For the first time since Nov. 23, 2019, the Hillsdale College volleyball team played in front of a live crowd of students, families, and members of the community at Dawn Tibbetts Potter Arena on Friday, Jan. 22. Several members of the athletic administration staff played essential roles in making this day, along with all other Charger game days, possible.
Patrick Hornak ’06, the event and campus operations coordinator/safety and efficiency manager, said he was glad to see a large crowd in the arena for the volleyball team’s first game of the season.
“With this job, you see the community, and you see a lot of people around,” Hornak said. “Their excitement feeds into everybody else’s excitement about the event.”
In his preparation for game day, Hornak said he is responsible for ensuring all of the facilities are ready for visiting teams to practice and for the teams to play. During basketball and volleyball seasons, one of the most important aspects of preparing for both teams to play is taking down or putting up the basketball hoops in the arena.
Hornak also said his game day crew, composed of student-workers, sets up the bleachers, sidelines, stanchions, and locker rooms for both the officials and visiting teams.
One of the challenges with setting up the arena this season, Hornak said, has been making changes to seating arrangements based on COVID-19 guidelines.
Although the physical set up may be more difficult now that fans are welcome back in the arena, members of the athletic administration have been waiting a long time for this moment.
Before fans were allowed to attend game day events, Assistant Athletic Director for Media and Community Relations Gwendolyn Buchhop ’11 said she hoped for a “renaissance of people attending games” when the arena opened back up. Even though there has been an increase in the number of people watching the livestream footage, made possible by a crew staffed by Ted Matko, the director of technical and media services for men’s and women’s basketball games, Buchhop said nothing compares to having a live crowd.
“One of the things that’s exciting about any of the games, but I would say in particular the men’s basketball games, is the way that you can see the character of the boys and the spirit of the team,” Buchhop said. “They see that these boys love each other, they’re good students, and they’re great at their sport because they put in the hard work. You want people to see that.”
Director of Athletic Communications James Gensterblum ’12 said he was happy with the way the athletic department has been able to engage people through the livestream, but it remained a poor substitute for having a live crowd.
In preparing for game day, Gensterblum is responsible for communicating with other sports information directors and acquiring materials from visiting teams including rosters, pronunciation guides, and stats. A day before games, he assembles a game notes packet, which includes all of the relevant information for the media and announcers. Gensterblum also staffs the table along the sideline which requires finding people to help him with stats, someone to announce to the game, and people to run the shot clock, game clock, and scorebook.
“An hour before the game, I’m getting into my stats program and setting everything up by getting the official names, getting the rosters, and making sure all of the connections are there so the stats are feeding into our website correctly,” Gensterblum said.
“With about 30 minutes to go, usually our table crew arrives, including my stats caller, who is kind of like my assistant,” Gensterblum said. “We’ll go over things, get the starting line-ups, and make sure we’re ready to go for tip.”
Since working with the stats, Gensterblum said he has learned to watch games in a different way. Most recently, Gensterblum said he enjoyed working stats for the men’s basketball game with Malone when the Chargers made a comeback.
With games for all teams beginning to pick up this season, Hornak, Buchhop, and Gensterblum all agreed that staffing the events has been their biggest concern. Even with this challenge, all three said they have seen members from the community step up in a big way to help make game days possible.
Gensterblum said even though he has not been here for a normal season, this spring feels more stressful due to the increase in changes to teams’ schedules. Additionally, many student athletes who typically work for the athletic department during their off-seasons are currently playing games.
“Outside of the spring with baseball and softball due to weather, games aren’t supposed to change, and now they’re changing on a weekly basis,” Gensterblum said. “Staffing has been more of a challenge, but I think it’s going fairly well.”
All three staff members said student-workers and adults from the community have helped to alleviate some of the challenges arising from an unpredictable season. Buchhop said Handshake has been helpful for finding workers in addition to word of mouth.
“It makes you appreciate Hillsdale,” Buchhop said. “I don’t think we’re the only place that has nice people, but it’s definitely a defining characteristic. We’re very lucky that people are willing to step up.”
As all the Charger sports begin their seasons, Buchhop said the athletic department feels very supported by the college administration as all the sports come into full swing.
