Learn how to do sports - THE GAME OF MY LIFE by Bill Velasco

It’s been said that a teacher’s ultimate goal is to become obsolete. How proud a teacher would be to instill such a love of learning in his students that he is, in the end, no longer needed. But what if the mentor has nobody to teach?

Close to a decade ago, a group of us sportscasters sat and planned the first sports broadcasting academy, to help us sharpen our skills by passing them on. Sadly, the program never got underway.

In the United States, sports is such big business that it has spawned many two- and four-year college course. You can study sports psychology, sports broadcasting, sports management, sports marketing, even managing a gymnasium. Most of the greatest broadcast news professionals, from producers to writers, reporters and anchormen, trained in sports. The discipline was the same, beating deadlines is also crucial, and, if you make a mistake, the only one who’ll want to sue you is some bookie in Las Vegas.

Fast forward to the present time. Three of our younger colleagues, Noel Zarate, Mon Liboro and Barry Pascua, formed the Center for Sports Communication to formalize the transfer of knowledge to those who dream of putting on the headset and calling the games themselves. From Wednesday to Friday this week, interested enrollees will be able to hear from almost all of the veteran sports broadcasters in the country in the first "Basic Sports Broadcasting Seminar" at the Development Academy of the Philippines in Pasig.

To the uninformed who think our job is easy, the course covers everything through broadcast writing, the differences between AM and FM radio work, on camera work, simulations, game coverage, research and analysis. Believe me, it’s going to cover a lot of ground.

The roster of speakers is a veritable Who’s Who of sports broadcasting. This will be the first time that broadcast professionals from Viva-Vintage, ABS-CBN and other broadcast groups will team up in any way, shape or form. Viva anchorman Ed Picson will cover commentating, The STAR’s Quinito Henson will explain the intricacies and value of research, Vince de Guzman of 99.5 RT will tackle FM radio broadcasting, Andy Vital of DZRH will expound on AM work, interviewers Chiqui Roa-Puno and Anthony Suntay will handle on-camera preparations, and yours truly will elaborate on broadcast writing and alternative careers in the field.

There actually is so much to cover. Sportscasting is really hard work. Of course, armchair critics will say that there are only so many ways to describe events on the basketball court, in the boxing ring, and so on. But, aside from sucking up as much information as we can, we have to be on the ball all the time. You’re also looking at what we’re looking at, so we have to be able to see more, and point it out. We can’t use smoke and mirrors. And we always have to come up with something new.

Besides, what a lot of people don’t realize is that covering sports is also hard journalism. And there is a vast difference between the styles of coverage for radio and television. Even in television in the United States, there are sports magazine shows, sports talk shows, sport documentaries and investigative journalism in sports. And each market has its own peculiarities. Unfortunately, there has never been a place to train our broadcasters for any of this. Imagine, if you’re a rookie field reporter (and this happened to me when I started out), and your assignment is to cover boxing, golf, tennis, billiards and darts in one day. Each game has its own rules, its own flow, its own temperament. What would you have done?

My hat’s off to the organizers, and I look forward to being there. I remember when I was a greenhorn; it wasn’t easy. Frankly, I didn’t know what to do, until my elders showed me the way. Now we finally have a chance to pay it forward.

If you think you have a future in sports broadcasting, give it a shot by calling 895-9821 and 23. Good luck!