As an active student body at SUNY Cortland, Cortland holds a strong reputation for its sports programs and athletics. Among the many programs Cortland offers is the Sport Management program, where students pursue their dreams, goals, and aspirations for a career in the sports industry. The program is known for its student-run athletics through a practicum class that provides insight into the athletic department here at Cortland and allows students to participate and contribute to campus athletics. Through those experiences, two Red Dragons in the Sport Management program took on the opportunity of commentating games for Cortland Athletics.
Jack Lee and Grayson Natale are Sport Management majors pursuing careers through the program. As students seeking opportunities to get involved with sports on campus, they took initiative through class. They both had Professor Kasey Vaughan, a former Cortland student and current instructor in the Sport Management Department. In her introduction to the class, Professor Vaughan talked about how she used to call games at Cortland as a student and her contributions to the athletic department.
“She talked about it in her about me, and then we asked her, hey, how’d you do that?” Jack said. “So then, she put us in contact with Jaclyn Lawrence, (Associate Director of Athletics at Cortland) and then we started volunteering for her.”
Jack and Grayson are slowly moving their way up in the Athletic Department after starting off doing laptop work and eventually moving up to color and play-by-play commentary for men’s and women’s soccer this semester. Jack is the play-by-play, and Grayson would be the color commentator.
During our brief conversation, I asked Jack and Grayson what they most enjoy about working with the athletic department and being in the booth.
“I love, being involved with the team,” Jack said. “Like, I think the fact that we’re consistently doing the same team, like doing the Men’s and Women’s soccer team, were really invested in the season. Their storylines, the players, and how they’re doing and how they’re winning.
And I feel like I’m more involved with the athletics here than I ever have been, and they’re really fun teams to watch. They’re very good as well. So, they helped me build my professional skills in terms of commentating, but it’s also, like, very fun.”
Grayson shared a similar perspective. “It’s the team that we have up there, everyone in the program. And then also, it’s just the networking that it allows too. You have people in and out of SUNY Cortland that I’ve already been able to connect with because of my work here.”
When it comes to commentary, it’s crucial to know the sport itself, keep up with other teams, and understand key statistics, matchups, and any crucial information about the game being played that week. Jack prepares by making graphics, such as player-to-watch visuals or school comparison charts, where he compares the distance between schools and opponents. And of course, he keeps track of team stats like goals, assists, saves, and corners. Using stats, graphics, and important team information on players, coaches, and programs allows him to prepare each week. Even previous matches become part of the preparation process once you’ve reached the middle of the season and seen plenty of soccer played.
For Grayson, the color commentator between the two, his preparation may not be as extensive as Jack’s, but he has his own approach.
“I always just try to take myself before the game through like, little snippets of what I want to say, bring in some character, because that’s kind of the job I serve. I want to bring in some character for both of us, some kind of stories,” Grayson said. “Just to interject on ourselves and not always just bring it about the play by play of the soccer game.”
Out of the many games that Jack and Grayson have covered, I asked which ones stood out most this season.
“It’s got to be Cortaca between Cortland and Ithaca,” Jack said. “The men’s game this year was an amazing game. It ended up being a nil-nil tie, but that was an incredible game.”
Grayson added, “So far for me, I’ve had a lot of few games so far, but honestly, it’s going to have to be Cortland versus Buffalo State for the men’s game. That was my favorite game so far, Cortaca would be my second. That was a good game to watch.
Knowing how sport-oriented the Cortland community is and how important recreational and athletic activity is for students on campus, Jack and Grayson are great examples for anyone interested in commentary or a sport-related field. They are proof that with involvement and curiosity, students can make their mark in Cortland Athletics.
When asked for advice on how others can follow their path, both had interesting things to share.
“The biggest thing is to just get involved as much as you possibly can,” Jack said. “I think for the biggest thing for me at the very least, is that I’ve done it as much as humanly possible, any opportunity I have to commentate, I do, I’ve done sports that I’ve never watched before. I’ve done field hockey. I’ve done softball, baseball, basketball, hockey, and football outside of school, and now soccer. So, I try to do it as much as humanly possible because the best way to practice is just repetitions. Or take any opportunity you possibly can.”
Grayson had a similar mindset. “Take any chance you have to work within the system,” he said. “It doesn’t just have to be through practicum or class or anything. Just take opportunities that you can. Build up your own rapport outside of the classroom. We started our own podcast system. That was our best first introduction to commentary, at least. We did our own podcast on sports. It was our own version of ESPN.
We were able to use that as practice on the mic and how, you know, it’s not live, but we were still scared to even do our first one. We stuttered a lot and everything. Yeah, that’s the main reason I think we handled the mic so well is we were able to use outside clubs and outside opportunities to build up just experience in our rapport.”
Try to be involved as much as you can and take advantage of opportunities. That’s what Jack and Grayson continue to represent here at Cortland.