Sequim Boys & Girls Club members got their television closeups at a recent trip to ROOT SPORTS Northwest’s headquarters in Bellevue.
Patrick Crumb, AT&T Sports Networks president, led 16 Sequim pre-teens on a VIP tour of the Mariners’ network on Oct. 18.
Dave Miller, unit director of the Carroll C. Kendall unit in Sequim, said Crumb is a family friend from Port Angeles; together the two attended Queen of Angels School and later Saint Martin’s University in Lacey.
“It was surreal,” Miller said. “I watch (ROOT) all the time and I got to see the kids sitting behind the desk.”
Club members went into the production booth and in the studio to learn how a sports program is produced, Miller said.
“To me, it’s all about the experiences these kids can get,” he said.
In June, Miller took three girls — Destinie Bernard and sisters Lily and Pearl Peterson — on a Seattle Storm VIP meet-and-greet a few months before the team won its third championship. The girls were able to meet and get photos with each player. Destinie and Pearl attended this trip, too.
“Like meeting the Storm, a lot of the kids don’t get opportunities like this,” Miller said.
Miller said he asked Crumb for a behind the scenes experience and that Crumb obliged a few weeks later leading to the tour with ROOT’s Vice-President/Executive Producer Jon Bradford and Director of Programming and Operations Liz Serrette, also a Port Angeles native.
At ROOT, club members sat in the cable channel’s meeting room with Emmy’s surrounding them for a question and answer session.
They also learned about the effort that goes into work in the studio and from a truck for editing and broadcasters.
Club members’ reactions were a mixture of awe as sports fans and intrigue at the behind-the-scenes action of television production, Miller said.
“Either way, I think they were all flying high after we left,” he said.
Most of the children in the group are members of the Sequim club’s Torch Club, a service group for middle schoolers who also help run the club’s Kids Cafe on Fridays.
After the tour, the group went to Family Fun Center and Bullwinkle’s in Tukwila.
For more information about the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula, call 360-683-8095.
Reach Matthew Nash at mnash@sequimgazette.com.
Sixteen middle schoolers with the Sequim Boys & Girls Club and unit director Dave Miller and middle school coordinator Kaylah Garling take a tour of the ROOT SPORTS headquarters on Oct. 18. Miller said the club members all left “flying high.” Photo courtesy of Dave Miller
ROOT SPORTS Vice-President/ Executive Producer Jon Bradford leads club members from the Sequim Boys & Girls Club on a tour of the cable network’s studio on Oct. 18. Photo courtesy of Dave Miller
Some members of the Sequim Boys & Girls Club, from left, Ava Lawless, Taylor Heyting and Ayla Smith, learn about broadcasting sports games from ROOT SPORTS Vice-President/ Executive Producer Jon Bradford. Club members attended a special tour on Oct. 18. Photo courtesy of Dave Miller
