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The HS Football “Astounding 10” Debuts

August 19, 2024 By Chris Michael Leave a Comment

For several years now, I thought that we at Astound TV Sports had generated the most comprehensive high school football poll in our District XI/ATVN coverage area.

Each season, we are blessed to have a rotating panel of very knowledgeable Lehigh Valley football coaches, athletic directors and media members to give their opinion and vote for the top teams in the area.

But this year, we’re upping our game a bit!

For this fall, we unveil the “Astounding 10’ high school football weekly poll!

Our pollsters this fall will be giving their selections for who are the top 10 performing football teams that you’ll see on the Astound TV Network this fall.

Each voter will select the top 10 teams – with each team getting 10 points for the top team, 9 for the second best team, 8 for third and so forth.

One caveat – in order to balance the bigger and smaller schools in the region, each pollster MUST include at least three teams that are NOT a 6A-sized school.

It’s a brand new way to gauge the top teams in Eastern Pennsylvania this fall, and we invite you to check back each week throughout this football season to see which teams make our poll…and who’s listed where, as decided by our diverse group of voters.

One other unique aspect to our poll…the coaches and athletic directors’ names are never revealed so they can vote with their minds…and also avoid any potential “bulletin board” material, so each one can make selections without repercussions.

Throughout the years that we have done our poll, the coaches and athletic directors have always maintained very objective opinions.  If you look back through our archives, you’ll notice that our pollsters have been amazingly accurate and unbiased in their selections, and our polls’ top teams very often finish similarly in the same order as the “power points” system that District XI uses when compiling its standings and playoff positionings.

 As far as which media members have a say?  They will identify themselves on our Thursday “SportsTalk” show, which, this fall, will be streamed live on YouTube every Thursday at 7pm, in addition to being broadcast each week on ATVN.

 So without any further delay, here’s the grand unveiling of the new “Astound 10” for our preseason poll….(the number in parenthesis is the average points received for each team, with ‘10’ being the maximum.)

  1. Parkland (9.6)
  2. Nazareth (7.8)
  3. Emmaus (6.8)
  4. Freedom (6.6)
  5. Northampton (5.4)
  6. Northwestern (4.8)
  7. Becahi (3.2)
  8. Whitehall (2.8)
  9. Central Catholic (1.6)
  10. Notre Dame-Green Pond (.8)

Other teams receiving more than one mention: Easton, So. Lehigh

Our preseason polls show that while Parkland received a heavy majority of first place votes, there’s a tight race among many of the teams behind Trojans and should make for some interesting races for this year’s District XI playoffs.

Bookmark and return to our page each week and check back after this weekend’s game to see if your favorite teams moved up or down in the minds of our pollsters!

 

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.

Blue Mountain League Baseball ‘24 Recap

August 16, 2024 By Chris Michael Leave a Comment

I know I keep mentioning that we are breaking new ground in expanding our coverage and increasing the way we serve our customers and viewers but…well, we did it again this summer!

Astound TV broadcast more Blue Mountain League baseball games than in any other year in our network’s history.

And…

ATVN broadcast the final two games of the Blue Mountain League Championship this summer for the first time.

And…

For the first time ever, a BML baseball game was live video streamed on the Astound YouTube channel, allowing friends and family members of many of the participants who live outside the state (some as far away as Seattle, Washington) to watch their favorite baseball players play in the deciding game in this year’s championship, won by the Limeport Bulls.

 A lot went in to all of these new accomplishments and we thank all of the members of the league for working with us in enhancing our coverage this year!

 

Here are video highlights from most of our BML broadcasts this summer (others game recaps were posted earlier here at “The SportsTalk Shop” … which you’ve already seen if you follow us regularly).

 

Astound Sports: Blue Mountain League; Egypt Orioles vs. Limeport Bulls (8/24)

Astound Sports: Blue Mountain League; Martin’s Creek Creekers vs. Northern Yankees (7/24)

Astound Sports: Blue Mountain League; Martin’s Creek Creekers vs. Limeport Bulls (7/24)

Astound Sports: Blue Mountain League; Easton Falcons vs. Martin’s Creek Creekers (7/24)

 

 It was a great season, with many great team and individual accomplishments.  Here are this year’s BML’s “All-League” honors for 2024…

Manager of the Year: A.J. Brosious – Jordan Creek Orioles

Most Valuable Player: Tyler LePageAvengers

Rookie of the Year: Zach Smith – Limeport Bulls

Iron Man of the League: Brian Robison – Limeport Dodgers

Pitcher: Adam Maini Limeport Bulls

Catcher: Derek Holmes – Northern Yankees

1st Base: Logan Castellano – Easton Falcons

2nd Base: Trey Hinkle – Jordan Creek Orioles

3rd Base: Dan Orrego – Easton Falcons 

Shortstop: Matt Rosace – Martins Creek Creekers

Outfield ( 3 ) :

                    Dominick Bayo  – Jordan Creek Orioles

                     Ian Csencsits – Jordan Creek Orioles

                     Jon Fleck – Martins Creek Creekers 

Utility Position: Luke Meehan – Avengers

Designated Hitter: Sean Superka – Avengers

Umpire of the Year: Mark Brown 

 

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.

HS Football ’24 Scheduling Highlights

August 15, 2024 By Chris Michael Leave a Comment

One way or another, it’s going to be a unique fall football season in the Lehigh Valley this year…and Astound TV is proud to broadcast more high school football games than ever before!

A couple years ago, the Colonial League agreed to merge its high school football season, which radically changed the schedule for local teams.  In an effort to make games more competitive, the “co-op” matched up schools/teams of similar sizes, which meant a number of teams in our coverage area would play several teams outside the region – which made it harder to feature our local schools on television broadcasts.

Now, the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference has made a major change – adding three ‘non-conference’ games to every team’s schedule, which also forces our local teams to seek opponents outside the area.

The result is that many teams will face (and travel to) schools far beyond the Lehigh Valley’s borders (a few teams are playing teams from different states!)

Complicating things…there continues to be issues with the number of officials and transportation, which means games have continued to be moved to different days of the week as schools try to deal with these shortages while still maintaining a full sports schedule for as many of its fall sports teams as possible.

Despite all these changes the last two years, the Astound TV Network has brought you more games and more schools than ever before in our station’s history – a trend that will continue this fall – while still bringing you the most anticipated matchup of the season.

And even with even more radical adjustments for this year’s season, the Astound TV sports department is committed to continuing this goal of expanding our high school sports coverage once again this fall.

As we get ready to bring you more games than ever before this fall, there are several days in which there are multiple matchups that will be of interest to our viewers.  Like the last two seasons, we will be waiting until we get closer to those dates to determine which teams/games we will be broadcasting.

With that in mind, we already have posted games that we are “locked into” for broadcasting here on our website (see those games on our HS Football page).

ADDITIONALLY, there are many more games listed below that we are considering broadcasting for the fall – most, if not all of these dates will feature doubleheader football games featuring some combinations of the games listed below, on the Astound TV Network (a final determination will be made as we get closer to these games/dates)…

8/23 (Fri.) – Geo. Washington at Parkland & Saucon Valley at Bangor

8/29 (Thurs) – Northwestern at Northern Lehigh

8/30 (Fri ) – Parkland at Freedom; Becahi at Emmaus; Nazareth at Whitehall

9/6 (Fri) – Central at Freedom; Parkland at Northampton; Northwestern at Bangor

9/7 (Sat) No. Lehigh at Pen Argyl and Stroudsburg at Liberty

9/12 (Thur) – Salisbury at Catty

9/13 (Fri) – Freedom at Nazareth; Northampton at Liberty; Becahi at Easton; Saucon Valley at Notre Dame; Salisbury at Catty

9/20 (Fri) – Easton at Emmaus; Northampton at Whitehall; Nazareth at Parkland; Liberty at Dieruff; Notre Dame at Catty

9/27 (Fri) – Catty at Saucon Valley; Pleasant Valley at Nazareth; Dieruff at WHS; Nolehi at Notre Dame

10/4 (Fri) – Whitehall at Emmaus; Nazareth at Liberty;Northampton at Easton

10/11 (Fri) – Easton at Liberty; Freedom at Northampton; Solehi at Bangor; Nolehi at Catty

10/12 (Sat) – Saucon Valley at Pen Argyl or Parkland at Central or Nazareth at Bethlehem Catholic 

10/18 (Fri) – Parkland at Whitehall; Easton at Freedom; Solehi at Saucon Valley; Northampton at Nazareth

10/25 (Fri) – Parkland at Emmaus; Central at Whitehall; Nazareth at Easton; Beca at Northampton; Northwestern at Solehi; Saucon Valley at Nolehi

Again, the above list is IN ADDITION to our combination of games already posted on our broadcast page here on our website – be sure to bookmark and keep checking back to our “HS Football Schedule” page on our website.  That list, AND a combination of the games listed above, will comprise our broadcast schedule this season.

Additionally, we hope to ADD high school soccer to our broadcasting plans for this fall as well!

As always, I would love to hear your feedback and encourage our viewers to share this list with their friends and family members.  I have tried to be very open since I’ve had the opportunity to select games on our network the last two years, and I welcome your thoughts and suggestions to bring the best quality games and high school football broadcast schedule to our viewers.

Feel free to contact me at chris.michael@astound.com

…and bring on the new 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.

New “Fall Faces” ’24

August 12, 2024 By Chris Michael Leave a Comment

With the fall sports season rapidly approaching, we wanted to let you know that the Astound Sports family and our coverage of local sports has expanded … again!

Among our plans for this fall include adding to our broadcast lineup the District XI boys AND girls soccer playoffs coverage.  Furthermore, we will be enhancing our coverage of girls field hockey with regular blog entries and updates on our “ATVN SportsTalk” program!

To help us with our additional and EXPANDED coverage for the fall sports season, we would like to welcome in several new announcers to our team (with more new faces also coming to your ATVN video screens later this fall) and also announce that several broadcasters who joined us later last year will be expanding their roles with us this autumn.

 

Greg Moore

Originally from New York, Greg became one of the most respected assistant coaches in Eastern Pennsylvania. In addition to his high school program successes, Moore’s two sons have become outstanding Division-I lineman at Virginia Tech University. When not coaching or attending his sons’ games, Greg will share his experiences and football insights on ATVN’s telecasts.

 

Katelyn Arnold

A recent graduate of Lafayette College, Katelyn will be broadcasting games and also begin a column focusing on girls field hockey for the Astound website starting with the 2024-25 school year.  As a player, she received numerous local and national honors, was named “Player of the Year,” multiple times in both high school and college and continues to be ranked as one of the most efficient goalkeepers of all time in both the  scholastic and collegiate levels.

 

Ramie Moussa

Ramie is a former student of mine. In spite of that tough start (ahem!), Moussa excelled as a football coach winning a District XI football title in 2021 as head coach of Palisades High School before becoming an assistant coach on the Emmaus High School football staff.  Prior to joining ATVN, he brings football experience working both in the booth and sideline reporting.

 

Paul Carrerras

Paul just graduated from East Stroudsburg University where he was a big part of their football program and was an outstanding two-way player for Bethlehem Catholic High School.  He will be working the sidelines for several of ATVN’s high school football broadcasts.

 

Gabrielle DiPaula

Gabrielle made her Astound TV debut with us during our baseball playoffs coverage this summer.  She has a history for announcing various sports at the high school and college levels.

Again, we’ll have more exciting news and additions concerning our local sports coverage coming up over the next few days and weeks, so keep checking back to “The SportsTalk Shop” for more information!

 

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.

FINAL ALL-STARS 23-24

July 23, 2024 By Chris Michael Leave a Comment

Today here at “The Shop”, we post our final all-star listings and special accomplishments for student-athletes in the Astound TV viewing area for the 2023-24 school year.

First, here are the girls field hockey “All-Eastern Pennsylvania Conference” players….

First Team:

Lexi Causa – Midfield, Easton

Elaina Fragassi – Midfield, Parkland

Aurora Gery – Midfield, Parkland

Morgan Herceg – Forward / Midfield, Nazareth

Raegan Iasiello – Midfield / Defense, Northampton

Eleanor Kirkwood – Midfield, East Stroudsburg South

Alyssa Laubach – Midfield, Freedom

Mackenzie Mann – Goalie, Nazareth

Ruby Miller – Midfield, Liberty

Jocelyn Morgan – Forward, Easton

Riley Tepper – Midfield, Stroudsburg

Melea Weber – Forward / Midfield, Emmaus

2nd Team:

Cameron Alvino – Midfield, Nazareth

Raegan Day – Defense, Easton

Kendall Iasiello – Forward, Northampton

Mena Kazista – Defense, Nazareth

Autum Kernechel – Midfield, Emmaus

Mackenzie Lopez – Defense, Pocono Mountain East

Sydney Moritz – Defense, Stroudsburg

Ava O’Connor – Forward, Stroudsburg

Morgann Orobono – Defense, Emmaus

Molly Sobers – Forward, Pleasant Valley

Ella Steirer – Midfield, Northampton

Dakota Stiff – Midfield / Defense, Pocono Mountain East

Lily Trocki – Goalie, Whitehall

Tiana Weeks – Forward, East Stroudsburg South

Abby Wortmann – Midfield, Nazareth

3rd Team:

Lilla Berces- Goalie, Bethlehem Catholic

Jordan Brunnabend – Defense, Parkland

Jodi Bowen – Midfield, Pocono Mountain West

Emma Cari – Goalie, Emmaus

Ashlee Gensits – Defense, Nazareth

Ava George – Defense, Liberty

Emmy Horner – Forward, Emmaus

Lydia Keppel – Midfield, Whitehall

Aubre Krazer – Midfield, Easton

Haley Kvacky – Forward, Midfield, Emmaus

Aubrey Steiner – Midfield, Whitehall

Julianna Zumas – Forward, Liberty

 

Next, the following students from Bonner-Prendergast made the first team PCL All-Catholic squad…

Mylachi Willaims – Defensive Line

Kenny Asong – Linebacker

Isaiah Sessions – Defensive Back


Williams was also named PCL defensive player of the year.

 

We also want to salute Camryn Huff and Zachary Miller – both of Nazareth High School – for being named the EPC girls and boys golf MVPs, respectively.

 

Next, here are the All-Stars from the Colonial League teams that we received that participated in the merger with the Schuylkill League this past school year…

First Team:

TE — Sr. Bailey Smith, Northern Lehigh

WR — Sr. Ian Juica, Catasauqua; Jr. Jack Robertson, Saucon Valley

QB — Sr. Danny Darno, Notre Dame

RB — Sr. Noah Hillis, Bangor; So. Grady Newhard, Northern Lehigh

FB/Slot/HB — Sr. Jack Tosh, Northern Lehigh

Athlete — Sr. Josh Ludlow, Notre Dame

K — Jr. Seth Kern, Northwestern

2nd Team:

DT — Jr. Gijs Fooij, Southern Lehigh; Sr. Zack Anthony, Palmerton

NG — Sr. Mitchell Andrejko, Southern Lehigh

DE — Sr. Ryan King, Southern Lehigh; Sr. Alex Konze, Palmerton

ILB — Sr. Dainn Vassallo, Notre Dame; Sr. Blaine Snyder, Northwestern

OLB — Sr. Devon Hildebrand, Northwestern; Sr. Ty Sander, Palmerton

DB — Jr. Andrew Olesh, Southern Lehigh; Sr. Jack Inglis, Southern Lehigh; Fr. Chris Frame, Northern Lehigh; Jr. Jack Robertson, Saucon Valley; Sr. Constantine Donahue, Saucon Valley; Sr. AJ Lozano, Notre Dame; Sr. MJ Siu, Bangor

P — Sr. Cade Sawyer, Southern Lehigh

3rd Team: 

C — Sr. Clayton Christman, Palmerton

G — Sr. Brody Dye, Northern Lehigh; Sr. Danny Haubert, Palisades

T — Sr. Chad Beller Jr., Catasauqua; Sr. Parker Sandt, Bangor

TE — Jr. Bryan Tobin, Southern Lehigh

WR — Sr. Jack Inglis, Southern Lehigh; Sr. MJ Siu, Bangor

QB — Jr. Christopher Fritts, Southern Lehigh

RB — Sr. Hunter Reitz, Catasauqua; Sr. Constantine Donahue, Saucon Valley

FB/Slot/HB — Sr. Emilio Gonzalez, Palmerton

 

Last – and least – I’ll be taking a vacation for a few weeks and a hiatus from blogging to recharge my batteries and get ready for the new school year, which is rapidly approaching.  I’ll be back in time for the Blue Mountain League baseball championship series in August, in which we’re hoping to bring you the deciding game(s) of this year’s finals on Astound TV.

Keep checking back to the ATVN website for information on our BML coverage and the start of the fall sports seasons.

I’ll see you in a few weeks for more local sports coverage, insights and news!  Enjoy the (hopefully) great weather in the meantime!

 

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.

League Tennis ’24 Honors

July 2, 2024 By Chris Michael Leave a Comment

The last several weeks here at “The Shop,” we have been putting the spotlight on local sports that don’t normally get much attention in the Astound TV coverage. This week we focus on honoring local girls and boys tennis players and their achievements.

First, we’ll start with a look at the top girls performers in the Colonial League tourney…

#1 Singles – Francesca Bartolacci, Moravian Academy

#2 Singles – Laura Li, Moravian Academy

#3 Singles – Penelope Blomfield, Moravian Academy

# 1 Doubles – Kanchan Gupta / Sunny Chen, Moravian Academy

#2 Doubles – Anika Mehta / Chloe Dahl, Moravian Academy


Next, we’ll take a look at the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference girls tournament winners…

#1 Singles – Alexandria Warsing, Parkland

#2 Singles – Suhani Makwana, Easton

#3 Singles – Alison Willis, Stroudsburg

#1 Doubles – Aarohi Vaze / Kiera Miles, Parkland

#2 Doubles – Ali Silman / Kiana Miles, Parkland

#3 Doubles – Natalie Hillegass / Brooke DiGiacomo, Emmaus


Last but not least, here is the rundown of the boys EPC All-Stars …

2023-24 Eastern Pennsylvania Conference:
Boys Tennis All Conference Results


EPC Most Valuable Player:  Luke Appleman, Liberty

EPC Boys Tennis (Singles) First Team All-Conference:

Chris Stone, Emmaus

Manav Patel, Parkland

Roman Farhad, Liberty


EPC Boys Tennis (Singles) Second Team All-Conference:

Noah Rodburg, Freedom

Gideon Knowles, Nazareth

Nicholas Stone, Emmaus


EPC Boys Tennis (Singles) Third Team All-Conference:

Kevin Yao, Parkland

Timmy Spinoas, ACC

Daniel Trott, PM East


EPC Boys Tennis (Doubles) First Team All-Conference:

Elijah Quan / Leo Babbin, Liberty

Ojas Karandikar / Yechan Cho, Parkland

Connor Ohl / Finn Brown, Liberty


EPC Boys Tennis
(Doubles) Second Team All-Conference:

Ryan Wu / Matt Ringhold, Parkland

Shahir Ali / Nick Ressler, Easton

Caden Vermuelen / EJ Powers, Liberty

Jack Chu / Noah Elijovich, Parkland


EPC Boys Tennis (Doubles) Third Team All-Conference:

Angle Suarez / Joe Siessmayer, Freedom

Benjamin Fletcher / Quinn Durkin, Emmaus

Chace Roland / Max Kochan, Northampton


We’ll have more tennis achievements from all of District XI, along with more sports “all-stars.” coming up over the next few weeks here at “The Shop.”

 

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.

Orioles Domination

June 24, 2024 By Chris Michael Leave a Comment

About once every decade or so in Lehigh Valley’s Blue Mountain League baseball, a team puts together a great run of success.

Nearly 20 years ago, it was the Hellertown Royals winning three consecutive BML titles with perhaps, the most dominating pitching staff the league has ever seen. Before COVID, the Northern Yankees put together three tremendous seasons, which was unique because the team had just jumped into the league after being a part of the now-defunct Tri-County Baseball Conference.

And to perhaps top both of those team’s accomplishments, last year’s Orioles squad did something that apparently no other team had ever done in the 77th year history of the organization.  It swept ALL of its three rounds of playoff games, without losing a single contest, en route to its second title in a row.

This year, the team changed its sponsorship…a few of its players…and its manager.  Yet, entering this week, the O’s are once again one of the top teams in the league.  If they have had any perceived “hiccups” so far, you could point to the fact that they have several baseball players on the Whitehall High School team–who ended up being the last team from the area standing in the state playoffs.  For that reason, they were missing a few of their young players which may have had a factor in their few early season losses.

That being said, they return many faces from last year’s team.  They also have a pitcher on the brink of shattering an all-time record in the history of the league.

These and other storylines about the Orioles will be discussed on this Thursday’s live “SportsTalk” show.  Tune into the Astound TV Network this week at 7pm or, if you are away from your TV sets, dial the show up on our free live-stream by going to YouTube, type in “Astound TV Network,” and click on the “live” tab on our stations YouTube page.

We’ll also have two of this year’s other premiere teams on ATVN coming up in our next “BML Game of the Week” featuring the Avengers and the Yankees.  Tune in for the broadcast on Tuesday following our coverage of this weekend’s Grandview Racing events!

Lots of great summertime sports action coming up this week on Astound TV – check it out!


Now, here’s highlights of recent sports events broadcast on the Astound TV Network.

 

Astound Sports: Easton vs. Pleasant Valley (5/24)

Astound Sports: Parkland vs. Easton (5/24)

Astound Sports: Northwestern Lehigh vs. Allentown Central Catholic (5/24)

BML fans – check back to “The SportsTalk Shop” as we’ll have highlights of recent Blue Mountain League games broadcast on ATVN posted here on our site real soon!

 

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.

LACROSSE: JACKIE SALVATORE (Part 1) by Salome Carr

June 3, 2024 By Chris Michael Leave a Comment

Astound Sports: Grandview Speedway (5/24)

Astound Sports: Freedom vs. Nazareth (1/24)

Astound Sports: Polo Highlights

Astound Sports: Grandview Speedway (08/23)

 

Next up in the College Spotlight series is an interview with one of my teammates and good friends, Jackie Salvatore. Salvatore just completed her junior season on the Women’s Lacrosse team at Moravian University. As a three year starter, she has had standout seasons earning numerous honors throughout her time thus far. In just three seasons she stands with 134 goals, 125 assists, 92 ground balls, 127 draw controls, and 39 caused turnovers. Salvatore now holds the school record for number of points in a single season standing at 109. She registered 52 goals, 57 assists, 91 draw controls , 32 ground balls and 13 caused turnovers this past season. Additionally, she has earned Landmark Conference Rookie of the Year her first year in 2022, Landmark All-Conference 2nd Team in 2023, Landmark Conference Athlete of the Week once in 2023 and twice in 2024, and Landmark Conference Offensive Player of the Year in 2024. She also made the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Association (IWLCA) All Metro Region 1st Team in 2024. I am excited to see Jackie succeed in her senior season and I wish her the best of luck.


What position do you play and what did you/are you studying? 

I play attack, and I am a public health major.

How/when did you start playing lacrosse and how did it lead you to where you are now? 

I did a pee wee lacrosse clinic in kindergarten, but then actually started playing for my hometown’s recreation team in 6th grade. When I reached high school, I tried out for a club lacrosse team-T3 lacrosse. Playing for my club team was really when I started loving lacrosse more than soccer or basketball. My club team allowed me to meet my college lacrosse coach. It also allowed me to play at higher levels and be pushed to a new level.

What inspired you to pursue lacrosse at the collegiate level, and how/why did you choose Moravian? 

My hometown has always been known for having very competitive and high levels of girl’s and boy’s lacrosse, so I was used to playing with girls that would go DI to play lacrosse in college. This pushed me to want to play lacrosse at college. I became aware of Moravian because my club lacrosse coach was also the head coach of the Moravian Women’s lacrosse team. I saw this as an opportunity to play at a higher level of lacrosse while also being able to focus on academics at a D3 level.

Throughout your college career, what do you believe has been the key to your success both individually and as a member of your team? 

I believe my key to success has been keeping myself motivated. It is not always easy but in my off season I always have goals of something new I want to achieve. This keeps me working hard and working towards something new that will make me better. I am never complacent and I believe this is a part of my success. I contribute playing on multiple teams in high school of soccer, basketball, and lacrossel to my success in being a member of my team. I have learned ways in which to communicate, be emotionally intelligent, be flexible, and be positive in teams to be a good teammate.

As a leader on your team, what role do you play in motivating and supporting your teammates to achieve their best both on and off the field? 

I believe that in order to be a good leader there has to be an equal mix of being honest and blunt with your teammates while also being positive. While being at school I would try to constantly work in the off season whether it was running, going to the wall, or shooting, and would encourage my teammates to come and join. Little gestures like this are motivating to my teammates and encouraging them to come and get better at the little things. Outside of lacrosse I would try to be a good role model by being someone that my teammates could come talk to if they needed help with anything. It is important to be a good role model and push your teammates to be better like you wish they pushed you as well. I love being very positive to my teammates because I know sometimes that’s all it takes to change a mood. I would also like to believe I am someone that my teammates can come to for help with mental health and to just be someone to talk to when things get difficult.

More coming in the next edition of “The SportsTalk Shop.”

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

Spring HS Tennis ’24

May 15, 2024 By Chris Michael Leave a Comment

There were some interesting results from the recent tennis tournament championships. 

Here are the results along with pictures of the winning squads…

 

In the District XI boy’s singles finals:

2A Finals- #1 Deven Pandey (Saucon Valley) defeated #2 Ford Koch (Moravian Academy) 6-4, 6-2

3A Finals- #5 Chris Stone (Emmaus) defeated #2 Gideon Knowles (Nazareth) 6-3, 6-3 

tennis finalists and their coaches    tennis finalists and their coaches

 

In the girl’s District XI TEAM finals…

2A Finals- #1 Moravian Academy 3 #2 Allentown Central Catholic 0    

3A Finals- #1 Parkland 3 #2 Liberty 0 

tennis finalists and their coaches     tennis finalists and their coaches

 

Next, in the District XI girl’s singles finals:

2A Finals- #1 Francesca Bartolacci (Moravian Academy) defeated #3 Mallory Conner (Northwestern Lehigh) 6-4, 6-0

3A Finals- #1 Helena Lynn (Liberty) defeated #2 Alexandria Warsing (Parkland) 5-7, 6-2, 6-3  

tennis finalists and their coaches    tennis finalists and their coaches

 

Last but not least, here are the boys Eastern Pennsylvania Conference “All-League” team members…

 

EPC Most Valuable Player:  Luke Appleman – Liberty  

EPC Boys Tennis (Singles) First Team All-Conference:

Chris Stone – Emmaus  
Manav Patel – Parkland  
Roman Farhad – Liberty  

 

EPC Boys Tennis (Singles) Second Team All-Conference:

Noah Rodburg – Freedom  
Gideon Knowles – Nazareth  
Nicholas Stone – Emmaus  

 

EPC Boys Tennis (Singles) Third Team All-Conference:

Kevin Yao – Parkland  
Timmy Spinosa – ACC 
Daniel Trott – PM East

 

EPC Boys Tennis (Doubles) First Team All-Conference:

Elijah Quan/Leo Babbin – Liberty  
Ojas Karandikar / Yechan Cho – Parkland  
Connor Ohl / Finn Brown – Liberty  

 

EPC Boys Tennis (Doubles) Second Team All-Conference:

Ryan Wu / Matt Ringhold – Parkland  
Shahir Ali / Nick Ressler – Easton
Caden Vermuelen / EJ Powers – Liberty
Jack Chu / Noah Elijovich – Parkland

 

EPC Boys Tennis (Doubles) Third Team All-Conference:

Angel Suarez / Joe Siessmayer – Freedom
Benjamin Fletcher / Quinn Durkin – Emmaus
Chace Roland / Max Kochan – Northampton

 

More local tennis news, award winners and honors, along with other sports’ achievements by student-athletes in the Astound TV Network’s coverage area – as they become available – in future editions of “The SportsTalk Shop!”

 

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.

VIDEOS: More ’24 Highlights

May 1, 2024 By Chris Michael Leave a Comment

On this Thursday’s “SportsTalk,” we will be taking a look at girl’s and boy’s lacrosse in the Eastern Pennsylvania region so far this spring (which has included several record shattering individual performances)…Tune in this Thursday at 7pm on ATVN or on our YouTube channel to get the latest news on this popular sport, along with a preview of the upcoming Eastern Pennsylvania Conference and District XI playoff games.

Next week on “SportsTalk,” we’ll be looking at local girl’s softball in the region and looking ahead to the league, district, and state post-season playoffs.

And … if you missed last week’s look at local high school baseball, Astound video customers can watch that show for free at any time through ATVN On-Demand.

Last but not least, some exciting news concerning our local broadcasting of high school sports will be unveiled next week here at “The Shop!”

Make sure you bookmark this page and check back next week for the details!

Now, here’s a look at highlights of recent local sports broadcasts as seen on Astound TV Network.

Enjoy!

 

Astound Sports: Freedom vs. Nazareth (1/24)

Astound Sports: Northampton vs. Emmaus (12/23)

Astound Sports: Liberty vs. Bethlehem Catholic (12/23)

Astound Sports: Parkland vs. Whitehall (12/23)

Astound Sports: Liberty vs. Emmaus (12/23)

  DVDs and links to these games can be purchased by contacting the ATVN studio.

  

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.

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