HoopsHIGH is Free Spirit Media’s after-school program in which students develop skills in sports broadcasting. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube while our site undergoes a makeover.

Throughout the school year and summer, participants travel to a variety of high schools to produce full broadcast coverage of sporting events, including basketball, football, soccer, volleyball, and track and field. Participants do it all — operate cameras, announce the play-by-play, conduct sideline interviews, direct shots, and set-up and strike the equipment — for each shoot.

Through a partnership between Free Spirit Media and After School Matters, HoopsHIGH students can progress from the introductory apprenticeship program to the advanced apprenticeship program, in which they’ll produce the HoopsHIGH telecast shown weekly on CAN TV Channel 19 in Chicago on Saturdays at 8 p.m. A diverse and enthusiastic audience of about 50,000 tunes in weekly to check out the exciting sports action and FSM student-produced PSAs, documentaries, narrative shorts, and journalistic work.

To apply to join HoopsHIGH please complete the application and email it to rahkal@freespiritmedia.org.