WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – With outside competition cancelled this fall due to the pandemic, the Eastern Connecticut State University's intercollegiate teams had to find alternative ways to remain active.

Such was also the case for ETV Sports, Eastern's student-operated  broadcasting network.
 
Founded in 2012 by Sports Information Office student-worker Nick Aconfora – who currently holds the position as program director for ESPN Next – ETV  Sports has been streaming live most all of Eastern's intercollegiate home sporting events over the last eight years.
 
While Eastern's athletes had to switch gears this fall since outside competition was not an option, the Warriors engaged in intrasquad scrimmages, weight training, team building and other activities. Likewise, ETV Sports developed alternate content in order to keep families, friends, and students abreast of activity involving Eastern athletics.
 
ETV Sports Directors Jake Bolduc and Kyle Smith of Manchester, Ryan Gable of Torrington and Jarrett Soltis of New Hartford – all juniors – handled the bulk of the duties this fall and received assistance from ETV News Executive Producer Tyler Madden, volunteers John Pellegrino and Fernando Jeronimo, and interns Jillian McGahan and Alyssa Vilchez, among others.

 

The ETV Sports crew streamed most all of the scrimmages for the men's and women's soccer and field hockey teams this fall, as well as for the softball team's and men's lacrosse team's Blue-White scrimmage during their non-traditional seasons, created packages on women's soccer, field hockey and volleyball Seniors' Day celebrations and Instagram highlights for most all of the fall and several of the spring teams, as well as for men's basketball and women's soccer/women's volleyball fund-raising golf tournaments at The Windham Club in North Windham.
 
On the final day of the fall season on Oct. 24, ETV Sports recorded the swim team's intrasquad scrimmage  for later distribution, and streamed on a live basis the women's soccer Seniors' Day scrimmage later that morning, followed by intrasquad scrimmages for the men's lacrosse team at noon and the men's soccer team that evening.
 
Additional projects involving ETV Sports this fall included editing a panel discussion among five former ETV Sports Directors now at ESPN and editing a field hockey recruiting video, creating a video for the athletic department's Eastern Elects voter education and registration program and a fall season wrap-up video, all of which were posted to ETV Sports'  social media pages.
 
The network plans to close out first-semester activity by streaming on a live basis the swim team's remaining two intrasquad scrimmages Saturday, Nov. 7 and Saturday, Nov. 14, both scheduled to get underway at 8:45 a.m. Following the swim broadcasts, ETV Sports hopes to resume live broadcasts when the women's and men's basketball teams tentatively open their Little East Conference home seasons Jan. 20 against Western Connecticut State University.

                                                                                                                                                 Meet the 2020-21 ETV Sports Directors

 

Kyle Smith: Kyle recently started his third year with ETV Sports and his first as director. Kyle's graphics design skills are unlike none other. He develops unique and creative game day, post-game, and award graphics that are being frequently posted to ETV Sports' Instagram page. He also is the talented technical director for most live broadcasts and also periodically partakes in announcing games. In between his graphic coordination, Kyle also works on Instagram and YouTube highlights.
 
Ryan Gable: Ryan's dedication to ETV Sports dates all the way back to move-in day of his freshmen year where he worked his first-ever game. Also in his third year with ETV Sports, Ryan has become one of its most valuable assets. Along with being a talented play-by-play announcer for live events, Ryan also produces many creative pieces from YouTube highlights to Instagram highlights that are essential to the success of ETV Sports.
 
Jake Bolduc: Jake is the Swiss Army Knife of ETV Sports when it comes to live broadcasts. He will partake in announcing, graphics, directing, camera, and replay, depending upon wherever he is needed. Jake also assists in highlights when he is needed, as well. He has proven to be one of the most reliable members of ETV Sports over the last several years.
 
Jarrett Soltis: Jarrett also begins his third year with ETV Sports and his first year as a director. Along with being one of the other main play-by-play announcers, Jarrett likes to focus on creative pieces like player award videos, longer feature films, and short packages. He is also involved in the production of YouTube and Instagram highlights.