Episode Transcript
[00:00:08] Speaker A: This is beyond basketball, where we go behind the scenes of Calgary's newest pro sports team, the surge. I'm Mia Smith.
[00:00:15] Speaker B: And I'm Emma Marshall. And in this episode, communications on the court.
We will be going beyond the game and straight into the heartbeat of this city sports scene by exploring how the surge creates jobs for local professionals.
How does the team really work from the inside to make the gameday experience.
[00:00:34] Speaker A: Powerful, we wanted to learn about the people off the court that make the team what it is. Former oil and gas worker Jesse Tomayo is now an integral part of how people perceive this urge as a team and a brand. As the creative and brand manager, he discussed his art, his passion, and his experience working in sports for the first time, Jesse took Emma on a tour around his office at the surge headquarters. She asked him some questions along the.
[00:00:57] Speaker C: Way, but doing a little tour here. So she's recording it. Yeah, no, it's a wild ride. I've never done professional sports before, so I didn't really know what was going on. I took a chance and, yeah, here I am.
[00:01:11] Speaker D: Can you walk me through your typical game day? I know we're not in the on season right now, but when games were going on, it seemed, like, very hectic for you with all of the things you had to do. So do you want to just walk me through a little bit of how that looks?
[00:01:24] Speaker C: Yeah, sure. So we would typically get the schedule kind of early in the year. So around like January, February, we would have our game schedules. So that's, the league will be kind of sending that through. And then once you kind of know the schedule, you know, you start to look at all the dates, and sometimes you'll have kind of gaps in between or maybe some, a weekend where, or like one week where you, you have a game every other day, so it can get pretty crazy at times. And so a typical game day kind of leading up to one, a lot of meetings for sure, with the team just, you know, there's a lot of moving parts. And I'm sure you've talked with my other colleagues and, you know, you got like, the operations people kind of like loading trucks and things like that and moving merch. And then on my end, though, I work closely with whoever's running the script, essentially, because it's, it's essentially like a, like a two hour show too, right? So you got the game, there's a script, you got guests. And so basically, I pretty much run through every element of the script and anything in there that requires graphics or anything visual, you know, me and the videographer, Josh, will pretty much fill in the gaps that way. So, you know, we got those big boards that you see in the arena and whatever you kind of see on there. So, you know, those, like, games that people play, like, in between, like, during timeouts or, like, halftime and things like that or. Yeah, like, little things like that. And we would work with a. Like, a broadcast, like, media crew who records our games and televises them, too for the league. And if there's anything that we.
We can work on together to make the game smoother, they help me with anything that I need. Yeah, it gets fun when the players are here, and you get to interact with them and create content with them, too. So, yeah, it's definitely not for the faint of heart. You know, it's a lot of work that goes into it, for sure. Yeah, it's been exciting.
[00:03:32] Speaker D: So is there a specific, like, campaign or a design or a piece of merchandise or something that you're, like, particularly proud of?
[00:03:41] Speaker C: You know, I think the first thing that kind of pops to mind was kind of in the beginning when we were doing the, like, banner designs, it was kind of creating this. This presence, you know, like, it's. It was new for everybody, new for Windsport, new for us. I think it just started becoming a bit more real, like, especially leading up to the first game when. When I think I went back to Windsport and finally saw your designs kind of, like, up on the side of a building, you know, kind of thing where. I don't know if you've been up to Windsport in the plaza there and Mark and McPhail, but, yeah, we have a. We have a, like, a welcome home kind of sign with our branding, and then we have, you know, large vertical banners alongside of the buildings.
[00:04:21] Speaker D: That's got to be pretty surreal.
[00:04:25] Speaker C: It is. You know, like, I think. I think the sky of it, too, was a. Was a really cool thing to see. I think just because, you know, everything that we've been doing, you know, it starts off digital, whatever. Any ideas? And then once you actually see it in person, it's.
Yeah, it just became more real. So I think that. That, to me, I just remembered being this experience when I kind of walked through. It's like, oh, this is happening, like, you know, it's coming to town. Yes.
[00:04:49] Speaker D: So, yeah, just from your experience with the team and working with the people with the team team, how many do you think this is their first time in professional sports as well?
[00:05:01] Speaker C: I'd say more than half of us might have been new actually. So, yeah, it was a learning curve for all of us, and even some of the veterans from the league have also learned new things. It's a new team. It brought us together. You know, it does tend to feel like a bit of a family. Right. It's like a small, smallish or. No, biggish family. Like, about ten is a fairly big family. Pretty big family. Yeah. It's always, like, every new thing, every game was always a different kind of experience, and it was always met with, like, you know, a mixture of emotions, a roller coaster of emotions, but mainly excitement, for sure.
And it's just really cool to see that, like, what you're able to accomplish as a small team, especially for the first, like, for the inaugural season of the surge here in the city. And so, yeah, no, it's been great.
[00:06:07] Speaker D: Are there any specific core values of the surge that draw you in to.
[00:06:13] Speaker C: To stay, like. So one of our kind of campaigns with, one of the things that we try to drive home is the concept of, like, the home team. And part of what I was saying before about the welcome home sign, it was really meant to drive that sense of community, for sure. And I think part of that, too. If you look at our shirt design for that, for the home team, we've also tried to inject that with. With different languages of what? Home. Like me home and other languages. Exactly right there.
[00:06:49] Speaker D: Just for the record, we are actually staring at. Is this the sign or one of the signs?
[00:06:54] Speaker C: This is, like, one of the signs.
[00:06:55] Speaker D: One of the signs, essentially.
[00:06:58] Speaker C: So on the shirt, it says home team, and then it's exact same kind of languages. We tried to fit in as much. I think we were looking at the top kind of languages that's spoken in the city, and, you know, just kind of creating that connection point, I think for a lot of people when they come, you know, not. I think a lot of people here have been waiting for basketball to come as well, and it's.
Any chance that you can expand that to the community as much as you can is always great. So I think that's one of the cool things that we're doing, and I think that we're.
We're hitting in the community. I'd say, you know, like, one of the other concepts, too, that we've actually. I don't know if anyone's ever told you this, but the logo, which I didn't design, by the way, this was already designed when I came, but it's got four wings, right? And so that's. It represents the four corners of the city, like the quadrants.
[00:07:56] Speaker E: Oh, cool.
[00:07:57] Speaker C: Yeah. So, again, it ties into that whole bringing the community together, bringing people together. Yeah. Yeah. So. And then, you know, like, we try to keep that in mind whenever we. We go out into the community and the events, you know, even. Even our. One of our recent kind of social campaigns, when we were.
It was a Halloween promo, I think, where we.
We hid, like, kind of ticket vouchers for next season for people to find, like. Like, on Halloween.
And we kind of just hit up, like, different spots, like, about four spots, at least one in each quadrant kind of thing. And. Yeah. So I think that's one of those core values that I'm proud to keep spreading. For sure.
[00:08:50] Speaker A: That was behind the scenes with Jesse and Emma. He showed us how this role has challenged him, but more importantly, why he loves it. I'm Mia Smith.
[00:08:57] Speaker B: And I'm Emma Marshall. And we are your hosts. You're listening to surge in the city beyond basketball. We just spoke with Jesse Tamayo, the creative and brand manager for the Calgary surge. He told us all about the work that goes into building the appearance of the team.
[00:09:12] Speaker A: Next, we wanted to hear from the voice of the game, Priscilla Cherry. Having graduated from the Bachelor of communications at Mount Royal University, Priscilla uses this background for her new role as the surge mc. She is instrumental in ensuring that the game day atmosphere stays high. But with her energy, it's no doubt that the fans are staying engaged.
[00:09:31] Speaker B: Like Jessie, Priscilla is brand new to the sports scene. We asked Priscilla about her introduction to the team as well as her experiences so far. She mentions how impactful the kids have been and how fan interactions have changed her perspective on the sports community. We welcome Priscilla back to the hallways of Mount Royal to get the inside scoop.
[00:09:53] Speaker D: We're rolling. You're rolling. Perfect. So we are here with Priscilla Cherry. Can you do me a favor really quick?
[00:10:01] Speaker E: I was somewhat nervous because I've never worked in the realm of live sports, live sporting event. I'm like, yay, sports. I don't really know.
So at first, I was kind of like, oh, my gosh, they actually want me to do this thing. But that's a whole other field. There's actual divorce announcers that can call the plays and all the things, but I've been learning a little bit more since being on the team. Different calls and plays and things, however. Yeah, I guess I was just a little bit nervous at first, but the root of what I was, I think, hired for is engaging. Like, engaging and using that skill set of bringing the community in and making them feel like a part of something. So everything I was doing before surge was that I was doing a lot of, like, community building in radio, film production, tv production. So all of those. All of those roles helped me kind of just excel at this role because it was still in the realm of engaging and hosting and making sure people.
My only job in being an in game host is to make sure that you have an impeccable time. Like, you were having a good time before, you know, you heard me talk on this mic. You're gonna have an even better time.
[00:11:19] Speaker D: You weren't really involved in sports before you got this role. So can you tell us kind of what you've learned about the sports scene and the sports community? Through working with Serge?
[00:11:29] Speaker E: I've learned that sports fans anywhere are, like, special everywhere. You will never meet, like, more loyal, compassionate, just invest people. Then you would meet, like, than a group of fans, specifically, like, Calgary search fans. They bought in to what we were doing before they even knew what we were doing. Like, it is our first season, you know, all we have is just, like, our word and our social media stuff as we're promoting, and then we have, you know, different highlight reels and stuff. But we still are kind of building this thing, like, as we're promoting it. But people are here for it. Like, they are invested in this thing that we're creating without even having, like, the full picture, which just goes to show again, just, like, the loyalty and the faith that they have in what we're doing. So it's been. It's been really cool. Yeah, go fans live hosting. It's like, people understand that people are a lot more understanding and forgiving, and they're, like, with you along for the ride and they're there for the journey, and they're like, ah. Like, mistakes aren't even a thing because it's just like, if I trip over my words, I'm like, oh, I make fun of myself because of it. You know, I just, like, make it a part of what we're doing anyways out there. So, yeah, I think a lot of the things that I was doing before surge helped me, like, prepared me to be ready for surge because it is a whole other realm, and it is, like, live television. You know, I'm doing, like, live local radio or other things that take, like, post production and there's editing and there's all the things. It's a whole other game, like, literally, like, pun intended. When you're doing things live, like, for a national broadcast, you guys, I was on TSN, like, that is like, no joke. Yeah, it's like no joke. So you kind of have to come prepared, and everything that I did up until this point of search prepared me for the role. My favorite, I would say, are the kids. The kids. Oh, my. They have my heart. They are so just, like, curious and just full of wonder and just like, anything. Anything is so exciting to them, any part of the game. And, I mean, well, they're not on social media, but, yeah, social media is one of those tools that I would like to explore a little bit more going into kind of the next season and see how we can just be intentional. Intentional with how we're engaging on social media. It's like these little mini micro moments that I have to make that to make it meaningful, to create that positive impact. If I can do that in my two little minutes with my little microphone, I'm going to do that.
[00:14:09] Speaker B: And so how do you go about.
[00:14:10] Speaker D: Building a strong relationship with the fan.
[00:14:12] Speaker B: Base and making them feel connected to the team?
[00:14:15] Speaker E: I love just the opportunities that being a part of the team presents in so many different ways on personal levels and professional levels.
It's just such a vibe and, yeah, it's just. It's so much fun. And I think a large part of also what makes, in terms of, like, my approach to the role is that not only I have the experience of working in broadcasting and just having this, like, body of work, but I myself am a fan of a Calgary search. Like, I like, I like, I'm a groupie, but so that's how I approach the role itself. So that when I am out there on the court, it's like I'm thinking of these things ahead of time. Oh, what would I want to experience as a fan if I was, you know, in the. In the stands? Like, what do I want to see, feel, hear all the things? So I think that really helps me in terms of, like, just, like, tackling the role and getting it done. Like, look at Hilary, our girl. She's kills. Social media communication's amazing. And then, like, our vp, brittany, incredible. I love the women that I am surrounded. And also on this team, everyone is just so sweet and so welcoming and, yeah, it's really empowering to be around other women in sports. Cause we're challenging this whole notion of a boys club and the status quo of, you know, rah, rah, rah. I don't know. They beat their chest. I have no idea what boys do in sports, but, yeah, so it's been really a good even challenge to myself. Again, challenging my own bias around what I thought women and women identifying people do in sports. So culture that we're wanting to create, we're still growing. It's like there's these growing pains. You know, our team itself is the newest team in the entire league, like the CeBL, the Canadian Elite Basketball league. But that also means internally, we're also a new team, the same way that the boys and the players have to, you know, practice and figure out their dynamic and, like, you know, which plays work better with which players and all of that. Right. For us, it's the same thing internally. So I think we're still figuring that out and getting there.
We have a group chat.
[00:16:32] Speaker B: That is.
[00:16:33] Speaker D: The pinnacle of creating friends. I swear that's it.
[00:16:38] Speaker E: 100%. Yeah.
[00:16:39] Speaker D: What do you think personally and professionally, you wanna implement and bring into season two?
[00:16:45] Speaker E: Oh, my gosh. That is a really good question. I think I wrote something down because I was like, that's a good question. What do I want to work on and bring into?
[00:16:55] Speaker D: We just impose some self reflection real quick.
[00:16:59] Speaker E: No, it's good. I feel like, yeah. Just, yeah. Refining what we mean when we say we're for the community, because it's like this whole thing is, we say, yeah, for the community, but how can we show more that we're, like, with the community of the community, from the community, in the community, you know what I mean? Not just like, hey, this is for the community. We are actually immersed. We ourselves are the community. I was plucked from the community to now be part of this incredible machine monster that we're building with the Calgary surge. And so just to always keep that and keep grounded in that and, like, the grassroots level of it and not get too far ahead of ourselves and in the clouds, which is fine because, you know, Sergio is a bird, so fly on. But what I would love to see is just the maintenance and the continuation of what we're already doing, which is, like, immersing ourselves in the community, popping up different community events, and just making sure that we're on people's radar throughout the year, like, year round, so that by the time the season does come, people are excited and they feel like, oh, my gosh, yes, they've been a part of us already the entire year. And it's not just like, oh, these surge people. They just want to promote themselves when it's convenient for them. Instead, they feel like they're a part of something and belonging to something and something that they also helped inform. You know, I definitely want to keep upping my social media game. And engaging fans and engaging the city and hearing how they want to see the games, you know, like how do they want to see this manifested and what do they want to see it turn into? Because we really brought this to the city for the city. So we need to hear from the city, the people of the city, and their insights. And yeah, at first I was real stressed. I wasn't sure if we were gonna make it, but we brought it home in the last few seconds. Gold surge. Go. Yay.
Carrie on 3123 Carrie.
[00:19:26] Speaker B: That was Priscilla.
[00:19:27] Speaker A: Cherry on campus with us. She spoke with us about how her background is coming in useful with her new role as the in game host for the surge.
[00:19:35] Speaker B: With no natural interest in sports, her perspective as a newcomer is an interesting and important one, especially now that she considers herself a big fan of the game.
Speaking with both Priscilla and Jesse showed how much the surge is doing when it comes to local employment and career expansion.
[00:19:52] Speaker A: The Calgary surge isn't just about winning games, it's about making a positive impact on the community.
The rise of this team has spearheaded many charity programs across the city and they have built a loyal fan base from the ground up, thanks to the dedication of everyone off the court, including Jesse and Priscilla.
The appearance and expression of the surge is successful and unique in its own way. However, it is not as effortless as fans may think. Without these people working behind the scenes, the gameday atmosphere would be much less impactful.
And that's it for this episode of Surge in the City. Thanks for listening. I'm Mia Smith.
[00:20:29] Speaker B: And I'm Emma Marshall. And special thanks to Priscilla Cherry and Jesse Tamayo for speaking with us about job opportunities at the surgeon as well as for their dedication to the court and to the community.
This series is a collaboration between the Calgary Surge and the Community podcast initiative. Based out of Mount Royal University. It was produced on treaty seven territory and we recognize the stewards and storytellers of these lands, the Nitsitape, Eyahe, Nakoda, Sutina, and Metis peoples. We are grateful to create, learn, and play here, and as storytellers ourselves, we are committed to listening to their expertise and continuing to learn as we work towards reconciliation. Follow the surge and their new season at Calgarysurge, CA and at Calgarysurge on social media. Learn more about the community podcast initiative at thepodcaststudio, CA and at Communitypod YYC. Be sure to subscribe for the latest episodes and find out where in the city the surge will be next.
