Wheeling Park, and in particular, its athletics department, is working toward fully embracing the use of technology at the high school.
WPHS recently announced on its Facebook page the link and details surrounding its revamped web presence for Wheeling Park Athletics.
The Patriots athletics department utilizes the Big Teams platform and has for some time. But recently, the school has been fully embracing all its possibilities and has transformed its site into a one-stop information hub for all things Patriots.
“We’ve always been a part of Big Teams and had the availability, but we wanted to put something in play where we everybody understands that anything dealing with Park, from going there for tickets, to streaming (games), any announcements, it will be there,” said Chris “Doc” Daugherty, Park’s head football coach and first-year athletics director. “We’ve linked our social media accounts there as well, so if we post something, it will appear on the site.”
Daugherty also noted the site is interactive insofar that fans can sign up to receive notices and alerts whenever the site generates any news. If there’s a schedule change, the Big Teams site will be updated and fans looking to attend said game will be alerted to that change.
Daugherty is a busy man, serving as both the head football coach and now AD, taking over for Dwaine Rodgers, who retired last school year after a lengthy tenure in the position.
So this platform, and its ability to be easily updated, affords Daugherty the flexibility to make adjustments on the go once of the school’s respective sports’ coaches provide him with the new info. It’s still newish, so some sections—like individual team rosters, coaching staff bios, team and game photos, etc.–are still being added to the site.
But the meat and potatoes, per se, are included and what is offered is continuously expanding. You can even find a practice schedule for coaches that have provided that information for their respective teams.
In short, have an athletics question? Hit the site.
Online Ticketing
Park isn’t the only school in the OVAC to embrace online ticketing. Nor is it the first.
WPHS still sells tickets at the gate, but those prices are an additional $2 per ticket. There are other incentives to purchasing tickets ahead of time online, however.
One of the biggest is the school’s all-access pass, which covers every Wheeling Park High School regular season sporting event. While neither OVAC-specific events—whether tournaments or all-star contests—nor W.V.S.S.A.C. postseason events are covered, all other home contests are.
That means every contest of the school’s more than 20 varsity sports teams, plus junior varsity and freshmen level home games, are included in the purchase price. The cost is $128 for the year, but for a parent who has a child playing say three sports, cost savings can add up quickly.
Safe to say, the passes are a big hit thus far.
“We’re still doing gate tickets, but that ticket is $2 more than buying online,” Daugherty said. “What we’ve really tried to push through online is the passes. Most Park fans know that if they’re going to all the home games, it’s just easier to buy the pass and have it done. Then you have no chance of losing the tickets or forgetting to buy them.
“We’ve sold more season passes this year than we’ve ever in the history of the school, at least while I’ve been here. It seems to be working and we expect it to grow.”
Daugherty admits he knows that not everyone embraces technology advancement and online purchasing. That’s why the in-person option is still available. But as the years progress and more fans come to prefer the online option, he foresees a day when WPHS will be 100 percent online-only for tickets.
Game Streaming
Don’t live close by? Can’t make it to a game? Fear not, as WPHS has expanded its streaming options for fans that want to follow their son or daughter, niece or nephew, or even just check in to see how their alma mater is fairing.
The school’s athletics web page has a section specifically entitled “watch live” where fans can click and link to the school’s streaming page to watch.
Daugherty admits he and his staff are still working out the kinks as far as getting every event streamed live that they’d like. But rest assured, the eventual goal is to have all home events available for streaming.
“I think we’ll get as much as possible (streamed),” Daugherty said. “I got a little behind getting all of our jayvee and frosh home contests on the Hudl schedule, but once we can do that, we will be able to stream all of those events too.
“It’ll be nice that grandmother or grandfather in Oklahoma can watch their grandson or granddaughter on the freshmen or jayvee team, and not just Friday night or varsity.”
All that streaming you’d think would require a sizable audio/visual staff, but once again, thanks to technology, it’s not needed.
The athletics department has purchased a Hudl Focus Smart Camera, both for outdoor use at Wheeling Island Stadium, and inside the Palace on the Hill at WPHS.
These cameras can record, upload, and livestream, all at the same time.
And it’s not just the same view from center field or center court. These smart cameras can either stay in one spot, or follow the ball, zooming in and refocusing on the action automatically depending on chosen settings.
“It can do a bunch of different views, from wide-angle, following the ball, etc.,” Daugherty said. “We have them both at the stadium and in the gym, and that gives us a lot of availability. We just turn it on and you wouldn’t even know that it’s unmanned. You’d think a person was running the camera, zooming in and out.”
Those cameras aren’t cheap, but the benefits more than pay for the purchase price.
Not every school has the resources to fully take advantage of what technology can offer, not only for the students, but for extracurricular activities. But those that can are coming to find the benefits can be innumerable.
Wheeling Park is such a school.
