Trojan Sports Network Continues To Defy Norms
August 24, 2022 at 11:12 p.m.
Trojan Sports Network Continues To Defy Norms
By Chip Davenport-
The most likely schools who have the greatest success stories might be perceived to be the large, well-funded school districts like Penn, Carmel, and Westfield to name a few. These schools were perceived as the best equipped sports media operations capable of already having a solid media group in place to keep fans restricted from ballgames in the height of the pandemic from completely missing the in-person action.
It’s a misnomer.
Triton Junior-Senior High School, in the Times-Union readership’s back yard, established Triton Trojans Sports Network (TTSN) in 2012. They’ve evolved into a “tune-in” destination among their athletic opponents’ regular and postseason fan bases as a reliable, professional livestream broadcast provider of high school sports events.
The pandemic hit, however, and schools already seasoned in livestreaming with a solid broadcast team were ready to provide a professional package. TTSN, the smallest public high school in the Times-Union coverage area, rose to the occasion.
TTSN sharpened its figurative swords beginning in 2012, and the network – with nearly far greater than 500 livestreams prior to the pandemic, moved beyond their modest beginnings ready to step up in a time of great need among shut-out high school sports fans.
In the most recent completed scholastic sports year, the 2021-22 season, the TTSN crew covered 101 Varsity contests with commentary, 62 junior varsity and freshman games without commentary, and 75 junior high contests without commentary.
TTSN has no intention of reducing its scope and approach.
Broadcast producer, and main camera operator, Orion Lemler (Triton ’06) recently discussed TTSN’s origins with the Times-Union following a livestream video broadcast including play-by-play and color commentary and analysis of Triton’s 3-2 volleyball win over Rochester.
“I thought we were pretty well established before the pandemic,” Lemler said. “It was a credit to (former Triton athletic director) Mason McIntyre for staring all of this. We first got equipment in December 2012, and I think our first official games were boys’ and girls’ basketball games versus Warsaw when we resumed those series with them.”
What started as a service for older fans unable to make the games has become a tightly run media outfit, effective in their broadcast message, professional, and efficient with providing team results and running statistics for area media.
Triton Trojan Sports Network has evolved into inclusion aboard the IHSAA-sanctioned broadcast platform since the 2020 scholastic sports year.
Lemler’s involvement in Triton sports media started even earlier than 2012. Lemler was a high school band member who had not played varsity sports while in high school.
“I got into photography in college when the (Triton) boys made their run to state in 2008,” Lemler said of the genesis of his involvement. “Then, come 2012, I remember Mason McIntyre said, ‘We've had a lot of the older fans requesting that we broadcast some games 'cause they reached a point where they could not come to games anymore.’ The original goal was to have a service for our fans who had invested so much time and energy into the Triton Trojans.”
TTSN viewers span the globe.
“We had someone over in Iraq, Afghanistan, Germany, and Korea listening while serving in the military in those locations,” Lemler stated. “We have lots of Florida viewers down there who send us pictures of their group huddled on the couch. I love it.”
Andy O’Hara (Warsaw ’07), a key player in the broadcast role in his fifth year with TTSN added, “They wanna’ watch those grandkids, and they keep up with things down there.”
The Warsaw alum has established himself as the “Voice of the Triton Trojans” in just a handful of scholastic sports years.
“This will be my fifth year,” O’Hara noted. “Things have certainly grown now. It’s not just our fan base viewing, it's the other schools’ fan bases. We’ve discovered this from talking to other school officials, talking to different teachers from different schools, coaches, and players.
“I think our following has really grown because people like to watch their kids if they are not able to get to the event. You’re able to see your kid, grandkid, or your neighborhood kids play.”
O’Hara credits his development in broadcasting toe NewsNowWarsaw’s Roger Grossman, the radio voice of Warsaw sports, and Dave Baumgartner, long-time wrestling coach and broadcaster for Warsaw-based WIOE and WLZQ.
“Be a friend to each side,” O’Hara explained as an essential ingredient for success and professionalism as a broadcaster. “That was something that Mr. Dave Baumgartner and Roger Grossman really beat into my head when I was a Warsaw high school student. Roger said, ‘you're always 50/50 every single time’ and in Baumgartner, I remember, guided from being one-sided. He said, ‘Hey they're doing just as good on the other side, let's talk about them,’ and I learned both sides were high school students very much alike, kids working hard.”
The approach he learned at Warsaw Community High School is bearing fruit. The aforementioned continuous growth in viewership among livestream viewers beyond the Triton faithful log on to watch the action while O’Hara provides a welcoming and informative narrative.
O’Hara reaps far greater appreciation than what he would yield in a revenue stream in this role, and he shared what fuels his continued service in sportscasting.
“I get so much satisfaction from fans thanking us for doing this stuff,” O’Hara said. “I also enjoy getting to see the viewer numbers grow during sectionals where we’ll start with 100 some, then grow to 500 viewers. When people couldn’t come to the gym during the pandemic restrictions the numbers picked up and stayed up after people returned to the gym.
“We wanna do this for years to come.”
The TTSN team isn’t collectively satisfied with covering a rough patch due to crowd restrictions among a 12-month period. Their model is driven by sustainability, and their role in the IHSAA Network platform to continue to expand their broadcasts state-wide, especially in small-school IHSAA enrollment classes.
TTSN broadcasts all contests when it is covering postseason play. This includes recent boys’ basketball regionals they’ve hosted the two most recent season, and girls’ volleyball regionals in other venues.
“We’ll step up and finish regionals out whether (Triton is) in the game or not. Especially for volleyball. We still call it because it's still going to be an awesome volleyball game with or without the Trojans.”
O’Hara in his early years flew solo on several broadcasts, but he also sees the value adding Triton alumni with tribal knowledge among each of the sports TTSN covers. Many start, but few continue to serve their community a long time in broadcasting.
Top-flite broadcasters know a color commentary analyst adds value to a broadcast in so many ways: evolving from conveying play results to a comfortable conversation about sights and action on- and off-court and getting a perspective from experienced former athletes who are known by Trojan fans.
“It's extremely hard to broadcast alone, so I've been bringing alumni in like Alexa (Viers, Triton ’20 in volleyball, basketball, and softball), who’s here tonight for volleyball. I got Kaden Atkins (Triton ’19), and Trenton Craft for football. These people help us out a lot, bringing that knowledge as the color commentator. The analyst role, it's really hard to do that while doing play-by-play alone. The alumni analysts give me a welcome break.”
Postgame interviews with coaches and athletes are an essential ingredient to almost the entire spectrum of TTSN broadcasts. The students have varying levels of comfort in from of the camera, so O’Hara found ways to make kids who like to give one-word answers no escape from an open-ended discussion.
“I have a quick conversation with all the kids before we ever interview,” O’Hara noted. “I want everybody talking about a lot, not just answering yes and no. One trick is not to talk so much about the game, and I like throwing in fun, debatable questions. The kids immediately go back and forth, and even argue a little. We recently asked the football team who would win a fight between a grizzly bear and a silverback gorilla. It makes them comfortable, and it’s pretty amusing.”
O’Hara and Lemler appreciate the coaches who take time almost immediately following the heat of competition to get in front of the camera, but their greatest satisfaction is their roles in service to the community. It’s growing, even, beyond the friendly confines among the towns of Tippecanoe, Bourbon, and Etna Green – the three towns
“The appreciation and the help from the coaches is huge. They don’t treat us like we're in the way. Doing interviews with the coaches is great stuff. They come up and talk after each game and win or lose you can get a lot from them sharing what they’ve learned from the game, and what their kids will work on before the next contest.”
Not only has TTSN cultivated a strong relationship among coaches during postgame camera time, but the boys’ and girls’ basketball coaches are impressed with the quality of gametime camera work. Each squad approached Lemler for a duty he embraced and felt was high praise.
“I think the biggest compliment was two seasons ago when Coach Groves came to us and said, ‘Would you do our huddle film?’” Lemler explained. “We became the official for boys’ basketball, and now we're doing it for the girls’ team.”
The teams of broadcasters, analysts, and camera operators spend a lot of time away from home, at least one hour before and after an event. Throw in the commute to away games in a big swath of Northern Indiana, and it’s apparent your support system you’re most grateful for is comprised of people not even at the games.
“I have a very forgiving wife,” O’Hara remarked with a big smile. “Michelle deserves a lot of credit. I wouldn't be doing this without her handling stuff at home with our three kids. Now I have a kid (Kayden Hummitch – Triton seventh grader, ‘28) that's helping us out with the football and volleyball broadcasts.”
Lemler also furnished additional contributors to TTSN’s success not yet discussed, or noted:
Football Color Commentary: Tyler Amsden (Triton ‘22)
Football Color Commentary & Instant Replay: Kenny Barnhart (Triton '90)
Assistant Camera Operator: Margo Lemler (Triton ‘81)
The most likely schools who have the greatest success stories might be perceived to be the large, well-funded school districts like Penn, Carmel, and Westfield to name a few. These schools were perceived as the best equipped sports media operations capable of already having a solid media group in place to keep fans restricted from ballgames in the height of the pandemic from completely missing the in-person action.
It’s a misnomer.
Triton Junior-Senior High School, in the Times-Union readership’s back yard, established Triton Trojans Sports Network (TTSN) in 2012. They’ve evolved into a “tune-in” destination among their athletic opponents’ regular and postseason fan bases as a reliable, professional livestream broadcast provider of high school sports events.
The pandemic hit, however, and schools already seasoned in livestreaming with a solid broadcast team were ready to provide a professional package. TTSN, the smallest public high school in the Times-Union coverage area, rose to the occasion.
TTSN sharpened its figurative swords beginning in 2012, and the network – with nearly far greater than 500 livestreams prior to the pandemic, moved beyond their modest beginnings ready to step up in a time of great need among shut-out high school sports fans.
In the most recent completed scholastic sports year, the 2021-22 season, the TTSN crew covered 101 Varsity contests with commentary, 62 junior varsity and freshman games without commentary, and 75 junior high contests without commentary.
TTSN has no intention of reducing its scope and approach.
Broadcast producer, and main camera operator, Orion Lemler (Triton ’06) recently discussed TTSN’s origins with the Times-Union following a livestream video broadcast including play-by-play and color commentary and analysis of Triton’s 3-2 volleyball win over Rochester.
“I thought we were pretty well established before the pandemic,” Lemler said. “It was a credit to (former Triton athletic director) Mason McIntyre for staring all of this. We first got equipment in December 2012, and I think our first official games were boys’ and girls’ basketball games versus Warsaw when we resumed those series with them.”
What started as a service for older fans unable to make the games has become a tightly run media outfit, effective in their broadcast message, professional, and efficient with providing team results and running statistics for area media.
Triton Trojan Sports Network has evolved into inclusion aboard the IHSAA-sanctioned broadcast platform since the 2020 scholastic sports year.
Lemler’s involvement in Triton sports media started even earlier than 2012. Lemler was a high school band member who had not played varsity sports while in high school.
“I got into photography in college when the (Triton) boys made their run to state in 2008,” Lemler said of the genesis of his involvement. “Then, come 2012, I remember Mason McIntyre said, ‘We've had a lot of the older fans requesting that we broadcast some games 'cause they reached a point where they could not come to games anymore.’ The original goal was to have a service for our fans who had invested so much time and energy into the Triton Trojans.”
TTSN viewers span the globe.
“We had someone over in Iraq, Afghanistan, Germany, and Korea listening while serving in the military in those locations,” Lemler stated. “We have lots of Florida viewers down there who send us pictures of their group huddled on the couch. I love it.”
Andy O’Hara (Warsaw ’07), a key player in the broadcast role in his fifth year with TTSN added, “They wanna’ watch those grandkids, and they keep up with things down there.”
The Warsaw alum has established himself as the “Voice of the Triton Trojans” in just a handful of scholastic sports years.
“This will be my fifth year,” O’Hara noted. “Things have certainly grown now. It’s not just our fan base viewing, it's the other schools’ fan bases. We’ve discovered this from talking to other school officials, talking to different teachers from different schools, coaches, and players.
“I think our following has really grown because people like to watch their kids if they are not able to get to the event. You’re able to see your kid, grandkid, or your neighborhood kids play.”
O’Hara credits his development in broadcasting toe NewsNowWarsaw’s Roger Grossman, the radio voice of Warsaw sports, and Dave Baumgartner, long-time wrestling coach and broadcaster for Warsaw-based WIOE and WLZQ.
“Be a friend to each side,” O’Hara explained as an essential ingredient for success and professionalism as a broadcaster. “That was something that Mr. Dave Baumgartner and Roger Grossman really beat into my head when I was a Warsaw high school student. Roger said, ‘you're always 50/50 every single time’ and in Baumgartner, I remember, guided from being one-sided. He said, ‘Hey they're doing just as good on the other side, let's talk about them,’ and I learned both sides were high school students very much alike, kids working hard.”
The approach he learned at Warsaw Community High School is bearing fruit. The aforementioned continuous growth in viewership among livestream viewers beyond the Triton faithful log on to watch the action while O’Hara provides a welcoming and informative narrative.
O’Hara reaps far greater appreciation than what he would yield in a revenue stream in this role, and he shared what fuels his continued service in sportscasting.
“I get so much satisfaction from fans thanking us for doing this stuff,” O’Hara said. “I also enjoy getting to see the viewer numbers grow during sectionals where we’ll start with 100 some, then grow to 500 viewers. When people couldn’t come to the gym during the pandemic restrictions the numbers picked up and stayed up after people returned to the gym.
“We wanna do this for years to come.”
The TTSN team isn’t collectively satisfied with covering a rough patch due to crowd restrictions among a 12-month period. Their model is driven by sustainability, and their role in the IHSAA Network platform to continue to expand their broadcasts state-wide, especially in small-school IHSAA enrollment classes.
TTSN broadcasts all contests when it is covering postseason play. This includes recent boys’ basketball regionals they’ve hosted the two most recent season, and girls’ volleyball regionals in other venues.
“We’ll step up and finish regionals out whether (Triton is) in the game or not. Especially for volleyball. We still call it because it's still going to be an awesome volleyball game with or without the Trojans.”
O’Hara in his early years flew solo on several broadcasts, but he also sees the value adding Triton alumni with tribal knowledge among each of the sports TTSN covers. Many start, but few continue to serve their community a long time in broadcasting.
Top-flite broadcasters know a color commentary analyst adds value to a broadcast in so many ways: evolving from conveying play results to a comfortable conversation about sights and action on- and off-court and getting a perspective from experienced former athletes who are known by Trojan fans.
“It's extremely hard to broadcast alone, so I've been bringing alumni in like Alexa (Viers, Triton ’20 in volleyball, basketball, and softball), who’s here tonight for volleyball. I got Kaden Atkins (Triton ’19), and Trenton Craft for football. These people help us out a lot, bringing that knowledge as the color commentator. The analyst role, it's really hard to do that while doing play-by-play alone. The alumni analysts give me a welcome break.”
Postgame interviews with coaches and athletes are an essential ingredient to almost the entire spectrum of TTSN broadcasts. The students have varying levels of comfort in from of the camera, so O’Hara found ways to make kids who like to give one-word answers no escape from an open-ended discussion.
“I have a quick conversation with all the kids before we ever interview,” O’Hara noted. “I want everybody talking about a lot, not just answering yes and no. One trick is not to talk so much about the game, and I like throwing in fun, debatable questions. The kids immediately go back and forth, and even argue a little. We recently asked the football team who would win a fight between a grizzly bear and a silverback gorilla. It makes them comfortable, and it’s pretty amusing.”
O’Hara and Lemler appreciate the coaches who take time almost immediately following the heat of competition to get in front of the camera, but their greatest satisfaction is their roles in service to the community. It’s growing, even, beyond the friendly confines among the towns of Tippecanoe, Bourbon, and Etna Green – the three towns
“The appreciation and the help from the coaches is huge. They don’t treat us like we're in the way. Doing interviews with the coaches is great stuff. They come up and talk after each game and win or lose you can get a lot from them sharing what they’ve learned from the game, and what their kids will work on before the next contest.”
Not only has TTSN cultivated a strong relationship among coaches during postgame camera time, but the boys’ and girls’ basketball coaches are impressed with the quality of gametime camera work. Each squad approached Lemler for a duty he embraced and felt was high praise.
“I think the biggest compliment was two seasons ago when Coach Groves came to us and said, ‘Would you do our huddle film?’” Lemler explained. “We became the official for boys’ basketball, and now we're doing it for the girls’ team.”
The teams of broadcasters, analysts, and camera operators spend a lot of time away from home, at least one hour before and after an event. Throw in the commute to away games in a big swath of Northern Indiana, and it’s apparent your support system you’re most grateful for is comprised of people not even at the games.
“I have a very forgiving wife,” O’Hara remarked with a big smile. “Michelle deserves a lot of credit. I wouldn't be doing this without her handling stuff at home with our three kids. Now I have a kid (Kayden Hummitch – Triton seventh grader, ‘28) that's helping us out with the football and volleyball broadcasts.”
Lemler also furnished additional contributors to TTSN’s success not yet discussed, or noted:
Football Color Commentary: Tyler Amsden (Triton ‘22)
Football Color Commentary & Instant Replay: Kenny Barnhart (Triton '90)
Assistant Camera Operator: Margo Lemler (Triton ‘81)
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