Athletic Insider with Coach Turi: Rome Kadi
This month we talk with Rome Kadi, an 11th grader who has taken his passion for sports broadcasting to the winter hardwood this season. He is the play-by-play announcer for the York Prep varsity basketball team, and he is doing a great job! Below he shares his thoughts with Coach Turi on how it’s gone so far.
Coach Turi: What got you interested in sports broadcasting?
Rome: I've always watched sports since I was little and loved it ever since. What really got me into sports broadcasting was when I met Bob Costas. It's a long story so I'll try to keep it as short as possible. If you don't know who Costas is, he's been at the top of the (sports broadcast) industry for multiple decades. I actually met him on a plane flight so, once me and my family landed, we took a picture with him and told him that we were going to a football game the next day. Turns out, he was going to be covering the same game that me and my dad were going to. He gave my dad his phone number and, when we got to the stadium, he took us down to the set where he was working and we took a quick picture with him and his colleagues. When we were done, I was so excited that I was crying in my Dad's arms and I thought to myself, "I really want to do this one day because I want to do the same thing for others."
Coach Turi: Who are some of your favorite broadcast announcers?
Rome: Well, like I mentioned in the story above, Bob Costas is definitely one of them. I also like Vin Scully because he's basically the Michael Jordan of broadcasting. In terms of recent broadcasters, I really like guys like Ryan Ruocco and Mark Jones because, along with being elite at what they do, they also have fun and sprinkle in a couple anecdotes here and there to make the listener buy into the broadcast more.
Coach Turi: What do you think makes a good broadcaster?
Rome: What makes a good broadcaster to me is someone who prepares the right way, has fun while also being professional, and has a symbiotic relationship with the people that he or she works with to make sure that everyone is on the same page. With some more repetition and experience, I'm trying to achieve all three of those goals.
Coach Turi: You are broadcasting the York Prep Boys Varsity games this year, how have they gone so far from a broadcast perspective?
Rome: I've had a lot of fun calling the Boys Varsity games because it not just opens opportunities for me to practice and work on my craft, it also benefits the school because parents might not be able to make it to the games. So, having that opportunity makes things a lot more seamless for them. Not to mention that the team has been fun to watch so far this season.
Coach Turi: What goes into your preparation to broadcast a game?
Rome: Once I get to my spot where I broadcast and set my stuff down, the first thing I do is write down the team rosters. For the first game, I had to write down both York Prep's roster and the opposing team's roster. But now, I've cut my work in half because I already have York Prep's roster down so I only need the opposing team's roster. After I do that, I wait for our Director of Technology, Mr. Abba, to meet me (in the booth) where we set up the cameras, the microphone and our Zoom link. Once that’s all set, before warmups are over, I’ll usually do a mini-recap of the other Boys Varsity games that people may have missed to catch them up on what’s been happening up until that day’s game. And then, before you know, it’s tipoff time.
Coach Turi: What is your dream broadcasting job?
Rome: My dream job is to work for one of the main networks like CBS, NBC, FOX, ESPN, MLB Network etc. But, to be honest with you, I’ll be happy if I get a job that pays well and I have fun doing it. It doesn’t matter to me if I’m covering a minor league baseball team or a G-League team in the NBA, I’ll be happy to get to do this for a living. I paraphrase NBA on TNT’s Ernie Johnson when I say this. “What I want is a get to job, not a got to job.”
