Sport Media Major Completes Field Hockey Documentary

AJ Apel, ‘25, a Sport Media major, enrolled at York College with intentions of becoming a sports broadcaster, but as he completed his coursework and engaged in hands-on projects, he discovered an unexpected passion for photography and videography.

The final assignment for his documentary filmmaking course was to create a documentary on a topic of his choosing. Since he was already so involved in athletics on campus, a sports story felt like an obvious choice.

“In every team I’ve been a part of, the center focus has always been culture,” said Apel, “so I knew I wanted to do something around team culture.”

Apel had worked with the field hockey coach, Katie Fost, and attended nearly all their games leading up to the project, so he knew they would effectively showcase the team culture he wanted to highlight.

“They’re very we-before-me type players, and it’s a great thing to see because you see their success,” Apel said.

The Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) commonwealth championship final took place on Nov. 9 at Messiah University. York came out on top with a single-point win in overtime, earning their first Commonwealth title in the team’s history. Apel was behind the camera when he realized the team was about to take the championship title and had to suppress his excitement to focus on getting the shot. 

“All the girls were laughing, crying—it was a great experience to be a part of,” he said.

When reflecting on the documentary, Apel hopes viewers will see the importance of team culture.

“The one thing that I hope people take away when they see this is: it’s not all about skill in sports; it’s about the culture that every player brings to the table and the culture that the coach brings to the table—it makes, or breaks, teams and this is the story of how it made the team.”

The field hockey documentary is just one example of the hands-on learning Apel experienced as a Sport Media student; he has also completed practicums and independent study projects with the York College athletic communications department.

Practicums: developing more than just a portfolio

Apel cited his work with Scott Guise and Derek Behrenshausen, Director and Assistant Director of Athletic Communications at York College, as integral to his growth as a student and a person. 

“It’s been three years of getting hands-on experience in athletics and the sport media world. Without Scott and Derek, I never would have made the connections I’ve made with people. They introduced me to what I can say is probably my future career,” said Apel. “The past three years have brought me some really amazing friendships with people I didn’t expect to be close with. That’s all from the classes that I have to take, working events, and just being able to put myself out there and get connections.”

When athletes want to be showcased in his photos and videos, Apel takes it as a sign that they are pleased with the quality of his work. He described feeling like he’s not separate from the team as their photographer, but like he’s part of every team he photographs. He credits the athletics staff with empowering him to try new things, make mistakes, and learn how to fix those mistakes.

“Thank you to everybody—to Scott, Derek, Coach Childs, my coach, Coach Fost, literally every single athletics coach, everyone in the athletic department for trusting me and allowing me to be part of their teams and to be such a big part of the athletic department these past three years.”