Photo by Jeff Strange

Westlake High School senior Cooper Ruff was recently selected for the All-American Video Crew.

Westlake High School senior Cooper Ruff got a chance to cover the annual U.S. Army All-American Bowl events in San Antonio in January as part of the All-American Video Crew.

The tech crew student won a five-day, all-expense-paid trip and training on the live-production and instant replay technology currently in use by MTV, the NBA Development League and the New York Giants. All American Games, a sport management and marketing company known for producing high school and youth sporting events, and NewTek, a production technology company, selected him for the honor.

Only three other high school seniors in the country were chosen to be part of the team, said Jeff Strange, technical supervisor for the Westlake Community Performing Arts Center at the high school.

“He was chosen based on his portfolio of work directing the Chaparral Stadium Video Crew in the fall semester,” Strange said.

Ruff has worked with the Westlake tech crew for three years. He said he likes the program because of the creativity and self-confidence it fosters and for the acceptance he found in his fellow crew members and program directors.

“I came in being very shy, not very confident talking in front of groups of people,” he said. “Now I have that confidence – it’s a very important life skill that the tech program has taught me. I think it’s important to everything I will be trying to learn in the future.”

His training at NewTek in San Antonio and his work with a professional production crew on the events surrounding the Army All-American Bowl gave Ruff a unique perspective into the television and sports broadcasting industry, Strange said.

“The game was an incredible experience,” he said. “It was incredible being able to work with professional camera operators and directors to film that game. The technology was on a greater scale.”

Ruff is hoping to attend the University of Texas next year as a radio-theater-film program student.

“My biggest career dream would be to become a director for a major motion picture like ‘Batman,’” he said. “It’s a wonderful field. I really like how creative you can be in it. There are no set rules, just guidelines.”

Ruff is currently the Westlake video crew head and the broadcast director of CHAPTV, a weekly football telecast of every home and away game that is broadcast on YNN Sports on Sundays. Home game broadcasts feature live video, instant replays and highlight. See Ruff’s winning entry for the All American Video Crew contest at youtube.com/watch?v=gov95IFJGTY.

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