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THE "HOW TO" MANUAL ON ANNOUNCING THE RESULTS AT IHSA SHOWS In my travels to over 20 IHSA shows during the fall of 2008, the announcing of results ranged from very professional to very amateurish. A new low occured one weekend when an announcer, who obviously was unfamiliar with the many riding divisions, repeatedly replaced the word "Intermediate" with "Intermediary." While it is not uncommon (perhaps all too common) for a host school to rope in a friend of a friend to announce, it is also not uncommon that the crash-course in announcing given to that individual leaves out a few important details. One problem that I noticed is that those who don't enjoy announcing cannot wait to get through each set of placings. With some this means that by the time everyone is done applauding the announcement of first place the results of second place have already come and gone. With others this means occasionally omitting a placing, thus forcing the results to be read aloud all over again a short time later. Other problems include forgetting numbers but giving names, giving names only (and not the schools) and, worst of all, accidentally reading the same person's name twice in the same section, thus awarding the rider in question multiple ribbons! There is nothing wrong with having an aversion to announcing. After all, everyone is waiting to hear YOU! Often a name will come up that most have trouble announcing, and if walkie-talkies are involved, then an overload of incomming information takes the ability of multi-tasking to a new level.
Having seen it done correctly, however, the position is not rocket science. Announcing at IHSA shows is rather easy to master once you work out the kinks over the first few classes. At that point it is indeed redundant, but please remember that so many people are happy to accurately receive the placings without having to track you down to hear them again. I have created a "TO DO" list when announcing at an IHSA show which you might want to cut out and save (though the halloween picture at the top of the page is kinda cool, so maybe you want to save that too). There are even examples of what to say, identified by quotation marks. Remember that the most important aspect of announcing is that people understand what you say, and that they figure out what you said the first time. 1. Always test the microphone before the show starts. Make sure that someone associated with the host facility explains how to use their microphone/PA System and have someone on your team go out and make sure they can hear you say "Testing One Two Three" in various locations. This works best if both parties have a walkie-talkie. Then adjust the volume accordingly. 2. Remember that when jumping or reining classes take place, the announcer should mention each rider BY NUMBER ONLY when they enter the ring. For an example when Jeff Archambeault served as the announcer at the October 26th Mount Ida College show, he started the day by saying "Now entering the ring is number 249." He did not mention that she is Kelley Crisp of Dartmouth College, he simply mentioned the number. This is standard for the IHSA, as the judge is to know only the rider's number EXCEPT when the placings for each class are announced. 3. When it is time to announce the placings from the first class, go over the numbers first to make sure they match the program! It is not uncommon for a number to be typed incorrectly in a program, or for a rider to accidentally wear a teammate's number. Also some judges zone out and occasionally list a rider's number twice on the same judge's card. Though some may pressure you to rush things along make sure that the numbers make sense. In some cases you will be reading the judge's card or in others someone on a walkie-talkie will radio them in. In either event announcing the wrong information will only result in delaying the show or having to repeat the placings. Why not get it right before turning on the mike? 4. When actually announcing the placings, there is a simple rather formulamatic way to do it. The mistake many make in announcing the placings comes from not knowing where to begin. Some start abruptly, without any warning, saying "In first place, number 249..." In actuality the audience should be prepared that the placings are coming. The correct intro should be "We now have the results of Class 8A Open Equitation over Fences. In first place is number 249 Kelley Crisp of Dartmouth College." Then there should be a two-to-three second pause to allow the audience to cheer. Then continue. "In second place is number 236 Brittany Goodhouse of Colby-Sawyer College." Pause. Continue. "In third place is number 188 Bryn Appe of the University of Vermont." (It might be a good idea if you are not familiar with abbreviations of school names to clarify which is which before reading the placings. Otherwise you might see a "CC," a "CCC" and a "CU" in the program and have to make something up in a hurry!) Continue until you have read all the placings down to either sixth place (if there are as many as six in the class) or the reserve placing (which is seventh place. This person does not usually receive a ribbon. There does not seem to be a rhyme or reason as to when to announce the reserve ribbon and when not to. Check with your coach to decide on this one). Do not worry if you have trouble pronouncing a name. Without hesitation, just read the name as best as you can. The rider with that name may be used to hearing it pronounced a thousand different ways. Though some may not think it matters, those who are not sure how far along the show is need to hear the NAME OF THE CLASS which you are announcing so they can determine how soon they will need to be ready to mount up. Simply take care of this right at the start ("I now have the results of Class 6A Intermediate over fences" or "I now have the results of Class 2B-a walk-trot-canter." (In some parts of the country several regions replace the name of the division with the number of the class in reference to the first class of the day being 'Class 1' and the second class being 'Class 2' and so on. For example the first section of Open Reining may be the 15th class of the day, so the introduction might read "I now have the results for class 15 open reining. In first place is..." Someplace else the introduction might read "I now have the results for class 16A open reining," with the '16' representing the official IHSA class number for open reining and the 'A' representing the first section. 'B' would be next if there are two sections, etc.). 5. When you are finished announcing the placings, repeat the numbers a second time for those who may have missed them. In the example of the open fences class at Mount Ida (where there were only five riders in the first section), Jeff Archambeault followed fifth place with the statement "Repeating the placings in first place number 249, in second place number 236, in third place number 188..." until he had read all five riders' numbers a second time. This allows those who were somehow distracted a second chance to hear the numbers while paying close attention. 6. The commands of "Walk," "Trot," "Canter," "Jog" and "Lope." At some IHSA shows the flat or equitation classes (for hunter seat) and western horsemanship or rail classes (for western) require the announcer to call out to the riders upon their entering the ring when they are being judged at the walk. Simply put, the judge will give you a signal and you announce, "Riders, you are now being judged at the walk!" If the show is hunter seat, the judge will then ask the riders to Trot. You then announce "Trot please, all trot." After enough trotting the judge will signal you to request all riders to "Walk please, all walk." Then comes "Canter please, all canter." At this point you simply repeat whatever the judge asks you to say aloud, which will at some point most likely include a "Reverse at the Walk." If it is a western show, you announce "Lope please, all lope" in place of the trot and "Jog please, all jog" in place of the canter. When the judge has seen enough you will get a signal to request everyone to "Walk and line up facing away from the judge." Once the judge gives you the card with all the riders' numbers on it you will announce the results of the division. At some shows the announcer is in a separate location from the ring itself and is perhaps 'announcing blindly,' with no view of the action. At many of these shows, a separate individual will call out the judge's commands in the vicinity of the ring instead of relaying the information to the announcer through a walkie-talkie. Those who are 'shouting' the results up close may want to familiarize themselves with this paragraph. If they are also shouting the results from inside the ring without an electronic device, please make sure they announce the placings TOWARD THE AUDIENCE and not the riders, who are likely already close enough to hear what they are receiving. 7. Other Announcements. At most shows the announcer will have to explain where riders should go to pick up their ribbons, when and where the Coaches & Captains meeting will take place and even alert the crowd that they found a lost cellphone or choker. Most announcements will not be complicated. "If you are driving a Toyota Camery with the license plate number 210-LFT your alarm is going off" for example. Perhaps the most difficult announcements will be if you are reading the judge's test for a ride-off. In that case you will have to repeat whatever the judge is asking the rider to do, which may be complicated. Other than that there isn't much to it, other than being patient when so many people are coming to you thinking you are in charge of everything! Though the first few classes may be difficult to announce, once you get the hang of it, just do what feels right. Be careful not to get the giggles, as I saw laughing fits hit announcers at least once per every five shows I attended during the fall. Otherwise there is nothing to fear but fear itself. And if you are really lucky, on a cold day the announcer's booth will be heated! --Steve Maxwell (Editor's Note: After this story was posted, West Texas A & M Head Coach Amanda Love e-mailed Campus Equestrian a humorous story about an announcer at one of the Buffaloes' shows not too long ago. The story fits in well so we have added it as 'a precautionary tale' as to the sort of thing one might expect if you take part in enough of these events.) "At W(est) T(exas A & M) we beg, borrow and steal our announcers for each show. Usually they are other faculty or students or friends of the riders," says Love. "In this particular situation the announcer was the boyfriend of my novice hunt seat rider, and his name was Hank. Hank is a true West Texas cowboy that has done some auctioneering and was volunteered by his girlfriend for this task. Hank has an accent about equivalent to John Wayne and has the same slow speech. Very nice but a little out of place at the hunt show. Well here in Zone 7, Region 1 (at the time) we are very fond of the High Point Rider award and it is very coveted. In the event of a tie we ALWAYS do a ride off. At the end of this hunt show there ended up being a three-way tie. We informed the judge about the extra class and that it was just for fun and not for points. She was willing to test them to the max. The judge radios Hank her instruction and he begins to read them off. He tells the riders "You are being judged at the trot" and all trotted their horses. There is then a pause and you can tell Hank is confirming the next set of instructions, which were to have the riders drop their stirrups and cross their irons. Hank then announces to the class "Please drop your stirrups and cross your ARMS!" At this point the girls look around very confused but they go ahead, because they are very good listeners, they do as they are told. The entire crowd just bursts into laughter watching the three riders post around with no stirrups and with their arms crossed in front of their chests! Hank quickly corrects himself and tells them to grab their reins, but not before everyone at the show had a great laugh!"
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