JkTV Entertains Lady Pirates Fans

Williamsburg Lady Pirate Basketball fans have been entertained this season by Jill (Tate) Norris' livestream of the games on the team's Facebook page. Norris' broadcast commentary is a mix of play-by-play, devoted fan and proud mother.

The latter was especially evident when her daughter, Senior forward Kendel Norris, sank her first three-point basket ever in the District 6 semi-final game against Bishop Carroll.

"Kendel for 3! Kendel Norris for 3 points," Jill screamed as Bishop Carroll took the rebound down court and scored.

Jill immediately noted the basket, announcing the score. But, as friends and fans turned to her to celebrate her daughter's basket, the proud mom said, "I've been wanting her to shoot one all season. I'll take it now!"

In her live streams Norris calls fouls on opposing teams from the stands.

"Walk! Watch her feet! She walks every time!"

She also shouts encouragement like, "Let's go blue! Here we go! C'mon!"

Early in the season, she patiently answered questions from her young nephew during her play-by-play.

Jill started recording and streaming the games last year during the post season, and decided to continue this year so that she could document her daughter's final season.

"I have literally 50 VHS tapes that I binge watched once the 2022-23 season started and I got so excited about having those, I wanted to make sure the current team and my daughter have that same ability to watch 20 years later like me," Jill said.

Jill played varsity basketball for the Lady Pirates from 1991 to 1995, but started playing in fourth grade, learning fundamentals from Jerry and Pam Hoy, parents of Amy Hileman, the present coach of the girls varsity team.

As a senior, she played in the PIAA Single-A championship game at Hershey. "We fell 4 points short that game, but I was so grateful to have been able to step on that floor. Two years later in 1997 my sister Julie (Tate) took the gold!"

Reaction to her livestream has been overwhelmingly positive Jill said.

"I was constantly thanked by our community members who could not make the games," Norris said. "However, that said, I did get one comment about either commentating the play-by-play or being a fan and yelling. But I quickly realized that there was an easy fix for that and the on-air fans could press mute if they did not want to listen to my big mouth."

Lisa M. Hall, also a graduate of the class of 1995, enjoyed watching the games online from South Carolina.

"For those of us who live out of state or even out of town, her broadcasts allows us to relive our wonderful childhood vicariously through the current Lady Pirates basketball team. Watching them brings us joy and makes us proud to be WHS alumnus," Hall said.

Followers of her broadcasts began referring to her livestreams as JkTV, a reference to her Facebook profile name, Jkt Norris. Williamsburg fans supported the livestreams by donating funds for the school district to obtain streaming rights.

"It is $200 for a school-affiliated broadcast to livestream the first-round, second-round, quarter finals, and semi-finals of the PIAA basketball playoffs," Jeff Detwiler, the athletic director for the Williamsburg Community School District, said.

The PIAA retains the broadcasting rights for the finals. The availability of the games online didn't seem to reduce the number of fans at the game.

"The entire town packed up and got to the gym an hour before the team to get good seats. I am thankful for this community and for all the support. It took me back to when I played in the mid-90s," Jill said.

Jill recorded the games from the stands, using the school's Wi-Fi or a hot spot and her Samsung Note 9 mobile phone with a tripod.

"My girls call me old school for using an Android phone," Jill said.

Jill's other daughter, Kacie, is a dancer in a competitive dance group and keeps Jill on the road as well.

"Saturday was a long day for me. Kacie and I drove to Lancaster Friday for her to dance her solo and then I left early Saturday morning to head to Kittanning to watch Kendel play. After the game, back to Lancaster to watch Kacie dance her remaining six dances – to which she did very well and her team won many top awards."

That Saturday was March 18, the day the Lady Pirates fell to Union in the PIAA quarter final, ending the season.

"I was really hoping to be filming the final four and state championship games but setting that aside, this team did an amazing job. Every game, I got to see them do things on the court that left me in awe and amazement," Jill said. "Working the ball around and finding the open man to killer defensive plays. Of course, the Bald Eagle game when Jade made that buzzer-beater to put us into overtime was one of the great highlights I was able to film. I am thankful for this community and for all the support."

As Coach Hileman said on Saturday, "A new season starts tomorrow." And Jill Norris' followers are hoping to once again hear her catch phrase, "See you there or on the air!"