The Hillsboro City Schools’ athletic department has made it easier for fans of their diverse roster of high school sports to access the excitement of live games without ever leaving home. It has begun broadcasting games live on its new YouTube channel at https://youtube.com/channel/UCec8QTn15NHMfAXkIFmzkjQ and is making archived games available thereafter.
According to Jason Moberly, assistant athletic director, the idea of livestreaming and archiving local high school sports on YouTube evolved, “from COVID”. Moberly said, however, that the channel has other uses beyond the initial motivation of circumventing COVID restrictions of access.
“(Superintendent Tim) Mr. Davis actually thought that it would be a great idea during COVID and also for family members out of town,” Moberly said.
Moberly said that watching the games online was previously available as a paid service, but that, “Mr. Davis wanted to be able to offer that for free for our people.”
“In the past we’ve used NFHS (National Federation of High Schools) cameras, where there was a subscription,” said Moberly, noting the improvements of versatility and public accessibility with the new system, the implementation of which allows for public accessibility to games, in real time and at their convenience.
He said that the games won’t be limited to high school football. “We plan on doing it for all our sports,”, he said, including middle school sports. Moberly said the games can be watched live and then are available afterward following a short delay. He said that the channel is catching on and that the athletic department, which runs the channel, is able to ascertain how many people are watching at any given time, and it has increased exponentially.
Moberly said the school uses a system called Huddle that is designed for the optimal video capture of live games. He also said that the student players themselves can access the footage.
He said this also allows for interested sponsors to place advertising on the channel embedded into the games, including commercials. He said that interested parties may call 937-393-9325 for more information.
Juliane Cartaino is a stringer for The Times-Gazette.
