BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — Water polo coverage from all four corners of the continental United States will once again be streamed at no cost as the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) will again provide live, remote-streaming coverage of women’s collegiate club competition during the Spring 2020 season.
Streamed via Stretch Internet at www.cwpatv.com, all CWPA regular season broadcasts – including the remote streaming/single camera broadcast program – are presented free of charge courtesy of KAP7 International and the CWPA.
About KAP7: Founded “by water polo players, for water polo players”, KAP7 came to be in 2004 as Olympians Wolf Wigo and Brad Schumacher saw a need to provide quality products built by and for water polo players. Since the organization’s early days until the present, KAP7 has grown to become the official ball of both the CWPA and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Further, the organization is proud to support the development of water polo through its direct sponsorship of various organization by investing capital and product at all levels across the globe to foster the development of Water Polo.
A proud sponsor of the US Olympic Water Polo Teams and the CWPA, KAP7 continues its mission to help grow the sport of water polo via its interest in providing streaming coverage of teams from around the United States.
About the Remote-Streaming Program: The largest broadcaster of water polo competition in North America, the CWPA reminds fans of some details regarding the streaming program:
- While events are free, viewers will still be instructed to create an account and login to view the games free of charge.
- If you already created an account via the CWPA Stretch Portal previously you may continue to use that account to view the games free of charge by logging into your profile.
- CWPA Championship Tournaments will still be offered on a pay per view basis at $10 per game or $25.00 for a tournament pass. During the Spring of 2020, the league will provide complete coverage of collegiate club (Division III Women’s Collegiate Club, Women’s National Collegiate Club) and varsity (Collegiate Water Polo Association Championship, Collegiate Water Polo Association Division III Championship) postseason competition.
The Difference Between Regular Season/Remote Streaming & the Championship Streams: CWPA Championship broadcasts consist of an on-site three camera broadcast, replay footage and live interviews, among other elements, to present a premier water polo viewing experience.
Regular season competition is presented via the remote-streaming program. The first collegiate organization to use onsite cameras fed back to a remote site (the league office in Bridgeport, Pa.) with announcers calling the games hundreds – if not a thousand – miles away from the competition, the program is the preeminent means of video content distribution in the sport of water polo.
Established during the Spring of 2017, the CWPA Remote Streaming program was initiated to help member teams get their events streamed to a broad audience. Due to the number of events each weekend across the country, the challenge of getting these events streamed was noticed by the CWPA. Working with streaming provider Stretch Internet, the league was able to create remote streaming kits and establish a program that allows water polo games to be broadcasted globally without the league staff needing to travel to each site every weekend.
Overall, the CWPA Multimedia Department works with each host site’s team leadership and school contact to determine the logistics for getting the event streamed (i.e., facility layout, information technology (IT) requirements, equipment shipping address, etc.). Once it is determined the host site has the proper Ethernet Connection for the streaming efforts, the league’s Multimedia Department works on finding a camera operator to operate the gear the day of the event. All the gear needed to stream is provided by the league and shipped to each institution the week of their event. For the third season the CWPA’s Remote Streaming Program now features a remote announcer on each broadcast. These individuals watch the game feed across the country and at the CWPA League Office to create the final broadcast product that goes out to viewers on The CWPA Network which features play by play announcing, graphics and league video elements.
How can my Team Stream: Teams hosting divisional events and who are interested in providing streaming coverage of their tournaments are asked to contact the office at 610-277-6787 or video@collegiatewaterpolo.org to discuss the potential opportunity.
2020 Spring Streaming Schedule: At this time the league office is working to solidify its schedule of broadcasts. Fans should be aware that the additional sites may be added throughout the season. Due to the fluid nature of streaming opportunities, fans are asked to check back weekly to see which sites/ games will be streamed and if the scheduled stream will occur. The CWPA works with the host sites to ensure logistics are corrected leading up to the scheduled event to provide the optimal viewing experience.
A preliminary early season schedule of broadcasts should be released within the coming weeks.
