Last time here at “The SportsTalk Shop” we brought you part one of our highlights from an exciting high school sports season.

But this spring was unique because it marked the first time that our network not only brought you a state playoff game, but we included girls softball in our coverage this spring.

With that said, here’s part two of our look at recent productions on Astound Broadband TV, which includes our coverage of the District XI 5A & 6A softball championships…

1. Astound Sports: Easton vs. Nazareth (6/23)

2. Astound Sports:  Pocono Mountain East vs. Whitehall (6/23)

3. Astound Sports: Avon Grove vs. Liberty (6/23)

4. Astound Sports: Liberty vs. North Penn (6/23)

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

6. Astound Sports: Parkland vs. Freedom (2/23)

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

8. Astound Sports: Liberty vs. Easton (3/23)

Now that the high school baseball season is over, tune in for our ongoing coverage this summer of ATVN’s Blue Mountain League Baseball “Game of this Week.”  This Tuesday we bring you exclusive coverage of the Egypt Orioles taking on the Martin’s Creek Creekers.

And … be sure to check back next week to “The SportsTalk” Shop for more video highlights and insights from this spring 2023 baseball and softball 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.

We finally closed the books on our “spring sports season” on Astound’s ATVN last week.

With that said, we present to you several highlights of the top games we broadcast this past spring…

1. Astound Sports: Liberty vs. Nazareth (5/23)
   
   
2. Astound Sports: Emmaus vs. Parkland (5/23)
   
   
3. Astound Sports: Liberty vs. Parkland (5/23)
   
   
4. Astound Sports: Saucon Valley vs. Bangor (5/23)
   
   
5. Astound Sports: Saucon Valley vs. Allentown Central Catholic (5/23)
   
   
6. Astound Sports: Blue Mountain vs. Bethlehem Catholic (5/23)
   
   
7. Astound Sports: Parkland vs. Liberty (5/23)
   
   

Now that the high school baseball season is over, tune in for our first broadcast of the summer of ATVN’s Blue Mountain League Baseball “Game of this Week” this Tuesday as the Limeport Dodgers take on the Northern Yankees.

And be sure to check back to “The SportsTalk” Shop for more video highlights from this spring 2023 baseball and softball 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.

When I told my parents the summer going into seventh grade that I wanted to run cross country they looked at me like I had four heads. I told them that it was something that I wanted to try and it would keep me in shape for my other sports. They supported me and they dropped me off at my first summer run practice. I did not know what to expect, all I knew was that it would be a lot of running. I had all the equipment for it. All I needed was a pair of sneakers and believe me I have plenty of those. What no one told me was all of the hard work that went into the sport. For those who say, “all you do is run, how difficult can it be?” are wrong because there is so much more to it than running. In my opinion running is a mental sport. It's all about having a strong mindset to go get that girl in front of you crossing the finish line or having the strength to finish a race without walking.

I learned very quickly that cross country was more than just running. I had to learn how to breathe properly, maintain a pace, and how to tackle hills. Something else I learned was that stretching is imperative before and after races. I was never one to ever stretch before exercise and that’s one reason as to why I am not very flexible. I learned that if you do not stretch and do a cool down run after a race, you will feel absolutely terrible the next day. All of the lactic acid will build up in your muscles making your entire body feel horrendous.

My favorite part of cross country was running the last four hundred meters of every race. This is where you break out into a dead sprint to try and pass as many people as you possibly can. I learned to reach deep within myself to find the last bit of energy that would push me to the finish line. This is where mental strength becomes an important
part of the sport. Something I found very different in this sport was that it is more about your individual performance rather than a team. Every week you would go out and try to beat your time from the week before.

As much as cross country was an individualized sport, the team felt like a family to me. Everyone always supported each other through every race and you always had someone cheering you on. I am very thankful for all of the amazing coaches that I had. Coach Gillespie and Coach O’Neill were my first two coaches. They had a great amount
of knowledge of the sport. They were the first coaches to teach me all the ins and outs of running. Coach Sorrentino and Coach Marakovits always pushed me to do my best and be successful in every race.

When I got to high school I had the pleasure of running for Coach Lelko and Coach Fabian. These two are the best of the best and they have been doing it for many years. I could not have asked for better coaches than these two. Their experience and expertise in this sport helped me improve my game. Not only did they make the team work very hard day in and day out pushing us to our limits running Peach Bottom on a Saturday morning at eight am but they also somehow made it fun. I have so many amazing memories from them but my all time favorite was finding Whitehall rocks on the Ironton Rail Trail during our runs. It was like going on an egg hunt that turned into a competition of who can collect the most rocks. I must admit, I found a lot of rocks over the years and have quite the collection on display in my bedroom. My favorite rock I found was one that is painted like a turtle.

Who would’ve thought the sport that I signed up for to keep in shape would become a sport I fell in love with. I qualified for districts all four years, ran in four league races, and even came in the top five for the girls race at DeSales my freshman year. I was given the honor of rookie of the year during my freshman year and was honored to be the scholar athlete my senior year. Joining cross country was one of the best decisions I have ever made. The skills I learned in this sport are everlasting. For those of you who think cross country is just running you are wrong. It is a lot of physical and mental strength. I challenge you to get out there and run.

Remember it’s just a hill, get over it!

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 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.

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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: 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.