The Mira Costa Sports Network (MCSN) is a new podcast and club dedicated to showcasing Mustang athletics through student interviews, podcasts, and live game coverage. Juniors Sawyer Frederick and Isaac Lulich, the club meets Tuesdays in room 222 and has been growing rapidly in popularity.
The program first began when history teacher Cassidy Olson, who previously worked in broadcasting for UCLA Baseball, envisioned a space where students could learn to create professional-level sports coverage media. He worked with Jeff Ogan, former TNT basketball network producer and father of Costa students Carson and Connor Ogan, to make the club and podcast official.
“I’ve always had an aspiration for broadcasting sports,” Lulich said. “I follow a lot of podcasters online, and eventually thought having my own podcast would be cool to host.”
Members take on roles such as editors, interviewers, and podcast managers. To prepare for broadcasts, ‘dry runs’ are conducted during freshman games to test equipment. During these, members practice filming the game and interviewing players in preparation for games they’ll cover officially. For podcasts, members research specific players and ask personalized questions, making each interview unique.
“Our biggest learning experience were our first “dry runs” for the football games,” Lulich said. “It was a total setback because none of our equipment worked, and we had to figure out how to compensate for it.”
Despite the early technical struggles, the Costa community has already shown support. MCSN covered both Mustang Madness and National Signing Day alongside Athletic Director Mike Rosenthal.
“My favorite moment so far has been interviewing people, and learning about them and their sport,” Frederick said. “We aim to focus on spreading awareness of different sports and athletes at Costa and really highlighting their talents.”
In the future the club hopes to form a full broadcast crew with commentators, a scoreboard, and digital presence on social media platforms.
“We’ve been doing the podcast weekly, but want to release it more often,” said Olson. MCSN offers experience and exposure in the field of sports journalism.
“If you want to join, I would totally suggest it,” said Frederick. “It’s a great club; it helps spread awareness about athletics amongst students in all sports at Costa.”
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