Welcome to Mr.Scott Musa- VBL's new Media Relations Director !
There is a new man at the helm of the Valley Baseball League office and I wanted to take a few minutes and help introduce Scott Musa to the readers here at Around The Valley. I had the privilege of covering a number of high school sporting events with Scott while I was writing for the Northern Virginia Daily and Scott was working for the Winchester Star. I would like to think that Scott and I have a great deal in common in reference to both Sports in general and the VBL in particular.
Scott is taking the place of Kevin Warner who has stepped down after a number of years of service to the VBL. Scott was officially named to the post during the August Owners Meeting and is currently working on plans for the 2009 Season. Scott is very familiar with the Shenandoah Valley as he is entering his 16TH year in the Athletic Department at Winchester's Shenandoah University.
Scott arrived at SU back in 1992 after graduating from Notre Dame and the list of accomplishments includes his current title of Assistant Athletic Director / Athletic Communications Director. The 2008-2009 season will be Scott's 14TH as the main contact person for All Things Hornets. Scott is also the President of the Virginia State Sports Information Directors Association (VaSID) as well as a member of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
Scott got his start at SU as the assistant men's lacrosse coach but after two years former Athletic Director Dave Dutton named Musa the department's first full-time SID. 16 years of service and counting, Musa will now look to tackle another project with the VBL. The list of responsibilities that are involved in the position is something that I hope to dive into as we move forward but for now I want to focus on letting people get to know Mr. Musa.
A quick 5 Questions for Mr. Musa on a rainy Saturday morning...
ATV-60: How long have you lived in the Shenandoah Valley?
Scott : For 16 years now. I grew up in upstate New York and played lacrosse at the University of Notre Dame. I moved to Winchester in August 1992 after graduating from ND in order to take a job as an assistant men's lacrosse coach at Shenandoah University. In 1994, I became the school's first ever SID.
ATV-60 : When did you attend your first VBL game?
Scott: I am not entirely sure, but I have been a baseball fan (I grew up an hour from Cooperstown and my family would always make a trip to the Hall of Fame every summer, usually around the HOF game) all of my life so I would that my first Valley game would have to have been in the summer of 1993.
When Todd Thompson (current VBL VP) bought the Royals, I helped him out a little at the beginning of that summer with some of the media portions of the team and that is when I began attending games more regularly.
ATV-60 : What are some of the initial projects you hope to work on ?
Scott: I would like to have a unified media plan for the entire league. I hope to speak to the owners at the next scheduled meeting to find out what their current practices are and come up with a set of "best practices " for all to follow.
I would also like to upgrade the "back end" of the website. The better the infrastructure is, the more the site can deliver to the end user. This, of course , is going to have a financial component to it and so I need to get the owners approval.
ATV-60 : How did you get involved with writing for the Winchester Star ?
Scott: I started "stringing" for the Star about the same time I became the SU SID. They had a writer leave so Ben Brooks asked me to help him out. I cover around 50 events a year and this is how I was exposed to most of the Valley ballparks I have been to. I have been to Winchester, Front Royal, New Market and Woodstock, although I did not cover a game at Woodstock. This summer I visited Harrisonburg's now defunct park.
ATV-60 : Do you have a favorite VBL memory from your time around the league?
Scott: I would have to say it would be receiving a cheer from the Bridgeforth Field crowd about five years ago. I was covering a Royals game and somehow, a foul ball made it over the net but dropped fast enough to head into the press box. I caught the ball with my right hand (I am a lefty ) and continued to keep score. I suppose it ruins the story to say that the ball wasn't moving very fast , but I appreciated the cheer nonetheless !
Welcome to the wonderful world that is VBL baseball ! I hope that I can be of assistance to your efforts somewhere down the line...
Thanks for your time Scott !
Scott is taking the place of Kevin Warner who has stepped down after a number of years of service to the VBL. Scott was officially named to the post during the August Owners Meeting and is currently working on plans for the 2009 Season. Scott is very familiar with the Shenandoah Valley as he is entering his 16TH year in the Athletic Department at Winchester's Shenandoah University.
Scott arrived at SU back in 1992 after graduating from Notre Dame and the list of accomplishments includes his current title of Assistant Athletic Director / Athletic Communications Director. The 2008-2009 season will be Scott's 14TH as the main contact person for All Things Hornets. Scott is also the President of the Virginia State Sports Information Directors Association (VaSID) as well as a member of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
Scott got his start at SU as the assistant men's lacrosse coach but after two years former Athletic Director Dave Dutton named Musa the department's first full-time SID. 16 years of service and counting, Musa will now look to tackle another project with the VBL. The list of responsibilities that are involved in the position is something that I hope to dive into as we move forward but for now I want to focus on letting people get to know Mr. Musa.
A quick 5 Questions for Mr. Musa on a rainy Saturday morning...
ATV-60: How long have you lived in the Shenandoah Valley?
Scott : For 16 years now. I grew up in upstate New York and played lacrosse at the University of Notre Dame. I moved to Winchester in August 1992 after graduating from ND in order to take a job as an assistant men's lacrosse coach at Shenandoah University. In 1994, I became the school's first ever SID.
ATV-60 : When did you attend your first VBL game?
Scott: I am not entirely sure, but I have been a baseball fan (I grew up an hour from Cooperstown and my family would always make a trip to the Hall of Fame every summer, usually around the HOF game) all of my life so I would that my first Valley game would have to have been in the summer of 1993.
When Todd Thompson (current VBL VP) bought the Royals, I helped him out a little at the beginning of that summer with some of the media portions of the team and that is when I began attending games more regularly.
ATV-60 : What are some of the initial projects you hope to work on ?
Scott: I would like to have a unified media plan for the entire league. I hope to speak to the owners at the next scheduled meeting to find out what their current practices are and come up with a set of "best practices " for all to follow.
I would also like to upgrade the "back end" of the website. The better the infrastructure is, the more the site can deliver to the end user. This, of course , is going to have a financial component to it and so I need to get the owners approval.
ATV-60 : How did you get involved with writing for the Winchester Star ?
Scott: I started "stringing" for the Star about the same time I became the SU SID. They had a writer leave so Ben Brooks asked me to help him out. I cover around 50 events a year and this is how I was exposed to most of the Valley ballparks I have been to. I have been to Winchester, Front Royal, New Market and Woodstock, although I did not cover a game at Woodstock. This summer I visited Harrisonburg's now defunct park.
ATV-60 : Do you have a favorite VBL memory from your time around the league?
Scott: I would have to say it would be receiving a cheer from the Bridgeforth Field crowd about five years ago. I was covering a Royals game and somehow, a foul ball made it over the net but dropped fast enough to head into the press box. I caught the ball with my right hand (I am a lefty ) and continued to keep score. I suppose it ruins the story to say that the ball wasn't moving very fast , but I appreciated the cheer nonetheless !
Welcome to the wonderful world that is VBL baseball ! I hope that I can be of assistance to your efforts somewhere down the line...
Thanks for your time Scott !
Comments
Right after the schedule is announced, which I think was around January or February last year that probably you and John Leonard should have a broadcast live on WSVA and ESPN1240 and several other sports broadcast stations on the radio. The show should be called Around the Valley League.
If the stations can do it that would be great and then have callers call in or even if its possible have them send in questions thru a podcast live chat. Have special guests if possible from ballplayers, coaches and fans.
If that could be brought up in the VLB meeting I would love to see what the reaction could be, I think it would be another great step in your promotion for the Valley League Jerry and also for John Leonard's too.
GeneralsSignGuyMike