We want to get you caught up on some ATVN production highlights featuring our full-game baseball coverage.

1. Astound Sports: Liberty vs. Nazareth (5/22)

2. Astound Sports: Emmaus vs. Nazareth (5/22)

3. Astound Sports: Southern Lehigh vs. Notre Dame (5/22)

4. Astound Sports: Parkland vs. Emmaus (5/22)

These full games are still free to watch OnDemand for Astound Broadband video customers over next few weeks.  Be sure to check out our local student-athletes in action!

More highlights of recent full-production sports broadcasts will be coming up over the next several weeks.

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We want to let you know about a special program coming up on this Thursday’s “SportsTalk” show.

Pennsylvania’s all-time winningest head coach in ANY sports–Mike Kopp, who recently announced his retirement from Allentown Central Catholic’s historic girls basketball program–will be our special guest.

We will be talking with Mike about his nearly 50 years in coaching, discussing all his many wins, his league, district and state titles, his most memorable moments and thoughts on some of Eastern Pennsylvania’s greatest girls basketball players who came through his system (a few of his players made names for themselves on a national stage with stellar careers in the NCAA and WNBA).  Plus we’ll have a few surprises on Thursday’s show as well.  Make sure you tune in!

Also, if you missed last week’s annual Blue Mountain League Baseball show featuring League Commissioner Robert Varju and Historian/Treasurer/Secretary Tim Fisher, ATVN video customers can watch the entire program again On-Demand.

Among the topics discussed on the show included:

•  A record season for the BML in terms of the number of home runs this season
• Several milestone accomplishments by some of the league’s longest-tenured veterans.
• Thoughts on the top teams, pitchers and hitters this season
• A discussion on how the league has evolved over the last several years, and…
• Predictions for the final two weeks of the regular season and thoughts on who everyone thinks will reach the post-season and the championship playoffs.

Check it out to hear their insights!

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.

We are excited to announce another new addition to our ATVN on-air staff for the upcoming new sports season!

Niko Camacho was an all-area athlete in not one, but two high school sports and went on to become a Division 1 college wrestler on a full scholarship to American University in Washington, DC. 

After a very successful collegiate career, Camacho will bring his unique experiences and knowledge in both football and wrestling to our ATVN audience members as a commentator for our scholastic sports broadcasts on the gridiron and on the mats.

Welcome aboard, Niko!

We will also be adding another significant name to our broadcast team soon–keep checking back to “The Shop” for details!

Additionally, our studio is currently accepting internship applications for both the fall (September-December) and spring (February-May) semesters for both on-air and behind the camera opportunities at our studio.  Feel free to contact me with inquiries to facilitate your information to the appropriate personnel.

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We also continue to honor teams and student-athletes from all of ATVN’s viewing areas.

This week we spotlight standout stars from our Washington/Virginia/Maryland viewing areas.  Congratulations to the following recipients:

• Winston Page, Roosevelt High School – Football player of the year
• Evelyn Goldwasser, Jackson Reed HS – Girls Cross Country runner of the year
• Isaiah Bowman, Banneker HS – Boys Cross Country runner of the year
• Ceph Christie, Dunbar Sr. HS – DCIAA Baseball Player of the Year and First-Team All-League catcher

We are also still accepting submissions from athletic directors, league/district chairs and booster club representatives for “all-star” listings in all of our viewing areas.

If you have honorary listings from the past school year, please send them over the next few weeks.

We are beginning our preparations for the new school/sports year, so please send us your lists before we start to embark on the new/fall school/sports season.

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Last but not least, we invite you to tune in to this Thursday’s “SportsTalk” show at 7pm for our annual show on the Blue Mountain League as we recap the season to date and look ahead to the final weeks of the regular season and the “playoff push.”  Time to get caught up on some very exciting baseball action and see who our experts believe will be the teams-to-watch over the next month.  Plus, we’ll have more local summer sports interviews with coaches and players in our viewing area! 

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.

We hope that everyone had a fabulous and relaxing Independence Day holiday this past weekend…
…but the ATVN production crew and I have continued to be very busy as we approach the hottest stretch of the summer!

Over the last two weeks, our videographers and I attended:

• The 42st US Senior Open in Hellertown
• Northampton County & Lehigh Valley legion games including the daylong “Play Day” at Limeport Stadium
• Various summer basketball tournaments
• Stadiums hosting our BML Baseball “Game of the Week”
• J. Birney Crum Stadium for the Allentown Fireworks Spectacular

A number of the summer basketball interviews aired on last week’s show, and Astound Broadband video customers can watch them for free at any time on ATVN On-Demand, with more interviews coming up on this Thursday’s program.

As a sampler, here’s a few pictures I took of local action on the (hot) concrete recently…

Also available on-demand exclusively for our customers is our USGA coverage from the Saucon Valley Country Club.

Here are more “behind the scenes” pictures from the 42nd US Senior Open.

We are also going to have a very special “SportsTalk” program coming up on ATVN later this month.  Tune in to this Thursday’s show at 7pm for details along with more local sports interviews! 

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.

We had a very busy last week in the ATVN Sports family!

In addition to broadcasting our usual Blue Mountain League Baseball “Game of the Week,” our cameras were out at several Lehigh Valley and Northampton County league baseball games, featuring teams and players in our viewing area that we’re featuring on our “SportsTalk” program.

Then, we’ve spent the last few days at the 42nd U.S. Senior Open held at Saucon Valley Country Club, interviewing officials with both the USGA and the SVCC, local fans and business people in attendance, as well as some of the biggest “golf names” in the world.A few observations from the championship…

• The people from the USGA, MSG productions and the Saucon Valley Country Club themselves were absolute joys to work with all week long. This was the third time I covered a major event at this site and each time the people get more and more accommodating and great to work with in covering the event. It was great to meet some new faces for the first time at this year’s major but also good to catch up with some familiar ones from the previous championship back in 2009 when it hosted an LPGA major.
• I got to speak with a large number of spectators, not only from our coverage area but also from New Jersey, New York and Central Pennsylvania. While it was great hearing compliments from people who traveled in specifically to see this event, it was also wonderful to hear and even see the genuine pride felt by the Lehigh Valley residents in attendance.  I honestly did not come across one person who had a major negative about the event.  It was awesome to see the Valley represented on a national scale and have so many local spectators be part of such a successful accomplishment.
• Although one-time Pennsylvania resident Jim Furyk was one of the hometown favorites (I particularly enjoyed speaking with him about fishing during his down time), the international field of competitors was all incredibly generous with their time and wonderful to speak with … on and off the record.

It was truly a great experience all the way around, as was my previous PGA/USGA coverage experiences, and I look forward to hopefully covering another major golf event in the near future.

Below, here are some photos I took from this past weekend’s championship…

We’ll have much more on this weekend’s activities for this year’s U.S. Senior Open Championship, coming up on our next “SportsTalk” program.  Co-hosting the show with me will be The Morning Call’s Golf Writer Tom Housenick to recap the proceedings.

Tune in Thursday or set your DVRs to catch all of our exclusive interviews and behind the scenes footage of this major golf championship!

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.

We continue our highlights of outstanding performances by individuals in the Astound TV Network’s coverage area this week.

We begin this week’s focus in the pool!

The award for District XI’s Girls’ Swimmer of the Year went to Kayla Johnson (Parkland HS) and the Boys’ Swimmer of the Year was Patrick Gilhool (Liberty HS). The awards are for regular season performances. Both broke the District XI record, as well as the hosting school’s (Parkland’s) pool record.

Next, we take a look at the Eastern Pennsylvania conference tennis honors.

Regular Season and Tournament Champions: Parkland(Reg Season) and Liberty (Tournament)

EPC Most Valuable Player: Noah Potts (Freedom HS)

EPC Boys Tennis (Singles) First Team All-Conference:
Noah Potts – Freedom
Dan Zolotarev – Parkland
John Willis – Stroudsburg
Shayaan Farhad – Liberty HS

EPC Boys Tennis (Singles) Second Team All-Conference:
Armaan Makwana – Becahi
Eddy Chow – Emmaus
Roman Farhad – Liberty HS

EPC Boys Tennis (Singles) Third Team All-Conference:
Arun Chhugani – Freedom HS
Fyodor Souza – Parkland
Alex Rodriguez – Nazareth
Timmy Spinosa – ACCHS

EPC Boys Tennis (Doubles) First Team All-Conference:
Gavin Evans Gartley / Sid Tekumalla – Liberty
Lucas Lee / Kevin Yao – Parkland
Jake Zeller / Danny Patruno – ACCHS

EPC Boys Tennis (Doubles) Second Team All-Conference:
Ishaan Patel / Logan Baltz – Nazareth
Noah Rodburg / Dylan Sarkozy – Freedom
Gabe Huff / Ryan Baig – Emmaus

EPC Boys Tennis (Doubles) Third Team All-Conference:
Dan Smith / Callen Kok – Becahi
Taehyuk Yang / Ryan Wu – Parkland
Chris Giannaras / Jacksen Jobes – Liberty

(Please note: the Colonial League decided several years ago to do away with their league “all-star” lists and that is why no schools from that league are represented.  Their exclusion from these lists is the school administration’s decision and not ours.) 

Keep checking back to the “SportsTalk Shop,” as we continue to highlight the high school sports teams and athletes in our area.

We also feature special guests every Thursday at 7pm on “ATVN SportsTalk.”  Our scheduled guests on this week’s program include the newest member of the ATVN sports announcing team, Erik Schmitt, discussing the new Blue Mountain League baseball season, Jim Holden from MSG Promotions will discuss the latest plans for this weekend’s 42nd US. Senior Open, plus interviews with local Lehigh Valley and Norco legion baseball programs.

Now, here’s our next installment of the best plays from our ATVN sports broadcast season to date: 

1. Astound Sports: Allentown Central Catholic vs. North Schuylkill  (3/22)
   
   
2. Astound Sports: Nazareth vs. Parkland (3/22)
   
   
3. Astound Sports: Bethlehem Catholic vs. Nuemann Goretti (3/22)
   
   
4. Astound Sports: Bethlehem Catholic vs. South Philly (3/22)
   

Don’t forget, you can purchase DVD copies of all of ATVN’s broadcast events by calling 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.

We are trying to spotlight as many high school standout student-athletes from our ATVN viewing area over the next several weeks as end of the school year honors and awards are announced.

Over the last few weeks, we have focused on tennis, girls and boys lacrosse. track and field and girls softball.

This week we focus on bowling and girls basketball.

We’ll start in the Washington DC viewing area as the DCIAA announced their All-League recipients for bowling from this past season….

Next, the Colonial League Coaches Association in the Lehigh Valley sent us their All-League athletes for this past girls basketball season. 

FIRST TEAM 

PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Brianna Moore, Senior, Palmerton

SECOND TEAM 

HONORABLE MENTION

Also, the local high school football standouts have been working hard over the last week practicing and preparing for this year’s McDonald’s All-Star high school football game which you can see on the Astound TV Network.

For many, it’s their last “hurrah” for those not going on to play at the next level.  There’s always some great stories, reflections and…usually … LOTS of offensive highlights.

Tune in to ATVN for all the action this Thursday at 10pm for this great annual tradition!

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.

We are spotlighting many high school standout student-athletes from our ATVN viewing area over the next several weeks both here at “The SportsTalk Shop” and on our “SportsTalk” television program on ATVN.

Last week we focused on tennis, lacrosse, and track and field.

Today, we put the spotlight on last week’s softball championships, plus more video highlights from recent games broadcast on our network.

It was a busy week of playoff action–both for the players on the field and for the administrators and field workers, trying to get the fields ready to play around A LOT of rain that occurred before and during a number of the games played on the diamond over the last several days.

But as far as the championships, we definitely had some impressive performances–with a number of familiar faces and teams bringing home the hardware!

In the District 6A title, Northampton and Whitehall battled for several scoreless innings before the Konkrete Kids ran off 10 unanswered runs and ended up mercy-ruling the Zephyrettes to capture their second straight district championship.

Bethlehem Catholic (4A), Williams Valley (2A) and Tri-Valley (A) also repeated as district champs for the second straight year.

Southern Lehigh won the 5A championship for the first time in three seasons, giving long-time head coach Brian Neffe yet another trophy in his illustrious coaching career.

Palisades won the 3A championship–their first since 2010.

I was on hand to see the 6A championship and can share some pictures of Northampton’s win over Whitehall.

Now, here’s our next installment of the best plays from our ATVN sports broadcast season to date: 

1. Astound Sports: Bethlehem Catholic vs. Northwestern Lehigh (3/22)
   
   
2. Astound Sports: Executive Education Academy vs. Christopher Dock (3/22)
   
   
3. Astound Sports: Nazareth vs. Emmaus (3/22)
   
   
4. Astound Sports: Easton vs. Parkland Girls (3/22)
   
   
5. Astound Sports: Parkland vs. Emmaus (2/22)
   
   

Come back next week for more information on ATVN’s coverage of local sports in our area.  Additionally on ATVN, we’ll have more interviews from the spring sports season with exclusive comments from the Wilson track and field squad and the Freedom lacrosse team–a unit that set both school and COUNTY records this year.  

Also on this Thursday’s “SportsTalk,” we will have more as preparations continue for the 42nd US Senior Open that will be held at the Saucon Valley Country Club later this month.

Next week here at “The Shop,” we’ll also look ahead to next week’s Lehigh Valley All-Star high school football game, which you will be able to see on the Astound TV Network!

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.

We’ve spent a good amount of time recently focusing on local high school baseball here on “The Shop” as well as on the Astound TV Network, so I wanted to be sure we touch on some of the other great sports action that has been going on in our coverage areas over the last couple of weeks in the other ATVN viewing areas.

First of all, hats off to our Lehigh Valley tennis champions as the District XI Doubles Finals was recently held at Parkland High School. 

In the 2A Finals, the number three seed, Armaan Makwana and Anthony Barczynski (Bethlehem Catholic HS) defeated Will Menichelli and Ford Koch (Moravian Academy) with final scores of 6-0, 6-3.

In the 3A Finals, the top-ranked team of Dan Zolatarev and Fyodor D’Souza (Parkland) defeated #2 Shayaan Farhad and Roman Farhad (Liberty), 6-2, 6-3.

Congratulations to these local tennis champions!

Other local teams claiming District XI titles in our coverage area over the last week include the Northampton volleyball and the Central Catholic and Freedom boys and Emmaus and Southern Lehigh girls lacrosse teams.  The Vikings and Spartans were both the defending champions.

For both Freedom and Emmaus, it was their first district title in their programs’ history (for Freedom, it was the first time a school in Northampton County won a district championship).  We’ve been in contact with the head coaches of both the Patriots’ and Green Hornets’ programs and plan to have them on the June 9th edition of “SportsTalk” next Thursday on ATVN.

Baseball and softball champions will also be crowned over the next few days.

In the DMV, the Washington, DC public schools athletic department announced the following honors for their track-and-field teams:

Girls Outdoor Track Runner of the Year:  Jacqueline Braxton – Roosevelt HS

Boys Outdoor Track Runner of the Year:  Jahari Miller – Wilson HS

Girls Outdoor Field Athlete of the Year: Nadia Lytle – SWW HS

Boys Outdoor Field Athlete of the Year: Morris Walker – SWW HS

Also, congratulations to McKinley High School for winning the 2022 team boys track championship and to Wilson for winning the girls title.

Last but not least, the eastern Pennsylvania outdoor summer basketball season tipped off a few weeks ago.  Here are some pictures that I took on the courts (see if you recognize any of these local athletes in action).

Keep checking back to the “SportsTalk Shop,” throughout the spring and summer months as we continue to follow the sports action in our Pennsylvania and Washington, DC viewing areas.

We’ll also have more end-of-the-school year honors, all-star listings and awards here at “The Shop” as they become available over the next several weeks.

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.

If you have been driving around the Lehigh Valley over the last couple weeks, you probably noticed a sudden surge in the billboards promoting the 42nd US Senior Open Championship being held at Saucon Valley Country Club this June.

The defending champion is someone who was born in our Delaware Valley viewing area – Jim Furyk.

Among his most impressive career accomplishments: he is one of just eight golfers EVER to win both a U. S. Open title and a U. S. Senior Open championship.

He also still boasts the tour record with a score of 58 set back in 2016 at the Travelers Championship.

I had the chance to meet Jim last week as he stopped by the Saucon Valley Country Club to get an early bird’s look at the course ahead of next month’s U. S. Senior Championship in Bethlehem.

You can see our interview with Jim on this week’s “ATVN SportsTalk.”

In addition to our interview with Furyk, tune in this Thursday at 7pm as ATVN’s Scott Barr joins me to recap last week’s Eastern Pennsylvania Conference and Colonial League baseball playoffs action.  

If you tune in, you’ll know that we had some very entertaining ball games!

Hats off to our crew for bringing you all the action, but especially the championship day of baseball.  Their day started last Thursday morning and we first came on the air at 3:30pm, but because of rain earlier in the day and delays in repairing the fields, the first pitch of our first game didn’t start until 4:24 pm and I signed off the air at 11:33pm (the second game went 10 innings!).

Between curfew issues, stadium lights potentially turning off, great plays and interesting in-game decisions, we will have PLENTY to discuss on Thursday’s show.

We’ll also be looking ahead to next week’s District XI postseason coverage which will be live on the Astound Broadband TV Network.  Make sure you bookmark our website for the latest programming information on our schedule for next week.

Don’t forget to chime in with a question or comment during our live show or suggestions of which teams we should try to focus on this summer by emailing us.

Now, here’s our next installment of the best plays from our ATVN sports broadcast season to date: 

1. Astound Sports: Notre Dame vs. WIlson (3/22)
   
   
2. Astound Sports: Bangor vs. Bethlehem Catholic (3/22)
   
   
3. Astound Sports: Northampton vs. Fox Chapel (3/22)
   
   

4. Astound Sports: Parkland vs. Pennwood (3/22)
   
   

5. Astound Sports: Allentown Central Catholic vs. Lehighton (3/22)
   

Come back next week for more information on ATVN’s coverage of local sports in our area and also to see more of our top highlights from the past sports season to see if your favorite teams and players make our weekly list!  We’ll also have more information on the local summer basketball programs that kicked off last week.

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.

This is a slightly busier week than normal for those of us in the ATVN Sports Department for a few reasons.

So what new things are going on this week?

First, we are welcoming former Major League Baseball player Matt McBride to our on-air announcing team as he will be calling games with us starting this week on the Astound TV Network.

Secondly, for the first time ever on our station, we are broadcasting the Colonial League baseball playoffs.  We are very excited to be able to focus on those teams for the first time during the spring season.

Thirdly, with the quarterfinals completed this weekend, we are in the process of putting all our information together for Tuesday’s semifinal broadcasts–and we don’t have a shortage of great storylines to focus on.

The scene for Tuesday is now set.

In the EPC semifinals, Emmaus and Parkland will square off against each other for the third time.  In the first game, Emmaus won by a single run but Parkland had the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh inning before the Hornets shut the door.

In Tuesday’s other game, it will feature the area’s top team at the end of the regular season–Liberty, against one of the hottest squads in the area–Nazareth.

All four teams split their games during the regular season, so each game will be “rubber matches.”

Be sure to tune in for our coverage starting on Tuesday afternoon!

Also, don’t forget to tune into our “SportsTalk” for interviews with local coaches and athletes every Thursday at 7pm on “ATVN SportsTalk.”  You can also chime in with a question or comment during our live show or suggestions of which teams we should try to focus on this spring by emailing us.

Also, for more on all of the teams participating in this week’s baseball playoff action, we had a comprehensive preview of both the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference and Colonial League playoffs on last week’s “SportsTalk” show, which Astound Broadband video customers can watch for free at any time On-Demand.

Last but not least, we also have interviews with local baseball and softball teams you will want to check out that were a part of last week’s program as well.

Come back to “The SportsTalk Shop” next week for more information on ATVN’s coverage of local sports in our area, reactions and news from this week’s sports action and more of our top highlights from the past sports seasons.

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.