For eight years between high school and college, announcing local sporting events for community television and radio stations had been a big part of my life. I spent many Friday, Saturday and sometimes weeknights in various press boxes calling a game for a local high school or small college. Calling games had been something I enjoyed doing and got a special rush each time I turned on the microphone.
When college ended, I ventured off into the "real world" and it was the first time in eight years I didn't have games to announce. I had my first job out of college to focus on and I didn't have any plans to call any games. I hadn't gotten around to finding a way to do what I love and there was strange void.
A couple years passed and I managed to fill the void by getting into sports photography. Being on the sidelines during various high school sports brought the rush back and helped keep me in tune with the local sports I had fallen in love with. I found something to fill the void but hadn't had a microphone in front of me for quite a while.
On New Year's Eve 2010, an opportunity to announce again appeared not in my lap but on a Facebook message from my neighbor. The Solon TV station had not found anyone to call the Solon vs Chagrin Falls hockey game that would be on January 2nd, 2011 and they were scrambling.
I read through the message two or three times before it really hit me. After a long time of not being behind a microphone, the opportunity to announce again was right in front of me. Best of all, it would be an opportunity to call my favorite sport of all time.
A couple e-mails and three phone calls later, I booked my first announcing gig since college! I couldn't help but get goosebumps as I was walking into the Gilmour Ice Arena to call the game. I was finally getting another chance to announce.
The rust was there for a the first couple minutes but it felt like old times as the game went on. I was in the moment and had forgotten how much fun it really was to have the microphone in front of me.
A year after calling that game between Solon and Chagrin Falls, I was offered another opportunity to announce a Solon vs Brecksville Broadview Heights game and accepted. Similar to the year before, the fun feeling I had growing up while calling games returned. I felt the same rush I had felt many times before as the game went into overtime.
The game ended in a 5-5 tie but I felt victorious afterwards. I was able to relive the rush I had felt many times before while calling games and had an opportunity to do something that had been a huge part of my life for a long time.
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