Oakmont golfers putting fun back into post-game interviews with new media company

On a typical school day, Owen Raymond and Colin O’Neil will compete for Oakmont’s golf team in a match in the afternoon, then check out what other games the Spartans are playing that night. They will finish up their own athletics and head back to school to watch what’s next.

It’s not just the game they are excited for, though. It’s what they make happen afterward.

Raymond and O’Neil will set up with microphones and a camera crew and transform into “ORCO Media”, prepared to conduct interviews for their website and social media.

The duo, who also serve as co-captains of the golf team, created a sports media outlet called ORCO Media (combining their initials), after casually interviewing their teammates for the golf team's Instagram in the back of Raymond’s Ford Focus in September. What started as a fun thing for the athletes to bond over has turned into a production that brings the entire school community together.

Raymond and O’Neil have since rallied together a team of 11 students to act as producers, interviewers, filming crew and “interns” for the company. As a group, ORCO Media interviews not only Oakmont players but opposing teams’ athletes after games. The interviews are not typical, though. Along with the usual questions about what happened in the game, ORCO Media leans into the “goof-os” of it all.

The 'goof-os' of it all

Raymond coined the term “goof-os” as a play on the three key factors of rhetoric – ethos, pathos and logos. In addition to appealing to an audience through credibility (ethos), emotions (pathos) and logic (logos), ORCO Media is designed to appeal to “goof-os,” attracting an audience through humor.

A common high school English concept, the rhetoric triangle of ethos, pathos and logos is taught to show how writing, advertising or other forms of marketing are most appealing to an audience. The methods of using credibility, emotion and logic can offer different ways to persuade consumers.

“We thought [ethos, pathos and logos] fits, but in the academic domain. In the everyday speaking domain, funny counts,” Raymond said. “So the rhetorical appeal to ‘goof-os’ is everything funny and goofy.”

In ORCO Media’s case, the use of “goof-os” offers a different perspective of a typical post-game interview. Questions like, “On a scale of math test and perfectly cooked grilled cheese, how are you feeling today?” and “If the soccer ball disappears and you have to replace it with another object, what would you choose?” are a couple of the fun and playful questions that ORCO Media presents to athletes. The unexpected nature of the questions evokes interviews that are filled with personality, giving audiences a chance to get to know players outside of just their sport.

Bringing the school together

Along with creating a fun way to interact with other sports teams, ORCO Media has also brought together different groups of Oakmont. Raymond and O’Neil have involved the art department, AV club and look to get the music department involved as well to expand ORCO and utilize a variety of students and their interests.

Raymond and O’Neil have recognized the camaraderie that has come out of it, connecting athletics with the various clubs at school as well as anyone who is interested in watching.

“We bring the excitement of local sports and the personalities of our athletes closer to you. We believe that every sports story is worth telling, and it’s our duty to share it in a unique, engaging and entertaining way,” they stated on the ORCO Media website.

By involving a variety of people and talents in their company, the co-captains and co-CEOs hope that the company can give others experience in different fields that they may not have the opportunity to do otherwise. O’Neil hopes to go to college for business, using this experience to help him in the future.

“It’s like learning how to run a business kind of, it's small but it's still everything that goes on internally,” O’Neil said.

“We also think it's a great opportunity for students because a lot of people want to go into business but have never done that before,” Raymond added. “If we kind of build that and simulate it where it’s a corporate environment, kids can get to know that.”

ORCO Media offers experience to students interested in journalism, film and videography, business and social media, among the other aspects they are involving in their company like art and music.

The Instagram account, @orco.media, has gained 210 followers since Raymond and O’Neil started the company at the beginning of September. They have made 13 video interview posts on the account, reporting on football, boys soccer, girls soccer, field hockey, cheerleading, fall baseball and cross country – including Oakmont players as well as athletes from Fitchburg and Cushing Academy. They have also created a website, orco.media, and started a merchandise line of apparel.

Big plans for ORCO

Raymond and O’Neil have big aspirations for their company.

“Ultimately we want to grow it so we can sustain ourselves and have an app similar to MaxPreps, where we can have interviews, journalism, some photography and then [we] could have the stats, scoring averages, batting averages, schedule – everything in one app,” Raymond said.

O’Neil added, “We want to spread it to all the schools, like one Mid-Wach league, we think it would be cool if we did all the schools around us like Oakmont, Monty Tech, Fitchburg.”

ORCO Media is on the rise at Oakmont and, with the determination of Raymond, O’Neil and their growing team, eventually, the entire Massachusetts high school sports scene.

This article originally appeared on Gardner News: Owen Raymond, Colin O'Neil start sports media company at Oakmont