The Florida Tech women’s soccer team is going high tech.
The tradition began last season when the team traveled to Hawaii and late Coach Fidgi Haig wanted to find a way to update fans back home on the team’s’ activities.
“He wanted us to write a blog,” said volunteer assistant and goalkeeping coach Emma Ahlstrand. “I told him we’re not going to write a blog, people aren’t going to read it because people don’t read anymore.”
Ahlstrand has a background in photography and film-making from working as the head of events and head photographer at the biggest sports camp in northern Europe for three years. She was in charge of all the pictures that were taken at that camp as well as film editing.
She suggested to Haig that they do a video blog instead and he agreed.
The team had so much fun with the camera that they requested that the blog become a regular thing for this season.
Ahlstrand asked Sky Morrison, a junior communication major on the team, to be the front person of the project.
“She is happy and bubbly and just, Sky,” said Ahlstrand. “It was an easy choice.”
Morrison takes most of the footage since she has a long-term injury that prevents her from playing. She is using the experience to apply what she is using in the classroom to the real world.
For Morrison, the biggest challenge is getting new and fresh footage using only two pieces of equipment — Cam and Marvin Jr.
Cam is Ahlstrand’s Nikon D5300 that Morrison uses and Marvin Jr. is the tripod — junior because she broke the original Marvin.
“I did some TV production in high school, so I figured how bad could I be? But the actual filming process…struggle bus!” Morrison said.
Morrison said that despite the kinks, the outcome of all the hard work is worth it.
“It’s a good memory to have. It’s on the internet and it’s going to stay there on the internet. Five or ten years down the line, you can still go back and look at it and it’s sort of like a yearbook that people will go back and look at,” said Ahlstrand. “This is a more modern version of it. It’s kind of like a diary in a way for them.”
Morrison said it’s a great opportunity for the team to show the world who they really are. Incoming freshmen and recruits get a sneak peek at who their new teammates are off the field.
“It’s hard being a student-athlete and it is a lot to balance and I think we want to show why we work the way we work, the purpose behind it,” said Morrison.
With the blog becoming more regular this semester, Ahlstrand said their biggest hurdle is coming up with new material to talk about and getting people to watch.
But at the beginning of the summer, the women’s soccer page on Facebook had only 200 likes and now it boasts over 1,100.
Morrison hopes that the blog is something that continues after she graduates, but both women admit that it is something they are taking one year at a time.
“We just gotta get someone who’s willing to just get in front of the camera and blab,” said Morrison.
Ahlstrand has about three more blog posts planned. Fans can find the link to the blog’s youtube page at http://www.floridatechsports.com/wsoccer/
