BlueHens.com has debuted a new webshow called "Blue Hens Beat" which has set itself up as an interview show spanning across the landscape of Delaware athletics. Here is the first episode and the rundown/review of it.
The first episode starts off with the new coach of the Field Hockey team, Rolf van de Kerkhof, who was formerly at Michigan State. I wrote a post earlier detailing the start of the season for this team and after hearing the head coach speak about his plans for the development of the program and utilizing the growth of the sport on the east coast, I am loving what the future has in store! It takes a second to get past van de Kerkhof's accent, but once you do, details how building a program is more important than a single season, and how Delaware is the "sleeping giant" of the east. He claims that 50% of the best field hockey players in the USA are within 4 hours of the school. If this really is the case, and he can help to grow the program the right way, I can see how this team will become a conference power within two-three years. This is not to discredit what can happen in the present, but that the direction the program is headed is positive and should lead to long-term results.
After advertising Alumni Football tickets, Coach Bonnie Kenny and the Volleyball team take over. The interviews show the positive nature of one of the most successful programs on campus, with three conference championships over the past four years. I cannot think of Coach Kenny without bringing up the infamous E. D. D. Press Conference. I was sent to cover the event as my first ever real press conference event. It was a good 20 minutes of the same questioning over and over to try and get a better answer out of E.D.D., but she held her ground to the point I felt bad asking anything I had originally planned, and by the time I could think of a better question, Coach Kenny went on a rant about how everyone is burning out the kids now a days. When it was over and I finally asked my question, I got an answer in less than ten words. For myself, completely awkward (luckily, I've improved immensely since then). Watch at your own risk. Anyway, it's your basic stuff about the team looking to build on the previous years success and move forward towards another CAA title while trying to find what their identity is, but still a well done piece with players backing up the philosophy of the staff.
This is followed by one of those "Ask the Blue Hens" segments you see at football games, except this asks players from a bunch of different sports what their karaoke song is, and a few actually go on to sing. This is where you should have skipped forward to the one-on-one interview between one of the best of WVUD's past, Scott Klatzkin, and Coach K.C. Keeler. As expected, Coach keeps his playbook against his chest and does not divulge any new information we have not already heard this past week. Scott tries to get his to crack on what the high expectations set by the polls mean to the team as motivation or otherwise, but Keeler deflects it and brings up the team's "Go 1-0 Today" mantra instead.
The episode ends with an E:60 style piece on Women's Soccer player, Amy Pickard. It tells the story of how a star freshman in the CAA broke her ankle severely during her sophomore season and was told she may not be able to return to the pitch ever again. I am sure you can figure out how the story ends, but I'll leave that to the video itself as it is a good story and a player that every hopes will be successful with the Hens this season.
The next episode is schedule to air on September 12th and I am definitely looking forward to it. Always good to hear from the players themselves whenever possible and this seems like it will be the go-to resource and connection between the student-athletes and the media (even though in this case the media is run through the school).
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