SPORTS WRAP
A new website. A new streaming company. But still the same old Roy.
Owatonna High School sports and activities can be seen on OwatonnaHuskies.com starting this fall.
After Owatonna Live announced they would cease operations, a regional network covering Northfield, Faribault, Albert Lea, the Mankato schools and Byron stepped in to fill the void by adding Owatonna. An added benefit is easy access to OHS road games at those schools. All the streaming is free to watch.
I have loved working with Scott Limberg for the last four years. The tradition he created with Owatonna Live over the past 14 years is outstanding. From coverage of a wide variety of community events to parades and concerts, plus the live sports, Scott has connected the community through video.
Lance Reisetter will run OwatonnaHuskies.com. We go way back to coaching against one another in youth baseball and have crossed paths at sporting events for years. We are excited to work together.
He knows he has big shoes to fill. “Scott deserves credit for what he’s been able to do. Everybody knows Owatonna Live. That’s not what we’re going to be calling it. I think the community is excited that we’re going to come in and do the absolute best that we can,” he said.
Reisetter and I have radio backgrounds and know the power it still has. He also sees the tremendous impact video streaming has with the audience. “They love it. More than I ever anticipated,” he said. “It’s a much more personal connection because of the visual aspects. The reaction from everybody has been a lot louder” whether a family member is involved or not.
“A lot more people are consuming activities that they wouldn’t otherwise because it’s free and it’s video… And with the amount of activities that these schools provide it makes the advertising piece work as a marketing campaign to help cover the costs. Then we can bring in better cameras and better equipment,” he said.
This fall’s Huskies broadcast schedule includes home and road football, home volleyball, and the two soccer matches at Federated Field.
Some of his channels stream golf, track, weightlifting and shooting sports. Additionally, “Scott was doing choir concerts, prom grand march and graduation. We want to be doing the same thing. We want to come in and be a community partner and also partner with the school,” said Reisetter.
He invites students to become involved with the broadcast, working cameras or producing and doing graphics “and work with a hall of famer like Roy,” he teases.
He has “hopes and dreams” for a Big Nine Conference network. Austin has reached out to him and would be the seventh school of the 11-team conference.
That’s OwatonnaHuskies.com online and on Facebook. The handle will be WatchOwatonnaHuskies on Instagram.
Football camp
Owatonna’s youth football camp had a different look this year, with just third through eighth graders going through drills on the practice field at the high school. Yet there were still nearly 250 kids. “This is probably our biggest group ever (for this age level),” said camp director Brad Scharber.
He says kids have a good experience and invite their friends. Some campers come from neighboring communities. The camp has been running for about 30 years.
“Just building on what it’s been for so long. It’s really cool to see that. Trying to get people to see what football is all about,” said Scharber.
Part of that is more than just football. “We do a lot of multi-sport drills early on. We are trying to promote that we don’t want you just to just be a football player. We want you to be involved in other things as well… Typically, our best football players are multi-sport athletes,” stated Scharber, who is in his fourth year on the staff.
A rule change by the Minnesota State High School League prevented ninth and 10th graders from taking part, which allowed the high school coaches to do more individual drills with the sixth through eighth graders.
“I think it’s establishing relationships early on, before they get to high school. So that’s good. The youth kids are definitely enjoying getting coached up by coaches that they’ll eventually be playing for,” Scharber pointed out.
Current varsity players worked with the younger athletes. “I personally really like seeing the players on our team running drills and coaching. Kind of gives them perspective of what a teacher and coach goes through every day. Some of them are doing pretty well.”
You can meet the varsity players during the OHS football rally at Fair Square Park at the Steele County Free Fair on Sunday, Aug. 23 at 7 p.m. Cheerleaders will be introduced and do their routines as well.