Two students now have positions as the first ever Mandarin-language broadcast announcers for Temple men’s basketball games.
The Battle of the Broadcasters competition selected two Chinese students, Javi Yuan and James Yuan, as the broadcasters for the upcoming games.
The idea for the contest stemmed from the ever-growing international Chinese student enrollment. Students from China make up the largest population of international students at colleges nationwide. With nearly 1300 Chinese students at Temple (making up 4% of the overall student body population, and 44% of the international student body), the next step was to figure out how to integrate those students into everyday campus life.
President Neil Theobald decided to combine the American and Chinese love for basketball by coming up with the Battle of the Broadcasters competition. The first of its kind in the nation, five student finalists went head-to-head to showcase their best broadcast announcing skills during the Temple vs. South Florida game. Although the game took place in Tampa, each finalist was given time to show off their skills in Morgan Hall this past Sunday.
The winners, Javi and James, are both part of Temple’s Class of 2019.
Javi Yuan is currently enrolled in the School of Media and Communication, and calls sportscasting his dream. He played basketball in high school, and currently provides commentary on a Chinese game-streaming website that has a following of over 2,000 people.
James Yuan is enrolled in the Fox School of Business. He went to high school in both California and Connecticut, where he was the only Chinese player on his varsity basketball team. He lived with his high school coach, who taught him more about the rules of NCAA sports. He currently emcees Chinese Student Scholars Association events. With a win in the contest, one of his hopes is to help Chinese students gain a better understanding of sports rules.
Javi Yuan and James Yuan will go on to do audio broadcasts and highlight videos in Mandarin for future men’s basketball games, which will be streamed live on owlsports.com.
Be the first to comment