Former WBHS-Channel 9 sportscaster Courtney Lyle did an internship with ESPN this summer after her sophomore year at UT. (Photos courtesy of Paul Lyle)

Former BHS sportscaster on air for Vol Network, SportSouth, ESPNU
By CAROL STUART
For Brentwood Home Page
Former Brentwood High / Channel 9 sportscaster Courtney Lyle, who interned at ESPN this summer after just her sophomore year in college, has never let age stop her from getting in the game.

ESPN only accepted interns within 12 months of graduating -- but she applied anyway, was interviewed and got to work behind-the-scenes on production of such events as the World Cup, X Games and Belmont Stakes. She was among 88 chosen out of nearly 1,000 and was asked to apply next year, too.

"I went ahead and applied, thinking I might as well get my

BHS alum Courtney Lyle conducts an interview as an ESPNU sidelines reporter during an NCAA softball game at the University of Tennessee.

name in there," Lyle said. "A couple of months later, three people called me three days in a row and told me I could not do the internship, that I was not eligible. Then, finally on the fourth day, I got another call from a different person, saying we've seen your resume ... we're going to interview you anyway. So that was really exciting."

As a freshman at the University of Tennessee two years ago, she'd hang out at the athletic broadcasting department every day, even writing a paper or reading a book, until they put her to work. Lyle also spent three straight years at Voice of the Vols' Bob Kesling's one-week summer sportscaster camp starting at age 15 -- when the ages of other participants went up to about age 45.

"Courtney is a natural at this," Kesling says. "She has been around radio and TV all her life. When she was at our broadcasting camp, even though she was always among the youngest, she was always among the best.

A look at Courtney Lyle's work

http://utsports.tv/featured/kelley-cain-feature/

"Courtney was a good fit in a professional atmosphere, adapting quickly to the challenges of an environment that ties together ESPN's Bristol headquarters with events taking place around the world, not least among them the World Cup in South Africa. Expectations for her on Bristol-based support for that event and other projects was comparable to what would be required of a staff production assistant, and she handled the work well, particularly for someone of her experience level." -- Thomas Kintner, ESPN production coordinator

" You can tell she loves doing this and wants to be good at it.  Courtney studies broadcasting and is always eager to do what it takes to better herself."

Lyle got her start at age 7 when her dad, Paul, a former radio sales manager  for 103 WKDF and 104.5 The Zone, had her do voiceover work for Carpet Barn and other ads. But she got passionate about broadcasting -- and first-rate experience -- through the 24-hour WBHS Channel 9 TV station that Brentwood High operates as Williamson County educational cable access for Comcast.

By her sophomore year at BHS, she already was the student announcer on the TV station for Bruins football and many basketball games. Courtney was intern of the year as a rare junior intern, and by her senior year, she was head intern with 11 students reporting to her -- directing football games with eight cameras, three replay machines and digital graphics.

In two years at UT, she already is a feature reporter on The Pat Summitt Show and co-hosts and helps produce the Inside the Orange spring sports programs, both on SportSouth regional network. She also is the studio host for the Lady Vols radio network games and introduces post-game calls, plus did on-air sideline reporting for ESPNU national network during some softball games at UT.

Still, it seemed like a dream when she arrived at ESPN in Bristol, Conn., where there are 13 buildings on the main campus with a shuttle service and another campus just down the road.

"It was like, 'This is what I've dreamed about a long time and here I am,' so it was kind of an unreal moment," Lyle said. "And walking into the Sports Center set, when they took us on a tour, that was  really cool."

Lyle got to shadow different departments the last couple of weeks of her internship, including the SportsCenter, ESPN News, ESPN Radio, ESPN.com and content edit (all the replays, teases, bumps you see) crews.

Prime-time experience for World Cup
But, while her experience was all off-camera, she had some pretty heady responsibilities the first half of summer as part of the event production team on the World Cup Prime Time broadcasts.

"They sent 300 employees actually to South Africa, and they left some of us in Bristol.  ESPN made the World Cup one of their priorities this year," she said.

"For those of us working back in Bristol, we worked on the Prime Time show which aired anytime between 8 (p.m.) and 2 a.m. So for that I was in charge of making sure that the melt from each game got transferred over from South Africa, and that we could use those to put into the show."

Lyle, center, became a play-by-play student announcer on WBHS-Channel 9 football games at age 15.

Lyle also did feed requests: "I would come in and I might have 40 e-mails from people in South Africa saying I need footage of this. Then I'd have to go find the footage, clip it off onto a tape, and then set up a feed to South Africa and then feed it in real time."

She also watched all the live feeds being filmed in South Africa by the World Cup Prime Time crew and made sure there "weren't any jump cuts or flash frames" or sponsorship issues. "Then I would clip them off and send them to our editor so he could fine tune them and tweak them and put them into the show."

Courtney isn't sure whether she will end up as on-air talent or behind the scenes, so she's getting plenty of experience in both.

"Basically I've told her stay on camera as long as you can -- they'll tell you when you're not good enough," her dad said.

From 5-year-old fan to Vol Network reporter 
Paul Lyle, a big sports nut, admits he's guilty for getting her so interested in all kinds of sports.

Courtney, who played on the Brentwood High freshman basketball team, remembers getting "decked out" in Lady Vols gear and going to games with her father starting at about age 5. She gave up playing basketball about the same time she pursued her passion as a broadcaster.

"To go from being fan since you were little, to come into UT and actually getting to work with the team has been an awesome experience," Courtney said.

Lyle reporting for ESPNU.

She also did a feature on Summitt's 1,000th coaching win, which aired all over the Southeast on SportSouth. "She's great and super helpful," Courtney said about the legendary women's basketball coach. "She might look scary on the court when she's coaching, but when she's not coaching, she's awesome."

Courtney, who also appeared on camera for two state volleyball championship telecasts, works on UT streaming video feeds on such sports as volleyball and women's soccer. She plans to work on the Vol Network football productions this fall, possibly as a camera grip.

Learning on the job at WBHS
While at WBHS-Channel 9, she did play-by-play or color commentary on about 80 football or basketball games.

"I've got a couple friends that saw her on TV at WBHS and they  kept telling me she's going to be at ESPN," her dad said. "And so when I called and said she's going to work at ESPN this summer, and they said 'I told you.' "

Courtney was also the first female student to work play-by-play on the WBHS football games.

"It was probably the scariest thing I've ever done," she said, "because I was 15 years when I first started.  I was put in the announcing booth with two older guys and expected to know stuff about football. I mean I was horrible at it.

"But it gave me experience getting in front of the mike, learning more about how to talk about things, learning more about the team, and learning more about the sport. It was really helpful."

She doesn't think too often about being a women in the sports media, although "I work with all guys so it's kinda evident there that I'm the only girl."

But Courtney notes: "It used to be if you had a pretty face they'd stick you on the sideline and somebody would tell you what to say, but now they are looking for women to take a bigger role in sports. But you have to know your stuff. You can't just be a pretty face. You have to go in and do your research and know what you're talking about for people to take you seriously."

Lyle on the WBHS set.

BHS principal Kevin Keidel for one isn't surprised that Lyle was chosen for the ESPN program: "With her, nothing surprises me, absolutely nothing. If they told me she was going to be on ESPN as a regular, I would say I expect nothing less from her."

When television teacher Mark Madison died suddenly on Easter weekend her senior year at BHS, Lyle with the help of other students and recent alumni practically ran the station and program -- even grading students -- under tremendous traumatic circumstances.

"I'd say she handled it quite maturely, in fact probably more maturely than a lot of us did," Keidel said. "But I would also add she did so much more even before then. I don't think her work in finishing out the school year and keeping the program going strong was nearly as important as the work she did throughout her four years here at Brentwood High. She was a highly motivated kid.

"There's a quote Mr. Madison  used to always used, 'It's time to get to work, so let's get to work,' and that's the way she approached her high school career. And she went to work, doing what she's doing today. I think that's really to me what set her so apart from everyone else. ... She just has wonderful things ahead of her in the future."

Courtney Lyle, left, in video production at a WBHS game in 2007-08.