In the past, if fans wanted to see a livestream of athletic events, they could see an occasional football game, and that was it. Now, thanks to a partnership with the National Federation of State High School Associations, everything from freshman girls volleyball to varsity football is available to anyone with a membership.
Since August, the NFHS has been partnered with the school, after being in use for nearly a decade across Seminole County. NFHS uses motion sensors, artificial intelligence and tracking technology to livestream school sports, replacing the job previously done by students.
“The AI system works off of three cameras,” athletic director Jay Getty said. “It tracks the ball and the movement of players as it transitions from the left camera to the center camera then to the right camera.”
The recording system merges data from each camera quickly, creating a high definition recording of each game.
While the service will allow anyone to access Hagerty sports, not everyone is excited about the change. TV Production students used to livestream football games, an experience that gave them unique broadcasting opportunities.
“Without being able to livestream any more, it took away the opportunity for students to get hands-on experience with filming athletes on the field,” TV Production teacher Donna Parker said. “They were able to learn through a live environment by following the players with their camera.”
Filming players allowed students to focus their camera on one thing at a time, learning appropriate techniques needed in their class.
Although TV Production still can livestream baseball and softball, the school hopes to switch over to using NFHS for all athletic events.
“When we were just using the TV Production kids, who did a great job, we were broadcasting around five games,” said Getty. “We now broadcast every event at all levels, in the gym stadium, and we will also be mounting cameras at baseball and softball.”
Live-streaming for TV Production was not only meant to teach broadcasting skills, but also to showcase students’ talents and work from the class.
“I think that this is fundamentally against what the American school system stands for, because it takes away educational opportunities from students to replace them with AI to give more financial kickback,” senior TV Production student Paul Noorlander said. “It also takes away a public service because free livestreams are no longer available to the public.”
Viewers who want to watch livestream sports through NFHS must get a membership for $17 per month or $80 for the year, but once they have joined, they can watch any high school event nationwide, as long as that school is part of the network. Currently, Winter Springs, Lyman, Lake Brantley, Seminole and Hagerty are the Seminole County schools that have partnerships with NFHS.
