A lot happened this fall during the football season: a conference championship, a trip to state, players earning all-conference honors, and some getting all-state recognition. But something that many people don't know is what happens behind the scenes during the football season. This year two students had an important job behind the scenes: Myles Helminiak and Damian Bauer.
They filmed every single game this season, both in the booth and on the ground, with Damian working the end zone camera, and Myles up in the booth. They traveled with the team, ate with the team, stayed over at hotels with the team, and showed up early and set up before every game.
This is Myles' second year recording the football games for the team and Damian's first year, because in previous years he was on the football team. The video footage that they get isn't for the live streams; it's for the Hudl app for both the players and coaches to watch and study to see what they can work on and see what went well during the games.
I interviewed both Myles and Damian about their experiences filming the 2024 football season.
Damian said that he got that position when he emailed Mr. Siegert that he was quitting football and asked Mr. Siegert if he still needed help with anything else for the team. Siegert mentioned filming, and Damian took him up on the offer.
Myles said he got the position by word of mouth. Myles says, “I filmed the plays and musicals and Mrs. Siegert knew I was a tech guy and told Mr. Siegert, and he asked me if I wanted to film the games.”
Myles and Damian both film the games at the same time, but on different cameras and from different angles. Myles is the guy up in the booth recording the sideline angel of the game. Damian is the one filming from the endzone camera or “tower camera”.
I asked both of them if they enjoyed filming the football games and what their favorite parts are. Damian said, “I enjoy filming the games, except when it's cold.” He also said, “My favorite part of it is watching the games and hanging out with the team.” Myles said that he really enjoys filming the games because it gets him involved in the community and lets him meet new people. Myles said, “My favorite part of filming is when everyone tells me I did a good job.”
Damian and Myles both said that they felt like they were a part of the team because they basically did everything with them. Myles said, “I felt that I was a part of the team, but just on the outskirts of it, because they did their thing and I did my own thing for the team.”
When both Damian and Myles were asked about whether filming was hard to get used to, they both said yes. Myles said, “It was difficult at the start because you had to learn the kinks to each set up and camera, and I had to do some research and watch videos.” With it being Damian's first year, he said he had “a lot of technical difficulties at the start of the season because, I was learning everything at the same time as filming the games.”
Myles and Damian both said that they will do it again next year if the opportunity is still there for them.