We have had some very special people on our “ATVN SportsTalk” show recently.

The National Football Foundation-Lehigh Valley Chapter held its annual banquet to enshrine this year’s class of very special inductees.

On “SportsTalk,” we had the pleasure of talking with former Moravian Head Football Coach Scot Dapp and current East Stroudsburg University Head Coach Jim Terwilliger to talk about their special memories and favorite moments in their great careers, including Coach Terwilliger’s motivational speech to this year’s collegiate and scholastic student-athlete award winners.

Here’s a portion of their interview (their entire interview is available for free for Astound Broadband video customers through Astound’s ATVN On-Demand).

There is another special group conducting another “hall of fame” panel of inductees later this year.  We will have more on this organization and this year’s class of inductees both on a future “SportsTalk” show, as well as additional information here at “The SportsTalk Shop.”

Now, we continue our countdown of the best highlights of the past year for games aired on ATVN.

1. Astound Sports: Cardinal O’Hara vs. Allentown Central Catholic (3/23)
   
   
2. Astound Sports: Neumann Goretti vs. Allentown Central Catholic (3/23)
   
   
3. Astound Sports: Roman Catholic vs. Parkland (3/23)
   
   

Check back to “The SportsTalk Shop” here on our website for more on local sports news and insights as well as highlights of recent productions on Astound Broadband’s ATVN.

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

Last week here at “The Shop” we talked about how dominant the Liberty baseball team has been during both the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference and District XI playoffs in May.

Not to be outdone, the Nazareth softball team also won the EPC championship, and last week brought home the District XI 6A trophy and gold metals.

Unlike the Hurricanes, the Blue Eagles were not predicted to be one of the top teams this spring by local softball pundits.  However, Nazareth has some great stories from their Head Coach Steve Genzale and their players on how the entire squad came together this year (including a freshman pitcher who started the year double-rostered on the JV team only to be the winning pitcher in the league playoffs) to bring home the area’s biggest prizes.

Like Liberty,  members of the Nazareth softball team were on our “ATVN SportsTalk” program prior to their district playoff run. Here’s a portion of their interview (the entire collection of interviews are available for Astound video customers for free through ATVN on-demand).

We hope you enjoyed ATVN’s coverage of Nazareth’s district championship win last Thursday along with their appearance on our ATVN SportsTalk show.

We had planned to broadcast Nazareth’s first round state playoff game on Monday on Astound Broadband.  Because of the decision to not return to Pates Park (or any other location that has the appropriate broadcasting requirements), we are unable to broadcast the Blue Eagles’ first round state playoff game from the game site that was chosen.

We wish Nazareth, and all the remaining teams in our coverage area, continued success for their state playoff run!

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Now, we continue our countdown of the best highlights of the past year for games aired on ATVN.

1. Astound Sports: Liberty vs. Northampton (3/23)

2. Astound Sports: Liberty vs. Parkland (3/23)

3. Astound Sports: Nazareth vs. Northampton (3/23)

Check back to “The SportsTalk Shop” here on our website next week for more on local sports news and insights as well as highlights of recent  productions on Astound Broadband’s ATVN.

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

by Mackenzie Laub

Being a college athlete is no easy task at hand. It comes with great responsibility and challenges. Trying to manage an athletic schedule, a school schedule, and a daily routine can all be very difficult. With all of the hardships, come great reward in the successes you face on and off the playing field. Here is a little insight to my typical day as a college athlete.

It can be hard to manage a tough course schedule and perform your best on the field. For me it is quite difficult some days because I am a Biology major. It is a demanding program that comes with a lot of late night studying and lots of labs. A lab can sometimes be 3 hours long. Days can feel never ending when you have multiple labs in a day. 

On a typical day when we are not playing a double header, my day is pretty calm. My schedule on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are all the same. I chose to take early classes for my first year. Taking an 8am Theology class is no joke. There were many mornings where getting up was quite a challenge. After Theology I would head straight to Bio lecture. Once that was all finished I would head to go get breakfast at Zime. It was our on campus “Starbucks” that served delicious food. Sitting in Zime is where I have written a lot of papers, had many conversations with friends, and obviously consumed way too many cups of coffee. After breakfast I would head to communications which was my last class of the day. I was done by noon on these days which was very nice. This gave me time to complete assignments and homework before heading to practice. 

My Tuesday/Thursday schedule was very light. I only had my Psychology lecture on a Tuesday, then on Thursday I would have my Biology lab. Having these lighter days gave me more time to do my assignments. I would also be able to sleep in on these days past 7am which I am very thankful for.

For the softball part of my day we would practice 4-5 days a week depending on when we had games. We had off every Sunday, and Mondays were our lift days. A typical practice would start at 3:00. When practice starts at 3, you need to be there by 2:30 to start setting up all of the equipment that would be needed for that specific day. A practice plan would be posted before every practice so we knew exactly what we were doing on that day.  Practice would be from 3-5, but by the time everything was cleaned up and put away it would already be 5:30. 

Double header game days are sometimes the longest days of them all. For me since all of my classes were in the morning I would go to all of my classes, back to my room to change, then straight to the field. For a home game that starts at 3:00 I would need to be at the field at 12:30 to set up for the day and then start a hitting warm up. Our two games would be over by 7:30 just giving me enough time to stop at the dining hall for a quick dinner before heading back to my room for the night.

Sleep is an essential for student athletes. Finding the time to sleep can be difficult with so much going on in a day. My goal was to be sleeping by 10:00 every night, but with away games and changing schedules this was not always possible. 

Something that I have learned being a student athlete is to be flexible and to always expect changes. When you wake up in the morning you can be told that we will have practice, but then it rains so it switches to a lift. Schedules are constantly changing and anything can happen at any moment. This season we were supposed to have a game every Saturday of March and April. It happened to rain every single Saturday for two straight months. Our team had a lot of rescheduling and lots of Sunday games. 

For my next fall semester I chose to take another set of demanding classes. I will have 2 labs as well as a research position for one of my professors. I will also be a teacher’s assistant for another class. My time management and organizational skills have significantly improved with coming to college. Something that has helped me significantly is having an agenda. Writing down what needs to be accomplished and having the feeling of crossing it off when the task is done is satisfying to me. 

Being a student athlete is an amazing experience and I would not change it for the world. I have met so many wonderful people, played in amazing games, and created life long memories. Coaches have always said you need to be a student before you are an athlete. That is something that I stick to because I know that my academics are the most important part of my college career. I love being a student athlete and I would not change a single moment of my experience. 

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

I have seen a fair amount of impressive performances by high school sports teams  over the decade-plus that I have been covering scholastic sports in the Eastern Pennsylvania region.

But very few things come close to what I witnessed last week in the EPC baseball playoffs.

The Liberty Hurricanes defeated three very solid programs in the tournament–ALL BY MERCY RULE–to sweep the three-game playoff tournament and earn the number one seed for the District XI 6A playoffs.

They truly played well in all aspects of the game:  hitting – both in the approach and the execution up-and-down the entire lineup – defense, and of course, tremendous pitching.  There were really no weaknesses in the Canes’ attack last week.

Head Coach Andy Pitsilos and members of his team were on ATVN SportsTalk earlier this season to talk about their success last year and how that has helped them focus on bigger and better accomplishments coming up this spring.

Here’s a clip of their interviews…

ATVN SportsTalk: Liberty Baseball (4/23)

Astound video customers can see Liberty’s entire show through “ATVN On Demand.”  

Meanwhile, Liberty starts its defense of its District XI 6A baseball title this weekend.  ATVN will be broadcasting all district championship games involving teams in our coverage area next week, along with the 5A and 6A District XI softball championships from Pates Park.

Now, we continue our countdown of the best highlights of the past year for games aired on ATVN.

1.   Astound Sports: Allentown Central Catholic vs. Easton (2/23)

2. Astound Sports: Notre Dame vs. Palmerton (2/23)

3. Astound Sports: Parkland vs. Henderson (3/23)

Check back to “The SportsTalk Shop” here on our website for more on local sports news and highlights of recent productions.

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

First, there are a number of things “brewing” this week on the local sports landscape.

This is the transition week for most sports as the teams that have been ‘backed up’ on getting games in due to the weather, poor field conditions, et al have to play all their games before the playoffs start (it is a District XI-wide rule that you just can’t “blow off” scheduled games and must make an effort to play them…or forfeit a game, which hurts you when it comes to the playoff picture).

At the same time, coaches, players, athletic directors, fans and those of us in the media are preparing for a busy stretch of activities coming up–along with doing whatever “rain dance rituals” we can to have the wet stuff come before the playoffs get underway in a few days.

In addition to being out at some of the preliminary playoff games this week, the ATVN Sports team and I did something new this spring.  To increase our reach in covering other sports and more schools than we ever have before, this week’s “SportsTalk” show will be entirely made up of features on local scholastic teams.

We tried our best to give a good balance between girls and boys sports, big schools and small schools, and Colonial League vs. Eastern Pennsylvania Conference.  While the weather ruined our best laid plans, I think we still managed to see a number of different teams and sports–including some that don’t normally get a ton of media attention anywhere.

Make sure you tune if for the ‘first-ever’ all-features edition of “SportsTalk,” which aiirs every Thursday at 7pm live and replays at 9pm and Saturday morning at 9am on the Astound TV Network.

Also, if you missed last week’s show featuring NCAA Division-I Officials Evaluator Frank Scagliotta, the show is now available on Video-On-Demand, which is free for all Astound Broadband video customers.

*************

Now, we continue our countdown of the best highlights of the past year for games aired on ATVN.

1. Astound Sports: Cardinal O’Hara vs. Allentown Central Catholic (3/23)

2. Astound Sports: Neumann Goretti vs. Allentown Central Catholic (3/23)

3. Astound Sports: Roman Catholic vs. Parkland (3/23)

4. Astound Sports: Easton vs. Central York (3/23)

5. Astound Sports: Gwynedd Mercy vs. Bethlehem Catholic (3/23)

Check back to “The SportsTalk Shop” here on our website for more on local sports news and highlights of recent productions.

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

There’s been some pretty interesting developments on the local eSports landscape as this popular activity continues to grow in new and different ways.

On Thursday, May 4th at the LCTI Center in Schnecksville, a “soft” opening was held for the first ever official Lehigh Valley eSports tournament, featuring teams from Parkland, Dieruff, Jim Thorpe and LCTI.

Because of COVID, competition had been limited to students competing from their homes or isolated locations.  Last fall we commented here on this very blog that the first time the championship team members got a chance to meet each other was at the medal ceremony itself held at Parkland High School.

The opening of this new facility takes a major step forward in allowing face-to-face interaction with both team members and competitors.

The May 4th event consisted of a series of pickup games and a mini-tournament featuring one or two different squads from the different participating school districts.  Fresh off the success of the popular Super Mario Brothers hit film and the hot Super Smash Brothers video game, both Mario Kart and Super Smash Brothers gamers were options for the participants last week.

While previous eSports competitions were based on Rocket League competition, the local organization is looking at branching out and making more gaming options available for students to try to reach an even broader audience.

Another new aspect of the local eSports competition was the successful completion of a middle school gaming program this spring.

More and more local schools have organized eSports teams, but not all of them.  If a child’s school doesn’t have any eSports team or an organized outlet to participate, they can contact the Lehigh Carbon Intermediate Unit.  They can get you in touch with several independent groups now participating with the LCTI and also can help start the process to get that school district on the path to joining the local league.  We’ve seen other, traditional sports like volleyball and lacrosse over the last 10-15 years start in a similar fashion, then, eventually, joining a formal local sports network and creating enough teams that a larger outlet like the PIAA can take steps to launch this activity to an even higher level.

The world of eSports continues to grow in many ways and more new innovations are in the works.  Keep checking back to the “SportsTalk Shop” for more developments in the coming months and be on the lookout for news and information about the fall 2024 local eSports competitions!

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

Before we continue our countdown of the top games and plays from ATVN’s broadcasts from the past sports season, a few local sports notes and rumors concerning teams in our coverage area.

First, there has been a lot of griping about some of the local sports scheduling over the last few years, with teams complaining about the unlevel playing field.  No team wants to play in blowout games–win or lose–and it looks like there’s serious discussions underway that may result in scheduling changes moving forward.

Keep checking back for more on this development as conversations continue and (hopefully) changes will be made official in the coming months.

As far as on the field news….

This spring continues to be a wild one for Lehigh Valley baseball and softball teams, with many teams beating up on each other and very few squads looking invincible (we saw our last team fall from the ranks of “unbeaten” last week).

That being said, a few schools, including Parkland, Bangor, Saucon Valley and Southern Lehigh on the boys side, seem to have emerged as the top teams in their respective classifications.

On the girls side, Whitehall, Northwestern and Palisades have been the top teams in Classes 5A, 4A and 3A respectively, with Freedom, Northampton, Emmaus, Easton, Liberty and Nazareth all playing well at the 6A level in the District XI softball playoff picture.

Freedom, Parkland, Emmaus and Easton have earned the top spots among local boys lacrosse teams and Emmaus, Easton and Freedom girls have also clinched playoff spots with just a couple weeks remaining in the regular season.

Track and field, volleyball and tennis also have their seasons beginning to wind down.  We’ll have more on the local sports landscape coming up on our “SportsTalk” show that airs every Thursday at 7pm live and replays at 9pm and Saturday morning at 9am on the Astound TV Network.

Also, if you missed last week’s show featuring our first look at the new head football coaches in our coverage area, the show is now available on Video-On-Demand, which is free for all Astound Broadband video customers.

Now, we continue our countdown of the best highlights of the past year for games aired on ATVN.

1. Astound Sports: Executive Education vs. Palmerton (2/23)

2. Astound Sports: Emmaus vs. Nazareth (2/23)

3. Astound Sports: Pen Argyl vs. Palmerton (2/23)

4. Astound Sports: Liberty vs. Emmaus (2/23)

5. Astound Sports: Notre Dame Green Pond vs. Saucon Valley (2/23)

Check back to “The SportsTalk Shop” here on our website for more on local sports news and highlights of recent productions.

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

Softball has been an important part of my life for as long as I can remember.

My career started at Egypt Park in Whitehall on field number 4 – picking daisies in the outfield and looking forward to going to the snack stand for mozzarella sticks after games.

During my time at Egypt, I learned all the fundamentals of softball from two amazing coaches – Kevin Hutter and my father, Dennis Laub.

My dad is my role model in life and he will always be my first and favorite coach I’ve ever had. He always does what is best for me at the drop of a hat and is always there for me.

I started my tournament career with the Lehigh Valley Patriot Flames after my time playing for Egypt. I was trying my best to learn and navigate the game as best I could while trying to have as much fun as I could.

I have so many memories from my first year of travel ball, but my all-time favorite was when we were playing in our final tournament in Quakertown. It was a night owl tournament where all of our games were played late at night and I thought it was so cool that we were allowed to eat candy in the dugout to keep us awake during our games. We won the tournament! That is still a moment I will never forget.

The next season would be a very different experience for me. We got a new coach and he truly changed the sport of softball for me.

Coach Joe Gmitter taught me mostly everything I know about the game of softball and without him I would not be the player I am today. I would end up playing for him for nine years. Those years were the best years of my life.
I was able to play every position on the field besides pitcher and catcher for him, but ultimately he developed me into the outfielder I am today.

Playing for Coach Joe for nine years came with so many amazing experiences. He not only taught me the game of softball, but also to be a better person as well. I was the only original member left when the team collapsed at the end of last summer. I still remember when we were playing our last tournament in Alabama and I had the final at- bat of the tournament. Coach Joe called time out, called me down and all he did was give me a hug and say, “I am so proud of you, go get one more hit.”

The most famous quote he ever taught me was, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

I think that this can apply to so many aspects in life, not only softball. My college coach recently used this quote and it brought so many flashbacks about my days playing travel ball.

In my final season before I came to college, my team ended up getting 3rd place overall in the USSSA Space Coast National Tournament, 2nd place in the USSSA Gulf Shores Alabama National Tournament, and being the #1 team in the 18u age division in the state of Pennsylvania.

I am thankful for my time as a Flame, but I am also able to say that playing softball at Whitehall High School was an amazing, unforgettable experience.

I had the opportunity to play for two of the greatest high school softball coaches the Lehigh Valley has ever had: Blake Morgan and Ed Stinner.

Coaches Morgan and Stinner are two of the main reasons why my softball career has continued into college. They sharpened my skills and shaped me into a collegiate athlete. Countless hours of practice and endless reps in right field made me into the player I am.

During my time at Whitehall our team was a 3 time District IX runner up, qualified for the Pennsylvania state tournament three times, and made the league tournament three straight years as well.

The biggest piece of advice I can give younger softball players is to respect the game and respect your coaches. Also, know that the littlest opportunities do not go unnoticed and everything happens for a reason.

Without softball I truly do not know where I would be. Most of my childhood memories revolve around softball and without this sport I would not be the person I am today. I am so thankful for all of my coaches who have given me the opportunity to play the sport I love. I am so incredibly thankful for all of my amazing teammates who pushed me to be the best every single day. Most importantly I would like to thank my parents for being the inspiration for me playing the game.

Thank you softball for the amazing coaches, endless friendships, and most importantly so many memories that will last a lifetime.

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

Our ATVN Sports family continues to grow!

In addition to preparing for our spring high school playoff season, finalizing our summer lineup (some exciting news on that to come soon) and laying the groundwork for the fall football season (yes, already in April), we are excited to announce a new personality joining the Astound TV Network!

Mackenzie Laub is currently a Division-I college softball player at Eastern University in Philadelphia (she hit a game-winning home run in her collegiate debut a few weeks ago).

Mackenzie will be introducing herself as well as talking about her experiences, accomplishments and giving some thoughts on her ‘life lessons’ learned through her experiences in sports in her first blog coming up in a couple days right here on our website.

She will also be commenting/blogging going forward on a number of women’s sports and timely issues, which has become an even bigger ‘hot topic’ both in the local sports realm and across the country.  Among her recent accomplishments includes an exploration of the Title IX provisions addressing equality for women in sports.  Mackenzie also has key experiences and connections with sports personalities and coaches in Eastern Pennsylvania.

Please join me in welcoming her to our network and keep an eye out for her blogs this spring and summer!

Now, we continue our countdown of the top plays and games broadcast on the Astound TV Network…

1. Astound Sports: Parkland vs. St. Joseph’s Prep (11/22)
   
2. Astound Sports: Emmaus vs. Easton (12/22)
   

3. Astound Sports: Nazareth vs. Easton (12/22)
   

4. Astound Sports: Notre Dame vs. Bethlehem Catholic (1/23)
   

5. Astound Sports: Notre Dame vs. Saucon Valley (1/23)
   

Check back each week for more of the top highlights from our games from the season right here at “The SportsTalk Shop.”  For copies of these and other productions on the Astound TV Network, you can call 610-443-2909.

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

Before we continue our countdown of the top games and plays from ATVN’s broadcasts from the past sports season, a “heads up” about upcoming editions of our SportsTalk program.

Coming up this spring we will…

• Begin our interviews with this fall’s brand new head football coaches in the Lehigh Valley
• Talk with Frank Scagliotta, the former Bangor Head Football Coach and veteran NCAA official who was recently inducted into the Eastern Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame
• Speaking of officials, we’ll be discussing the widening disparity between the college and scholastic levels, not only in terms of rule differences but also the widening gap in pay and, not surprisingly, a surplus in one area with a steady decline in participation at the other level
• A preview of the District XI baseball and softball playoffs (check back to our website very soon for this spring’s scholastic sports playoff broadcast schedule on ATVN)
• And…for the first time ever, an ‘all-features’ edition of SportsTalk highlighting every spring sport

 “SportsTalk” airs every Thursday at 7pm live and replays at 9pm and Saturday morning at 9am on the Astound TV Network.

Also, if you missed last week’s show featuring this year’s inductees into the Lehigh Valley Chapter of the National Football Foundation’s Hall of Fame, the show is now available on Video-On-Demand, which is free for all Astound Broadband video customers.

Now, we continue our countdown of the best highlights of the past year for games aired on ATVN.

1. Astound Sports: Parkland vs. Emmaus (1/23)

2. Astound Sports:  Parkland vs. Nazareth (11/22)

3. Astound Sports: Individual Wrestling Championship (2/23)

4. Astound Sports:  Northwestern Lehigh vs. Palmerton (2/23)

5. Astound Sports: Allentown Central Catholic vs Pocono Mountain West (2/23)

Check back to “The SportsTalk Shop” here on our website for some news on the ATVN Sports team!

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.