‘Zoomcasts’ aim to bring the athletic community together

By reliving memories from the past season, Sports Information Director Steven Olveda’s “Zoomcasts” aim to connect Chapman community members to athletes. Left to right: Cat Helgeson, Steven Olveda. Photo courtesy of Olveda

You’ve heard of broadcasts; you’ve heard of podcasts. Yet a new twist on the typical “cast” has emerged at Chapman: the “Zoomcast.”

The concept was designed by Chapman’s Sports Information Director Steven Olveda, with the goal of bridging the gap between student-athletes, sports fans and parents. After quarantine began in March and the spring sport season was prematurely cut, members of the athletic department struggled to find ideas to maintain contact and enthusiasm between players. An avid fan of the MLB’s Los Angeles Dodgers, Olveda saw the team hold Zoom interviews with players, where fans could listen in to the conversation, and came up with a solution.

“I thought this would be a good way to go back and hear something from the athletes,” Olveda said. “It was a nice way to go back and hear stories.” 

Olveda began by hosting athletes from the baseball team to relive the program’s run to a national championship in 2019. Following that series, student athletes like Thomas Doyle, a junior point guard on the basketball team, were invited to share their experiences from the prior season. 

“It was a cool experience to reminisce on the basketball season, especially during this time,” Doyle said. “People were able to get an idea of who I am and what Chapman basketball was like.”

Managing press releases and information for every single sport at Chapman makes it difficult for Olveda to develop a relationship with each individual athlete at the university. Zoomcasts allow him to have conversations with student athletes he normally wouldn’t interact with – such as Cat Hegelson, a sophomore libero on the women’s volleyball team.

“We don’t get to talk to the liberos very often because they're not always up at the front,” Olveda said. “It was great to be able to talk to her and get some perspective from a position that a lot of people don’t think about.”

In addition to connecting those within athletics, Doyle hopes that Zoomcasts will connect athletes with other students on campus. 

“Chapman is a Division III school, so sports are not necessarily a priority as (they are) at Division I or Division II schools,” Doyle said. “It’s a cool opportunity to have students get more involved with student-athletes and hopefully increase appeal in the coming seasons.”

Olveda believes his Zoomcasts have allowed Chapman’s athletes to feel part of a close-knit community.

“The only goal that I really had was to connect everyone, because we’ve been apart for so long,” Olveda said. “I wanted to keep all of our student athletes, parents and fans involved by remembering some of our best moments.”