We had a lot of fun this past basketball/wrestling season bringing you all the sites and sounds of a number of scholastic sports events.

We also welcomed some new faces to our on-air sports staff and appreciate their added contributions and unique insights for all of our broadcasts this year!

Over the upcoming weeks we’ll continue to post highlights of the best plays from our games this year, along with passing along honors and awards given out from the previously played sports seasons.

But today, we are going to post pictures of our new broadcast teams out and about at sports venues and locations from across the Astound TV Network’s coverage area.

Enjoy!

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

The high school winter season finally came to an end last weekend.  While no local teams again made the championship round this year, there were still plenty of outstanding games and more than the usual share of highlights from the past season.

On last Thursday’s “SportsTalk” show, we looked back at the top moments, players and lasting memories from the winter season with ATVN analysts Brittany Thomas and John Leone.  This show is available to Astound Broadband customers to watch at any time On-Demand, along with the last two months’ worth of games we broadcast on the Astound TV Network.

Today, we begin our countdown of the best highlights of the past year aired on ATVN.

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

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

3. Astound Sports: Pocono Mountain West vs. Parkland (2/23)

4. Astound Sports: Allentown Central Catholic vs. Emmaus (2/23)

5. Astound Sports: Southern Lehigh vs. Saucon Valley (2/23)

Check back each week for more of the top highlights from our games from the season right here at “The SportsTalk Shop.” Also, join us on this Thursday’s “SportsTalk” show at 7pm on ATVN as we turn the page to the spring season.

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.

It seems an annual tradition that when the state playoffs start up, soon thereafter begins the increasingly hostile debate on whether boundary and non-boundary schools should be competing within the same state tournament in the PIAAs.

​Such was a topic of debate on a recent edition of ATVN SportsTalk…

Recently within District XI, we’ve had non-boundary schools once again dominating the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference and District XI playoff championships.  ​ The debate gets louder and more heated as more and more non-boundary schools dominate competition and scores become more and more lopsided (no boundary school has defeated a non-boundary school in the last eight years of District XI competition and a school like Executive Education Charter school has won it every year of its existence). 

Over the last few years we have had a number of politicians, school administrators, current and former coaches and athletic directors and other people in the sports world weighing in on this issue.  With no easy resolution ever in sight, the only thing people seem to agree on is that it will take an act of legislation to change what is currently in place at the state level.

As far as if there will be anything that ever changes on a local league or regional level, stay tuned over the coming months to see what develops.

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Now here’s highlights of recent sports broadcasts on ATVN, with many of these games still available to watch for free for Astound video customers at anytime!

​1.  Astound Sports: Nazareth vs. Freedom (12/22)

2. Astound Sports: Liberty vs. Freedom  (1/23)

3. Astound Sports: Blue Mountain vs.  Bethlehem Catholic (11/22)

4. Astound Sports:  Parkland vs. Freedom (11/22)

Check back in a few weeks for more samples of the best plays from this past high school winter sports season, along with some final thoughts on the season gone by!

Also, don’t forget to check out this weekend’s schedules of PIAA state basketball playoff games on our website to see which games will be broadcasting on our network.

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

I had the honor this past weekend to represent Astound Broadband at the 63rd Annual National Football Foundation-Lehigh Valley Chapter 2023 football scholar athletes awards ceremony held this year in Bethlehem, PA.

Each year, the “NFF” helps college-bound student athletes who make outstanding contributions both on and off the football field.  The awards are determined by organization members and local coaches and use a 40/40/20 percentage formula (for academic, athletic and charitable work, respectively). These awards are made available to every public, private and charter high school with a football program in the District XI region, which incorporates Lehigh, Northampton and Monroe counties.

Additionally, financial awards are also granted for outstanding accomplishments made by local colleges within the district footprint.

I’ve had the privilege of announcing the games of, as well as speaking with, a number of this year’s scholarship recipients and it was great to see so many young people’s great efforts, in multiple ways, get rewarded at this year’s event.

Here are some of the images taken from this year’s award ceremony presentation…

The major award winners in this year’s event were…

Small School Winner: Allentown Central Catholic High School – Griffin Patridge

A 6’2”, 185 lb. outside linebacker and wide receiver, he ranks in the top 19% of his class. He is an Honor Roll student and member of the National Honor Society. He earned All-State and First Team All-Conference defensive honors, while serving as team captain. He is the Student Government President, participates in various school sponsored clubs, and is the School Representative for the EPC Student Athletic Character Council. 

Big School Winner: Pleasant Valley High School – Oluwafeola Olaniyan

A 5’10”, 180 lb. outside linebacker and fullback, he ranks in the top 3 %of his class. He is an Honor Roll student, National Honor Society member, and is a state qualifier in the Supply Chain Management test for FBLA. He earned All-Conference First Team offensive and defensive honors, while serving as a team captain. He is the Future Business Leaders of America Vice-President, Key Club Treasurer, and Red Cross Blood Drive Host. He has performed over 500 hours of volunteer work.

Ed Watto Award Winner: Nazareth Area High School – Devin Tavares

A 5’8”, 165 lb. cornerback, he ranks in the top 6% of his class. He is an Honor Roll student and member of the National Honor Society. He is a member of various school sponsored clubs, serving as a club officer, is a Class Officer, and participates in varsity track and field. He volunteers with his church as a Sunday School Teacher assistant, the Red Cross, a Blood Drive, Giving Tree, Nazareth Open House, a youth football camp instructor, and is a volunteer waiter for a local club. 

Coach Michael “Guut” Gurdineer Award – Nate Kemmerer (Parkland High School)

Honorary Award for the Outstanding Lineman of the Lehigh Valley Award selected by the Northampton Area High School Football Staff.

For more information or to become a member of the Lehigh Valley Chapter of the National Football Foundation, you can go to caringcent.org/nff/chapter

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

Before we start our look back at the top teams and plays that you saw on the Astound TV Network this winter, a quick programming note.

Coming up on this Thursday’s ATVN SportsTalk our guests will be Head Coach Dave Lutz and members of the District XI 6A champion Easton Area girls basketball team.

The Red Rovers have been one of the most dominating teams in our area over the last few years–not losing a single regular season game the past two seasons.

They face some strong competition coming up when they play their first state playoff game this Friday against Unionville and they also have traditional state powerhouses like Archbishop Carroll, Archbishop Ryan, Spring-Ford, Red Lion and other strong programs, not to mention potential rematches with local rivals Liberty and Nazareth, who also advanced into the PIAAs from our viewing area.

Watch the show live or set your DVRs to see and hear some of the top girls basketball players in the state on ATVN SportsTalk, this Thursday at 7pm!

And…don’t forget to check out this weekend’s schedules of PIAA state basketball playoff games on our website to see which games will be broadcasting on our network.

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Now here’s highlights of recent sports broadcasts on ATVN, with many of these games still available to watch for free for Astound video customers at any time!

​1. Astound Sports: Nazareth vs. Freedom (12/22)

2. Astound Sports: Liberty vs. Freedom  (1/23)

3. Astound Sports: Blue Mountain vs.  Bethlehem Catholic (11/22)

4. Astound Sports:  Parkland vs. Freedom (11/22)

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

Check back in a few weeks for more samples of the best plays from this past high school football season, along with some final thoughts on the season gone by!

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

The time period from early February through most of March is by far the busiest timespan for the Astound TV Network in terms of our local high school sports productions.

If all goes well (and our local team keeps winning) we will do as many as 17 productions in any five-day period and will sometimes work six days a week (plus Sundays if there’s bad weather and we get “backed up” on playoff games).  This does not include any Lafayette or any other events or happenings that we may be working on.

Fortunately to help us out during this hectic time of year, we have been able to add an additional new voice to our high school basketball broadcasts.

Dieruff Varsity Basketball Head Coach Marlon Randall is joining us for select broadcasts this month and sharing his insights on local basketball and the current postseason action.

Before coaching in Allentown, he was a head coach at Pottsville HS and an assistant coach on the Reading boys basketball staff that won a state championship in 2017.  Since he has prepared for, studied “film” on and has coached against many of these same teams during the past season, he gives a unique perspective on our local teams during the biggest games of the year.

I’m sure he would rather be spending his “March” coaching his beloved Huskies basketball team in the district and state playoffs right now rather than sitting alongside yours truly, but he’s done a great job with his first few games last week and we are very lucky to have his expertise and commentary as part of our new listing of ATVN announcers this winter.

Also, to help us with our postseason coverage of District XI and PIAA state wrestling, we are pleased to welcome Adriana Dias to join our announcing team.

Adriana made history this winter by being part of the first ever women’s wrestling team at Cedar Crest College.  With her first broadcast on the ATVN, she also became the first woman to announce a high school wrestling match in the Lehigh Valley.

Please join me in welcoming Marlon and Adriana to the Astound TV Network sports family!

PROGRAMMING NOTE:

Join us this Thursday at 7pm for “ATVN SportsTalk” as our own color basketball analyst Megan Kane will be our special guest previewing this weekend’s District XI basketball championship games.

Also, check out our broadcast schedule here on our website for all of our coverage of the Lehigh Valley title basketball games here 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.

Coach Jarrett Carnes joined the Astound TV Network in 2022, contributing a regular “video blog” on the local hoops scene during the winter sports season and putting the spotlight on the top news, teams and players in the ATVN viewing area.

In his fourth podcast this winter, Coach Carnes reviews the regular season and the EPC league playoffs and previews the upcoming District XI playoffs.

Check back for more of Coach Carnes’ insights on the district and state playoffs for Eastern Pennsylvania girls basketball here on our website in a couple weeks!

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PROGRAMMING NOTE:

Tune in for a comprehensive preview of the entire District XI playoffs on this week’s “ATVN SportsTalk,” complete with keys to victory, player profiles and winning team predictions.  ATVN customers can watch the show anytime On-Demand!

Also, be sure to check out our broadcast schedule here on our website for this weekend’s opening round of the district playoffs and the District XI 3A wrestling championship.  Next week we will also be busy with more district basketball semifinal playoff games and regional wrestling coverage on the Astound TV Network.  Be sure to bookmark our website to catch our broadcast schedule of those big sport playoff matchups when the dates, times and other information about those events become available to us.

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.

One of the most difficult aspects of being a freshman in college is adjusting to the lifestyle of a college student. As a sophomore in college, I believe this is true, but what I believe is even more difficult is adjusting to this new lifestyle while also being a new student-athlete, particularly as a female wrestler. When I arrived at East Stroudsburg University (ESU), I needed to learn new workout regimens, time management techniques, and eating habits. The largest difference, however, was having to learn a completely new wrestling style. Not only did I go from Folkstyle to Freestyle, but I also had to master the Freestyle scoring system.

Folkstyle was the only style of wrestling I was aware of for the first seventeen years of my life. I didn’t learn about freestyle wrestling until the summer of 2020. Here are some important distinctions I’ve discovered during the last three years. Women’s Folkstyle ranges from beginner to high school level. In this method, it is more important to try to control your opponent while on top, while your opponent on the bottom is attempting to escape. Locking your hands in specific positions is prohibited in Folkstyle and will result in a point being deducted from your score. It is generally not advisable to throw your opponent, but it is prohibited to suplex, or arch your opponent over your head.

Another way to lose points in Folkstyle is by passive wrestling, sometimes known as stalling; you get a warning and then lose points after the second call. I believe the largest distinction exists between the various scoring systems/periods for each style. Folkstyle wrestling consists of three two-minute bouts. One point is awarded for an escape, two points for a takedown or reversal, and two to three points for a near fall. Three team points are awarded for a decision (1–7-point difference), four team points for a major decision (8–14-point difference), five team points for a tech fall (15-point difference), and six points for a pin (opponent’s’ shoulders are flat on the mat).

Meanwhile, women can be seen competing in Freestyle from college to the Olympic level. The main goal of this style is to expose your opponent’s back while remaining on the bottom and avoiding being turned/exposed. Unlike Folkstyle, it is permitted to lock your hands at any point throughout the bout when wrestling freestyle. One cool feature is that you may toss your opponent, whether it’s a simple move like a lateral drop or a complex move like a suplex. Instead of stalling and giving up points right away, in freestyle, one wrestler is placed on a thirty-second shot clock, and if neither athlete scores any points during that time, the non-shot clock opponent is granted a point, and the other passive wrestler is cautioned.

The scoring system/periods for freestyle are more intricate; you wrestle for two three-minute periods separated by a thirty-second break. You get one point if you push your opponent out of the circle or reverse them. You get two points if you take them down to their elbows or knees. You also get two points for exposing the opponent’s back using techniques like a leg lace. You get four points if you take down your opponent from their feet to their back. Lastly, you get five points if you throw your opponent using complex moves like a suplex. Even team score differs significantly—for a team score, you score three team points for a decision (1–9 -point difference). There are no major decisions in freestyle; instead, a tech fall is a ten-point differential worth four team points, and a pin is worth five team points. One important team score distinction is that if you score a point at any point during the match, you receive one team point even if you lose the match. I enjoy freestyle wrestling because there is no opportunity for passive wrestling, which makes it more entertaining to watch, and if you are not good on the bottom after fifteen seconds, you are placed back on your feet.

Some not-so-complicated changes for me were that in high school, we normally practiced once a day, with a lift occasionally added. Meanwhile, we train/work out many times every day at ESU. We have a lift in the morning or at night twice a week, followed by a later practice. On other days, we practice in the morning in the room or pool, then practice later in the day. Even if we only have one practice, I will try to get in two or three sessions, whether cardio or lifting. Because I work out several times a day, time management is essential in my life. Because I just practiced once a day or had matches barely an hour away in high school, I had plenty of time to finish my homework or study. Meanwhile, in college, I’m juggling numerous classes, wrestling, preparing for matches that are at least two hours away, and now clinical hours for my degree. I spend many nights at the library, which is not fun, but you got to do what you need to do. The most significant lesson I learnt was the importance of eating a well-balanced diet. Because many of the matches I wrestled in high school were Madison style, making weight was not a problem. In college, my freshman year, I lost so much weight quickly by eating a balanced diet and working out that I always weighed at least one pound under my weight class. Despite everything, I grew into a better version of myself.

As I speak, if you are uninformed of what is going on with Sanction PA, there are currently 100 high school girls’ teams who have exceeded the PIAA requirement to be voted for sanctions as of February 14, 2023. We now have the ability to hold formal state finals similar to the ones held in Hershey, Pennsylvania for boys. Every day, I am grateful to be a part of this drive for sanctioning, as well as to all of the people I have met through this sport. I’m even more thankful for the lessons I’ve learned in the last two years at ESU. Wrestling in college requires a lot of hard work, dedication, and many sleepless nights, but it is one of the most gratifying experiences you can have. My high school coaches, college coaches, and parents have always informed me that “wrestling is wrestling” no matter what.

It’s been a little while since we’ve had an opportunity to look back and feature highlights from our recent broadcasts of high school sports on the Astound TV Network.

Now, here’s part one of our look back at the best plays and highlights of games and matches this winter on ATVN…

1. Astound Sports: Northampton vs. Liberty (12/22)
   
   
2. Astound Sports:   Saucon Valley vs Pen Argyl (12/22)
   
   
3. Astound Sports: Southern Lehigh vs. Salisbury (12/22)
   
   
4. Astound Sports: Parkland vs. Liberty (12/22)
   
   
5. Astound Sports:  Notre Dame vs. Southern Lehigh (1/23)
   
   

Check back to our website for more samples of the best plays from this winter’s high school sports seasons, along with more commentaries on local wrestling and basketball action. 

Also, keep referring back to our website for the latest schedule information on playoff basketball games and post-season wrestling matches on 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.

After Monday night’s thrilling double overtime Bethlehem Catholic victory on ATVN and before preparing for our final regular season high school sports event of the winter on Tuesday, I did a little reflecting back over the last couple of months…

In 1969, the Beatles formed an idea to “Get Back” to what they had done before their rise in fame with the way they would put their music together.

We had a similar idea at the ATVN studio this winter – to get back to putting our high school sports schedule together the way we did before COVID (and all the resulting after-effects) which slashed the way we had “normally” covered local sports the last few years.

  At the same time, we additionally tried to incorporate brand new elements for our viewers, and succeeded by including the following list of “first-time ever” events broadcast on our network:

• First-ever EPC girls basketball regular season game
• First-ever Colonial girls basketball regular season game
• First-ever Colonial League wrestling match 
• First-ever women’s wrestling match 
• First-ever girls basketball regular season doubleheader
• First Colonial baseball championship

And… we also featured:

• More Colonial League games than ever before
• More local schools than ever before
• Regular blog entries here on this website promoting women’s basketball and wrestling all season long

We accomplished all the above while still bringing our audience many of the most competitive games of the year, including the two down-to-the-wire games we brought you last Monday (and, for anyone who spends any time around high school kids will tell you, it’s not always easy to predict what 15-year-olds will be like or how well they’ll play on any given day).

Things were complicated a bit by some rather dramatic (and last-minute) changes in “traditional” scheduling by the local schools themselves as the officiating shortage is beginning to impact the scholastic sports landscape (more on this matter coming up later this year).

We have received a lot of great comments about what we were able to do this winter from our viewers and we were very happy that they took the time to share their opinions and positive thoughts about our new game plans with us.

We made some bold predictions several months ago about what we were looking to accomplish and a number of things had to go right in order for us to pull all of them off. 

Thanks to a great effort by a lot of different people, and judging by the positive responses from our viewers…we did it!

But speaking of offering “thanks…”

First, we could not have accomplished all of this without the incredible cooperation of the local schools and their athletic directors, administrators, coaches and staff.

To the teams and student athletes themselves for putting on some great performances, both with very competitive games and some great individual performances throughout the season.

Our crew had to deal with some radical changes in how we implemented our schedule and were amazingly flexible and accommodating to some new ways of doing things, in addition to doing their usual first-rate, quality job in bringing local sports home to our viewers.

Our own ATVN administration was unbelievably helpful and supportive in enabling us to build our broadcast schedule and maintain our ability to carry out our goal to broaden our local coverage and try to satisfy the needs of as many of our viewers as humanly possible.

We also had unbelievably good fortunes from a weather perspective, which not only reduced our “normal” number of postponed contests but also (not counting the issues raised by the officiating shortage) kept radical rescheduling to a minimum this winter…I’ll leave that up to you in terms of assigning credit for that one.

Last and certainly not least, in addition to everything we did “sports-wise,” our annual Dream Come True telethon raised a record amount of money this past winter and surpassed our total from two years ago by over $43,000.  Once again, all the credit for this goes to our viewers for participating and donating money to this great cause, along with all the behind-the-scenes personnel involved in putting the entire event together.

But much like a coach will do after a quality win, our celebration will be short-lived as we get ready for our next chapter and look ahead to making even more additions and bringing in new elements for the next sports season.

Before we do, I did want to extend one more heartfelt appreciation for everyone’s efforts and a sincere “thank you” to everyone involved in this process.

Now, let’s bring on the winter sports playoffs!!!

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.