Sharing the love of sports

SAUK CITY, Wis. – Mitch Breunig has loved sports all his life. He even taught himself to read by looking over the Brewers box scores in the sports section of the newspaper. Now that he is grown up with kids of his own, he is sharing his passion for sports by broadcasting games for Sauk Prairie High School in Prairie du Sac.
“I’ve always liked sports,” Breunig said. “I do this because I want the kids to have an opportunity to have fun and enjoy sports.”
Breunig balances broadcasting with running his dairy farm near Sauk City.
The 450-cow Holstein herd is milked three times a day. Some heifers are raised on site while others are sent to a grower nearby.
Breunig is a third-generation dairyman who relies on help from a team of employees to manage the workload and make sure everyone gets a day off. He said it can be difficult to navigate everyone’s days off with the sports schedule.
“It’s amazing if everybody takes a day off; they come back refreshed,” Breunig said. “It’s hard. We spend our whole week trying to get there.”
After watching other parents livestream hockey games, Breunig decided to start broadcasting his daughter’s soccer games last year. Since the team played so many away games, the idea was that it would allow more people to watch the kids play. After getting permission from the athletic director and coaches, Breunig planned to livestream the soccer games via Facebook. The broadcast is streamed through a private Facebook group that Breunig admits people to.  
For equipment, Breunig used his smartphone, a tripod, portable battery charger and a lapel microphone. Breunig sat in the press box or at field level.
After a few games, the group developed a following, and each game had up to 30 live views and even more people watching the replay.
“It just kept growing,” Breunig said. “I had a lot of parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles and former players start to follow along.”
When the team reached sectionals in Rhinelander, Breunig was determined to broadcast the game because it was more than three hours away. The only caveat was he had to let the opposing team into the private group so they could watch as well.
During the week preceding the game, more and more people were added to the watch group. By the time game day arrived, there were more than 350 members in the group. After a successful broadcast, Breunig said many were grateful.

“It was the coolest thing,” Breunig said. “One of the player’s grandparents told me, ‘Thank you for doing the broadcast. I wouldn’t have been able to see my granddaughter play at all otherwise, and you do such a good job. I really appreciate it.’”
This year, Breunig has been asked to broadcast the football games for the local television channel. He has one game under his belt so far and is optimistic about another season. The games are broadcast on radio, television and Facebook.
Breunig said it can be a challenge to balance his broadcasting hobby with his farming career.
“I’ve got to be good at getting the schedule and communicating with employees,” Breunig said. “Employees are kind of like a team, too, so I think it probably makes me a better communicator.”
Breunig said he hopes the broadcast will help bring the community together beyond high school sports. The Sauk Prairie High School community has adopted a kindness movement in the wake of three teen suicides in the last 12 months. He plans to promote the kindness movement using his platform as a broadcaster and a football coach.
 “Youth mental health is a really big deal,” Breunig said. “I coach football for my son, and all we talk about is being a good teammate, being kind to one another and if something isn’t right to come talk to us.”
Breunig is sharing his passion for sports to bring the community together and lift up the athletes while doing so. He plans to end his broadcasts with, “Thank you for watching and be kind, Sauk Prairie.”