Vikings AD plans live streaming of events


Siuslaw High School athletic director Jeromy Graybill has seen the future, and now it's available at @thevikingannex on Twitter.

"I've only been on Twitter two or three weeks," Graybill said. "It's just me trying to reach out to the community in my own way, and pass on information to anyone who's paying attention."

Giving the community better online access to school activities appears to be a goal of the second-year athletic director.

To wit:

— Online registration for Vikings sports through FamilyID (www.familyid.com).

"Now once parents register their kids for the first time, as freshmen, they'll have all that information stored and they won't have to do paperwork after that," Graybill said.

— Video streaming of athletic events.

"We're looking at this winter, during basketball season," Graybill said. "We have all the stuff to do it. It takes a few guys to put it together, and to manhandle the camera."

He hopes to pair the live streaming with Coast Radio game broadcasts.

"You can entertwine the radio," Graybill said. "Like if (KCST's) Bob Sneddon is doing announcing on the radio, there's some way to link it up."

— Updates of school activities on Facebook (www.facebook.com/SHSVikings/).

"Our principal, Mrs. (Kerri) Tatum, does more of that stuff," Graybill said. "I'll send her the information and she'll post it."

For now, Twitter is his pet project. Armed with his trusty Samsung Galaxy Note 4 smartphone, Graybill has amassed 89 tweets for his 10 followers. He is currently following 14.

By contrast, The World (Coos Bay) sports editor John Gunther (who follows Graybill, and vice versa) has 11.7 thousand tweets and 1,228 followers while following 440.

"Technology, if you harness it, can be very useful," Graybill said. "It makes things a lot more connected."

Graybill has attached a photo or two on his Twitter account, and plans to start shooting video.

"I never thought I'd ever be on Twitter," he said, asked whether he's considering Instagram and other forms of social media.

"it's just a start. We'll see what's out there."