Amy Arbon heads on to the court for the Kodiaks.
It’s no small feat to host two championships in one weekend.
Both the ACAC Women’s Basketball Conference Championship and the Indoor Track Championship took place at Lethbridge College and University of Lethbridge respectively.
The events brought fans from all over Alberta and parts of Saskatchewan to watch the competition.
A lot of work went on behind-the-scenes to make sure that everything here at the college and university ran smoothly.
Todd Caughlin, Athletics Manager at Lethbridge College has been part of the planning process ever since the Athletics Department found out they won the bid.
“The bid was accepted in late May, early June. The work started and we went solid until Saturday night,” said Caughlin.
Since most people only see what is broadcast on the screen, or what’s going on from inside the gym or track, many are unaware of all of the planning that takes place to ensure a smooth-running operation.
“We have a pretty good network set up already of outlets that we work with continuously throughout the season and our reporters especially here in Lethbridge that we know well. We made sure that they were getting their information as soon as possible,” said Paul Kingsmith, communications specialist who also took part in ensuring both the Indoor Track and Women’s Basketball championships got the coverage they deserve.
The broadcast of the ACAC Women’s Basketball championship was made possible with the help of the college’s digital communications and media (DCM) students putting on live webcasts on ACAC TV for fans to stream at home.
Caughlin believes this helped to showcase the school, along with the help of social media. “Lethbridge College has an alumni base around the world. Most of them were able to connect to it… so that sees how it carries around like that,” said Caughlin.
The DCM class worked both behind the scenes and in front of the camera to highlight ACAC action. Media production and advertising students were behind the cameras, running audio, and making sure each clip that you saw ran seamlessly.
They also ran the show “the baseline” which ran during half-time.
Digital journalism students created highlight packages, team features that you saw before if you were watching online and game commentary.
College President Paula Burns believes the event ran well, considering that there were two championship events happening here.
“The organization of the event, was another piece that people were impressed with,” said Burns.
With the success of the track and basketball teams, Lethbridge College now has a higher chance of winning the bids when it comes to hosting ACAC Conference events and even possibly, nationals.
A bid has already been submitted to hopefully secure next year’s championship.