Behind the Scenes: Mercer’s ESPN3 Team

For sports lovers, the experience of watching games is important. It’s because of this that the members of Mercer’s ESPN3 team work hard to record games for all students, employees and those watching from home.

According to ESPN3 member Iran Imbert, every production usually consists of cameramen (up to six cameras depending on the sport), a director, producer, technical director, one or two replay operators, a time out coordinator, graphics operator, audio operator and usually an on-field engineer.

Imbert also said that the ESPN3 team has sideline shooters during games and that footage is usually used for highlight videos for each of the team’s Instagram pages.

Outside of games, Imbert said that for some of the sports they just have sideline shooters go and get footage of a tournament or event to recap it on Instagram.

Videos from the ESPN team help bring exposure to upcoming games and highlight previous games. They even show a bit of the behind-the-scenes for sports fans. Imbert expresses that her favorite part of the job is sideline reporting. She said she’s grateful to be a part of the ESPN team.

“I didn’t really have much experience with cameras before working with ESPN, and it’s something that I’ve found that I really enjoy doing,” Imbert said.

Another ESPN worker, Erika Thomas, said she shares Imbert’s enthusiasm for her job. Thomas said that the working environment is pleasant and discusses why she feels so passionately about her job.

“I didn’t need any experience because they taught me how to run all the equipment and the scheduling is very flexible,” Thomas said.

According to Sophomore Clare Reverri and Junior Miles Lewis, two leaders on the ESPN team, students handle almost every part of broadcasting, including video, cameras, marketing and editing.

They both said that one of their favorite parts of the job is seeing new students start with nothing and finally seeing their finished products.

When asked why she joined the ESPN team, Reverri said she always knew she wanted to pursue a career as a sports journalist and so working at ESPN was an obvious choice.

“I enjoy all parts of my job, but one of my favorite parts is being able to meet and work with very talented people,” she said.

Lewis said he sought out the job by asking admissions what jobs on campus he could do that he could use his interest in cameras for.

“I wanted to use my camera skills for something and being right in the action is very exciting,” he said.