individual matches simultaneously. When it got dark and the match concluded, everything was taken down, rolled up, and stored away for the next day’s match.” 

Jonah Weintraub is a current senior and PDSN announcer who joined the club his freshman year and has always had a passion for sports, especially football and basketball. Like Hoppe, Weintraub plans to pursue a career in sports media and hopes to either attend Syracuse or the media school at Indiana-Bloomington where he has been accepted.  “Most mornings used to be slated periods of time for SportsCenter before school, and now it’s dedicated to reading articles from various sources such as ESPN, Bleacher Report, etc,” says Weintraub. “I had already been passionate about sports, so the opportunity to get involved with an on-campus stream team was perfect for my interests.” He believes that the evolution of PDSN since his freshman year is notable.

“I definitely didn’t know how we at the PDSN would adapt to the COVID-19 era, so I’m just thrilled to be able to call games,” Weintraub says. “When no fans are allowed to be in the stands for varsity football games, that puts us under even more of a spotlight. Thankfully we have a super well-run operation thanks to Coach Prisco and our chief technicians, Carter Craig, Adam Lawrence, and Jackson Sykes. With so many people losing the sense of normalcy that Friday nights provide, being a part of (and the voice of) the team that is able to give our community a somewhat familiar feeling in these super strange – dare I say unprecedented – times is a really exciting opportunity. I’m looking at the increased necessity for our stream team as a silver lining. We’re able to give the PD community a few hours of semi-regularity with our work, so I think I speak for all our team’s tech, commentary, and management crews when I say we’re appreciative of the support.”

Above: Stream Team 2019-2020 (L-R) Jonah Weintraub, Jackson Sykes, Carter Craig, Adam Lawrence, Josh Dolgoff '20, and Nate Herndon. Kneeling:  Theo Katz

Much of the success of PDSN is due to the technical support that happens behind the scenes. Senior Jackson Sykes joined in tenth grade as a fun way to use his passion for technology to help the school. “As the Technical Director of the club, most of the work I do is done outside of game time such as setting up the streams on Youtube, promoting the streams on social media, and working with Coach Prisco to improve the quality of our streams from a technical standpoint,” says Sykes. “During the games, I help set up the technical side of the streams, and I am there to make sure everything runs smoothly. I also manage the graphics throughout the stream such as the scoreboard and popups.”

Things don’t always run smoothly during a live broadcast, and there is the pressure that there’s no way to restart the broadcast when things go wrong with the internet connection, cord connections, or the streaming software not receiving the input from the cameras. “I know that people will be missing the action if anything goes wrong and how important it is to fix the issue as soon as possible,” says Sykes. The volume of work increased dramatically with the transition from mainly streaming Varsity games to broadcasting every home game from Middle School to JV to Varsity, so, “Some days we would be streaming four different games at the same time.”

Sykes also recognizes the emotional importance of PDSN’s work. “Our streams give parents on both teams the opportunity to watch their children play when they wouldn’t otherwise have that chance,” he says.  “As a senior, this year is filled with a lot of ‘lasts,’ and I know it would be difficult for families to know that they wouldn’t be able to watch their senior(s) play in their final seasons. Additionally, the student section is a big part of student life. I know there have been many people who have been disappointed to not have a student section, so our streams have also been important for students during this time to have a way of watching and supporting our teams.”

Junior Adam Lawrence became interested in streaming his freshman year and directs communication with the cameras to make sure they are getting the best shots. “I came across the PDSN during the club fair my freshman year, was immediately thrown in front of a piece of unfamiliar equipment at my first stream, and never looked back.” The time before a stream involves an intense equipment setup of cameras, cables, the camera switcher, audio headsets/mixer, and computer software. “We’ll go over our assignments and roles for the stream with whoever is there, brief the commentators on anything (if necessary), then start the stream,” says Lawrence. “Once we’re live (in a perfect, fully-staffed world), we’ll have two camera workers, a director, our play-by-play and color commentators, and a scoreboard operator (only for football games).” 

There is a ton of work throughout the games. “The most challenging part of streaming games is just how much there is going on as well as the almost blind faith that the technology will work,” says Lawrence. “When you’re directing, you’re in charge of communicating with the cameras, selecting the best camera shot, operating the on-stream scoreboard, listening to and fact-checking the commentators, monitoring comments, and working on the on-stream graphics. It can also be hard to trust the technology, which can be spotty from time to time and cause a rushed start to a stream.” It’s all worth it, though. “Streaming is so important during a time like this because it allows people to still be a part of Charger Athletics and support the athletes without being there. For the first half of the season, no fans (and eventually only senior parents) were allowed to come to the games. After the NCISAA changed its policy to allow all parents to come, we still saw a lot of viewership from the away team’s parents, grandparents, teachers, students, and other people wanting to tune in and support the Charger athletes.”

PDSN has always been an impressive operation but continues to improve, “whether it’s improvements that are unnoticeable to those watching at home like improving our headsets so that our commentators can hear each other, or improvements like a new on-screen graphics software including an improved scoreboard with a clock,” says Lawrence. “We’ve continued to improve our product year after year and continue to put out the best quality streams for our viewers.”

Above: Caroline Grubbs, Melissa and Ted Dickson, Carter Craig, Sophie Barron (2020)

While several club members are nearing graduation, younger students are joining the ranks and will take PDSN into the future. Sophomore Sophie Barron decided not to play field hockey this year, so one of her coaches suggested trying PDSN. “I am normally on camera during games, but I did get to try directing which was fun,” says Barron. “The most challenging part of streaming for me is making sure I capture everything I need to and keeping the ball in the camera.” She recognizes the importance of what PDSN is doing for the community and extended families right now. “It is important because it allows people to stay together during this crazy time. Grandparents, parents, and other family members are able to stay connected and watch their grandkids/kids out on the field.”

Since he has been part of streaming from the very beginning, Dickson has a very unique perspective on the impact of PDSN, especially with the effect of COVID-19 on athletics. “With the much greater need this year, Melissa and I committed to doing all of the Tuesday and Thursday games – usually Varsity Soccer and Varsity Field Hockey (but also a JV soccer game, during which we exchanged some fun emails with a grandmother in Belfast),” says Dickson about partnering with his wife Melissa, an alumni parent and former Charger Club Vice President. “I agreed to do the games as long as Melissa could do it with me. In the past, she has usually been running concessions or the Grill Team – but that is obviously on hold at the moment.” The Dicksons actually met while they were coaching soccer, and their former player (who was named the USA Field Hockey coach of the year a few years ago) has watched several of the Field Hockey streams from Michigan, texting them her expert commentary which helped them get to know the game faster. 

Above: Melissa and Ted Dickson

“We also enjoy streaming because we get to share our love of high school sports, to serve the PD and NCAIS (North Carolina Association of Independent Schools) community, and to get to know the students on the Stream Team, the varsity athletes, and their families better. The Stream Team students are great!” Dickson says. In addition to being one of the only schools with a streaming team led by students, another point of differentiation for PDSN is the recognition of players and coaches on both teams during games since both communities are watching. The interactive chat feature is also a great way of connecting with viewers. During a recent Field Hockey game, “We chatted with grandparents from Ohio, Chicago, Pennsylvania, Syracuse (the grandmother of Durham Academy's best player), and a great aunt on Oahu,” says Dickson. “In the past, for football, we have had active-duty military personnel watching from as far away as Afghanistan and family from the Philippines.” Streaming runs in the family, as the Dicksons’ oldest daughter was the only girl in the sports broadcasting club at Boston College.

Coach Prisco has this to say about his involvement with PDSN: “Looking back over the past seven years, the smartest decision we made was making our Sports Club and streaming initiative a “student-run” operation. I have been amazed at the student talent I’ve had the privilege to work with during that time. It reinforces the management strategy...if you want to be successful, surround yourself with talented individuals who are passionate about what they do. Every year I get more and more impressed with the ideas and innovations that are constantly generated by these students. Their work ethic, commitment to excellence, leadership, and management skills are impressive. Our success can best be highlighted in an email I recently received from one of our conference schools: ‘Ed, I am envious of the student talent and initiative you have in this area (streaming) and all the support you receive from tech services and other departments.’”