YAIAA football media day kicks off fall season

Monday signaled the official start of the fall season …. for the GameTimePA.com staff, at least.

More than 60 coaches and football players made their way to the York Daily Record and GameTimePA offices for the annual YAIAA media day.

It’s the third straight year that we’ve hosted the event, and speaking as the one who handles most of the organization, the day ran pretty smoothly.

The event is divided into three one-hour sessions. Divisions I and III each have eight teams, and Division II has seven. Both numbers are just about perfect, space-wise, to fit into our main newsroom conference room.

Sidenote: The first year we hosted media day, Division III had 10 teams. Ten. I’m still amazed that we fit 10 tables in the room and STILL had space to walk around.

Not too long after the teams arrive, the fun begins. A swarm of local media outlets (newspapers, TV and radio stations) each take their turn at interviewing, pulling the kids and coaches into this room or that for pictures and more interviews.

It’s an exhausting day (first session starts at 9 a.m., a time of day that most sports reporters never see) but it’s the first real taste of football since last season. Both the kids and the reporters start to get pretty fired up about the season to come. (Read our coverage here.)

And, it’s fun.

Throughout the day, we made sure to provide live updates to the GameTimePA.com viewers on several platforms. All the reporters and editors tweeted during the day using the #yamediaday hashtag. The tag served two purposes: It allowed for content to flow directly into our live blog, and we used it for anyone who wanted to ask a question about the upcoming season.

@GameTimePA_SC #yamediaday what team in Division 2 has the best O-line?

— Nathan Farr (@natefarr60) August 3, 2015

Northeastern vs York Catholic, week 1 who do you have and why #yamediaday @GameTimePA_SC

— ✨QUEEN G✨ (@SillyGilly97) August 2, 2015

And, in addition to posting some Instagram pics from the event, we decided to try something new: Snapchat.

And we’re hooked.

GameTimePA.com joined Snapchat the Saturday before media day, and by Monday morning, we had more than 50 friends. So I started snapping away during media day, shooting some behind-the-scenes videos and photos. I’m still learning, but each snap in my story managed to get about 80 views, which I deem a success.

Plus, we always brainstorm with the visual department to come up with some fun video ideas. Last year, it was the Office Olympics. This year, we had six teams participate in three different mental or physical tests. Check out the result below and view more pictures from the day at GameTimePA.com.