Since heading to University almost three years ago, I’ve had extensive TV experience – and some really exciting moments!
Here’s an overview of some of what I’ve done.
Skills: commentary, presenting, video editing, graphics, live streaming, directing, leadership
Sheffield Hatters
I was thrown completely unexpectedly into commentating on the Sheffield Hatters, who are historically the most successful women’s basketball team in the UK. After someone dropped out of doing the side’s first home game of the 2024/25 season the night before, I agreed to doing it, despite only ever having watched one game of the sport at this point!
This turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made – and I’ve since been working on our in-house streams of home games across the course of the campaign, which has been an unbelievable experience.
I’ve worked on colour grading and graphics (which I control while commentating), as well as setting up cameras and working on audio levels. This is all on top of doing the colour commentary alongside the talented Chloe Scofield.
My journey with the team also reached Nottingham, as both the Hatters and the men’s team, the Sheffield Sharks, made their respective cup finals on SLB Cup Finals Day. Throughout the games, Chloe and I recorded footage which was used for a TV package on Forge TV‘s news programme, This Week in Sheffield. On top of this, I wrote match reports on both games for Forge Press.
There’s always more you can add to livestreams, and I’ve also made highlights packages to show during the half-time breaks. You can watch one here. Chloe and I also presented and produced an in-studio segment for pre-game once as well!
Eventually, I also covered the club’s play-off final win at the O2 Arena, taking photos and producing a match report, as well as once again creating a TV package for This Week In Sheffield: a fitting way to end a spectacular season.
Sheffield Varsity
My first-ever time in front of a live camera came in 2023, as I was chosen to do punditry for the ice hockey on Forge TV – incredibly daunting, as it’s one of the biggest student sport events in the country!! My knowledge of ice hockey (and confidence that I was not expecting myself to have) meant it all went smoothly, and I helped the other people on camera with questions and potential answers as they didn’t know the sport… the wonders of live television!!
In 2024, I was back at the ice hockey, but this time, I was commentating, as I’d particularly impressed from my TV debut!! This was an absolute dream come true, and with the sport being so fast-paced, the commentary certainly tested me to my limits. It was another great experience.
2025 saw me take a huge role in Forge Media‘s coverage of the event, in part due to the relative lack of experience of the committees. I was originally the Organisational Lead, attempting to manage a group of close to 100 volunteers from across the two Sheffield universities, meaning I was on hand to be a main point of contact for them, to hold an in-person briefing and to give them all the info they needed.
I also created graphics for every stream and ended up being a key part of the TV set-up and pack-down throughout the course of the two-week event, learning on the job and increasing my technical know-how.
For the opener, I commentated on the women’s basketball game, but there were a number of technical hindrances, making it a tough one and a disappointing one, but I had another chance to have an easier ride with the closer – the ice hockey.
Due to unforeseen circumstances, our Station Manager was made unavailable for the ice hockey with just over a day’s notice, and he was the only one that fully knew how to set up a stream using our ATEM software and hardware. Therefore, I spent Tuesday organising things, liaising with the technical Services Committee as they were doing sound for our stream, but most of all, teaching myself everything I needed to be able to lead Forge TV‘s operations for the day.
There, I assigned roles to people for the stream and made decisions surrounding camera locations and set-up, as well as integrating my graphics into the system and briefing volunteers and committee members alike on their roles for the event. I then went to co-commentate from afar, and everything on the technical side went well in my absence – so I must have done something right! If you fancy watching the stream, you can – here.
The work I put into Sheffield Varsity 2025 was exhausting but it was the most valuable experience I have had in terms of my technical, problem-solving and leadership abilities, making me able to become head of TV for the day despite having next-to-no experience of the tech before Varsity and not being on the committee!
University course – news packages
I have also created TV news packages for my course.
With it being a particularly busy time, there were no University-owned cameras that I could take out, meaning I had to grab one from Forge Media. This camera had very little focal depth and it had a malfunctioning audio setup, but I utilised advanced editing techniques on Premiere Pro to lessen the impact of these problems.
Forge Plays
Chloe’s brain-child project, Forge Plays, involves someone from Forge TV going to training sessions for some of the University’s sports teams, getting involved in the drills and interviewing players/coaches.
I have done graphics for each episode, and camera work for all but one: the one I presented!!
I took part in the men’s basketball session and hosted the episode. It’s safe to say I can’t add shooting a basketball to my list of expertise, but it was a lot of fun – if not humbling while stood next to people a foot taller than me!!
Ollie Mitchell 