Lori Walker to Announce Nine World Cup Soccer Games – Ohio State Buckeyes
8/31/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
COLUMBUS, Ohio Ohio State women’s soccer coach Lori Walker has been named to ESPN and ESPN2’s broadcast announcing teams for the networks’ live coverage of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2007 matches in China Sept. 10-30.
Walker, who most recently was behind the microphone last Saturday as color analyst for ESPN2’s coverage of the USA vs. Finland soccer game, will be a match analyst for nine World Cup first round games. She’ll team with veteran play-by-play announcer Adrian Healy for eight games and with JP Dellacamera on another. The announcing teams will be calling the first-round games off television monitors from ESPN’s Bristol, Conn., studios.
Calling games off monitors, something Walker has extensive experience at, including 15-inch monitors, is difficult enough. What makes these World Cup matches even more interesting to call is that Walker will be calling games at 4:55 a.m. and 7:55 a.m., and sometimes back-to-back.
“It is completely different announcing a game off a monitor,” Walker said. “It takes a while to get used to the fact that you can’t look up or around in anticipation of a play developing. You can’t look around the stadium to see what is about to happen.
“Regarding those early morning times…at least we won’t have to overcome all the time changes calling the games from Bristol. I take my job as an announcer seriously. There won’t be any problem getting enough sleep so that I can be ready to be at the studio by 3:30 a.m. some mornings.”
Walker will call nine games featuring these 11 teams: Argentina, Australia, China, Denmark, England, Ghana, Korea, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway and Sweden. Researching each of the teams involved in Walker’s broadcasts was a challenge in itself as well.
“I’ve known what games I would be broadcasting for several weeks now,” Walker said. “I have spent a considerable amount of time researching the internet, reading publications and trying to talk to people who may be familiar with these teams to get as much insight as possible on the teams, their history and personnel.”
Walker, who was introduced to announcing by accident after a friend put her on a FOX Sports “prospects” list, has announced more than 50 games on television over the last six years, including serving as women’s soccer analyst for NBC’s coverage of the Olympics in 2004. She also helped usher in the third season of Women’s United Soccer Association (WUSA) action in 2003 as a color analyst for the Washington Freedom on Comcast SportsNet (Md.). It was Walker’s second season working with the Freedom. During the summer of 2001, she served in the same capacity with the New York Power (WUSA) on the Madison Square Garden (MSG) network.
Ohio State’s 11thyear head coach will miss two games during her World Cup assignment. Seventh-year assistant coach Greg Miller will coach the team Sept. 13 against Ohio and Sept. 16 at Louisville. Walker will return to the sidelines in time for Ohio State’s Sept. 21 game against No. 1-ranked North Carolina, Walker’s alma mater.
Lori Walker’s World Cup Announcing Schedule
Tues., Sept. 11 7:55 a.m. ESPN2 Nigeria vs. Sweden
Weds., Sept. 12 4:55 a.m. ESPN2 Ghana vs. Australia
7:55 a.m. ESPN2 China vs. Denmark
Fri., Sept. 14 7:55 a.m. ESPN2 Korea DPR vs. Nigeria
Sat., Sept. 15 4:55 a.m. ESPN2 Denmark vs. New Zealand
7:55 a.m. ESPN2 Australia vs. Norway
Mon., Sept. 17 7:55 a.m. ESPN2 England vs. Argentina
Wed., Sept. 19 4:55 a.m. ESPN2 Norway vs. Ghana
7:55 a.m. ESPN2 China vs. New Zealand
###ohiostatebuckeyes.com###
