Tim Franz and Ed Haffermann are very involved at Normal West.

Between the two educators, there is a business department chair, a co-sponsor of the Normal West Podcats podcast, a webmaster, a co-assistant athletic director, a head boys basketball coach, and that’s just some of it.

However, no matter how much these two Normal West faculty members are already involved, they are not afraid to add one more thing.

What’s that one more thing? Wildcat Live.

Wildcat Live is a club that takes place here at West, broadcasting various sports on on their YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/@nchwswildcatlive/streams.

When they began Wildcat Live last school year, Franz and Hafermann didn’t have the proper equipment for streaming games.

“It was like we were in 1926 and were overseas trying to do some radio broadcasting,” Franz joked.

The sponsors initially applied for a grant that got turned down. 

However, that is when some key help stepped in to bring Wildcat Live to life for this school year.

West Athletic Director, Wes Temples donated WIFI switches with a better internet connection, so the team could stream without being hardwired into the internet. 

Jarrod Rackauskas (Science Teacher and E-sports Coach) donated a computer, so the team could stream the games consistently without delay and lag. 

Lastly, Dr. Codron has been a huge help to the Wildcat Live team, donating over $1500 to help the team with other various needs. 

“Another important person that’s helped us along the way is Eric Steggeman, who is a Kingsley teacher. He’s been doing live streaming at Kingsley for quite some time, and he’s been instrumental in teaching us and guiding us throughout this process. He has been an extremely valuable resource. We would not be where we’re at right now without the learning from him,” Hafermann added.

While Franz has experience as a public address announcer for school sports, Wildcat Live is his first true sports broadcasting opportunity. 

Hafferman has a lifelong passion for sports broadcasting, having considered it as a career and even doing an internship in the field. 

The idea for Wildcat Live grew from Hafermann’s experience broadcasting his daughter’s volleyball games on Facebook Live and streaming a super-sectional match, which received positive feedback.

Wildcat Live has covered sporting events such as soccer, football, swim and volleyball games thus far. They have also covered the 2025 Homecoming Powder Puff game. 

“We’ve been covering a lot of soccer because they’ve had a lot of home games. It’s been fun watching the team develop,” Franz stated.

As they cover more and more athletics, and get better at the process, Hafermann and Franz hope to continue to grow the Wildcat Live team with more students.

“There are some sports that are a little bit more difficult to do, but we want to get more students involved in the process. We have a large group of students who do the behind-the-scenes, but we don’t have as many students who want to call the games,” Hafermann noted.

In addition to Franz and Hafermann, WildcatLive does have some key students who have been involved in the production this school year.

Senior Dane Schlipmann makes significant contributions to the team, including creating graphics, overlays, and sponsor images for the streams. 

“As the Wildcat Live intern, I get to do various things, so I enjoy the variety of jobs I’ve gotten to do. If I had to choose my favorite, it would be broadcasting,” Schlipmann said.

Junior Cooper Franz has also had a key part in getting the broadcasting side of the production off the ground and has helped to broadcast games and assist Schlipmann in various contests, including the 2025 Powderpuff game, which had record views.

As the broadcasts continue, one thing that all stakeholders hope can grow would be the impact on the Wildcat culture that broadcasting student events can influence.

“I went to Washington High School, and when I was a sophomore, we won the state championship in football class 4A ,back when they were six. Our school had so much school spirit it was crazy, and I think a program like [Wildcat Live] can help foster school spirit,” Franz said.

Normal West Principal Dr. Angie Codron often focuses on the culture of Normal West, and a successful student-broadcasting club could certainly contribute.

“If you’re not doing something as a leader of the school to directly influence the culture or bring the culture to life, or what it actually looks like, it sounds like I think then other people will decide the culture and with sixteen hundred different people here and a hundred and ninety different staff, everyone deciding their own culture could be a lot to navigate,” Codron stated.

The purpose of Wildcat Live, as described by its supervisors, centers on three main goals: athletic coverage, connecting families and fans, and providing students with real-life skills. 

As a group, they aim to cover as many sports as they can to highlight athletes and give student athletes the “center stage,” for how much time they sacrifice to Normal West sports. 

Another core purpose is to make games accessible to a wider audience, including those who cannot physically attend, and to create a lasting record of the events. 

“I think it is also helpful for families to connect and not just families like parents and guardians, but

grandparents or family members that don’t live here that can engage and watch something that’s happening here,” Hafferman stated.

 Hafferman also noted that Wildcat Live is a tool for athletes to be able to see mistakes and improve.

“[As an athlete], sometimes you see yourself only on highlight clips or maybe a little bit of the game that your parents have taped. Whereas, this is an opportunity for them to see them play a full game: the good and bad,” Hafermann pointed out.

In the end, Wildcat Live has many benefits–both for the athletes on air and the students behind the scenes.

Wildcat Live’s next broadcast is next Tuesday (Oct. 21) for Volleyball, (which is also senior night), and then the Regional Championship for Soccer on Thursday (Oct 23), and a football game next Friday, (Oct. 25).

You can catch these broadcasts on YouTube at @ncwhswildcatlive.

If you’re interested in joining the Wildcat Live team, you can contact Mr. Hafferman or Mr. Franz.