Talking in front of a crowd can be overwhelming. Talking into a microphone in front of a crowd is even more stressful. I am the “Voice of Centenary,” as people call me, and this is my story. 

In the beginning, I hated talking into a microphone because I didn’t want to hear my voice. That was when the old Sports Information Director at Centenary helped me have a change of heart when it came to announcing. I kept putting off announcing since I didn’t feel ready, but as I kept doing it, it felt natural.

The first game that I announced at Centenary was a soccer game my sophomore year. All I needed to do was say where we were, what teams were playing, and the starting lineups and introduce the National Anthem. 

Sounds easy right? It wasn’t. When it comes to announcing, I try my hardest to make zero mistakes when saying names. I would read over the names multiple times in my head before the game to make sure I got them right, especially the names of the home team. Once I finished announcing, I kept on getting compliments from people saying how good a job I did. That validation motivated me to become the announcer that I am today. 

My junior year here at Centenary was rough for the Sports Information department and for me. The Sports Information Director that convinced me to become an announcer left to go to a different school to do the same thing. The student workers were left out to dry not knowing what to do. All of the games in the spring were basically run by students, and it became so hard for me to determine where I would work depending on if we had multiple games in one day. I stayed with baseball and worked all of their games, and would help out at lacrosse or softball whenever I could. It was a tough process but we made it work.

There are days where my old boss would ask me if I could help him at games at his school because they lacked student workers. I got paid for the few games that I helped with, and it opened a possibility of becoming a Graduate Assistant when I am done here. 

My senior year for announcing has been a lot, doing all of the fall and winter sports at Centenary and some basketball games at Felician University. I also am the Student Manager on the baseball team here so I have to manage that on top of everything else. It gets very stressful at times but knowing that this is something that I want to do in the future, I can’t complain about it.

What makes a good announcer? 

A good announcer has to be comfortable talking into a microphone, they have to be good at reading, they also have to find the right times to talk. During a basketball game, I announce the pregame, every basket, foul call, and substitution made by both teams, and a small postgame goodbye. 

Drink Water

Announcing can take a toll on my voice, especially if I work double-headers and I don’t drink enough water. Staying hydrated is so important in announcing because my voice will sound raspy if I don’t drink water. 

Announcing basketball games to me is so much fun; I would say that basketball is my favorite sport to announce. I feed off the energy of the crowd that comes to the games and I try to make the fan experience better. 

Have a Script

I always have a script in front of me to help me announce. I don’t have to try and do it off the top of my head which would make me mess up more. 

Announcing has become one of my strong traits, and it makes me happy when players and coaches on different teams know who I am and say how good of a job that I did. 

Beyond Announcing

In addition to announcing, I have branched out to broadcasting and doing play by play on top of announcing. It has become more clear to me that my voice has a ton of potential and it is nice for people to think the same way. I have always shut down the compliments for so long because I did not have much confidence in myself and didn’t feel like I was good enough. Whatever the future holds for me, I am glad that Centenary helped me become the announcer that I am today, and I will always remember where I started. I can’t wait for my next opportunity!