Since the pandemic hit last March, people have had multiple reasons not to leave their couches.

Local high schools have added another by way of live streaming.

With little or no in person attendance being permitted, basketball, wrestling and swimming events are all being video streamed live to fans’ and families’ homes.

Area school districts are streaming from three different programs. Panther Valley, Northern Lehigh, and Pleasant Valley are using National Federation of High School Associations (NFHS); Jim Thorpe, Palmerton and Northwestern use YouTube; Marian, Lehighton, and Weatherly use Facebook Live; and depending on the sport, Tamaqua uses either YouTube or Facebook Live. Most schools have links for all televised games on their websites.

NFHS is a viewer subscription service that streams live high school athletic events in 44 states. Its advantages are praised by Panther Valley athletic director, Kristin Black.

“We have two NFHS streaming locations, one (out at the) football stadium and the other at the intermediate school,” said Black. “The service comes with two cameras and mixers that were purchased for us by St. Lukes and D11 Sports, so there is no cost to the school district.”

Black has to put the events into the system that will be streamed – dates, times, and location. What she likes best about the service is the quality of the picture, and the camera operation that does not require a camera person.

“The camera automatically follows where the ball goes,” said Black, “and the image you see on your screen includes the running score and the time. This feature allows events to be streamed without announcers to call the action.”

Panther Valley has volunteer students call the play by play. “We got girls who call the boys’ games and boys who call the girls’ games,” she said with a laugh. “That’s just how it worked out.”

NFHS charges a subscription fee for viewers of $10.99 per month or $69.00 per year. Subscribers can watch any game anywhere in the country where the service is in operation. Games and matches are recorded and can be watched at the viewer’s leisure.

Lehighton uses Facebook Live for its streaming of events, a feature of the Facebook social network that uses the camera on a computer or mobile device to broadcast real-time video to Facebook. Live broadcasters can decide who on Facebook can see their video and use this content to engage their audience during the moments and events that are important to them.

Athletic director Kyle Spotts explained that the streaming of every home Lehighton sports event is managed by the school’s parent groups following his set up of the service.

Nick Mattingly of the website Switcher Studio says, “Streaming games on Facebook Live allows students, alumni and fans to be in the moment with the rest of the crowd no matter where they are. Doing video on Facebook Live also enables your team to go back and watch later. They can then use this video to elevate their game by giving a reference point for what went well, and where there are areas for improvement. You can even stream video for updates before, during and after a game.”

There are some limitations.

“We can’t stream two events at the same time, so we have to strategically schedule around that issue,” Spotts said.

Jim Thorpe streams its events on “Olympian Way YouTube.” This service also allows viewers to watch previously recorded events.

With YouTube, a minimum of 1,000 subscribers are required and then the streaming service is free. Since Jim Thorpe also operates this service for non-sports events like board of education meetings, they have the 1,000 subscribers needed for the streaming to be free.

All of these services allow fans and families to watch their favorite teams and student athletes in action, from the middle school level to the high school. While nothing can replace attending games and events in person, livestreaming has become very popular within area school communities.

“It’s amazing,” said Black. “I just have to program the events into the system and then (the) entire Panther Valley community gets to watch basketball games at every school level.”

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ELITE BOMBER … Palmerton’s Kody Kratzer became the area’s most recent member of the 1,000-point club when he reached the milestone last Thursday.

Kratzer entered the contest needing five points to become the Blue Bombers’ 11th boys player to hit the mark. The senior wasted no time, hitting for 10 of his team’s 19 points in the first quarter against Wilson.

Palmerton went on to record a 55-52 victory, with Kratzer ending the contest with a game-high 22 points.

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SEEING 20-20 ... Both Marian and Weatherly had a game last week where two members of their team each scored at least 20 points.

The Wreckers’ Antonio Colecio tallied 21, while teammate Scotty Zoscin finished with 20 in a win last Friday against Schuylkill Haven.

During a victory - also against Haven - last Thursday, the Colts’ Dewin Concepcion and John Malarkey both scored 20 points. That marked the second time this season that Marian had 20-20 players, as Concepcion (21) and Brendan Lonergan (20) also did it on Jan. 18 against Tri-Valley.

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OUT OF THE DOGHOUSE … After settling for having to patiently wait while every other local school district opened its season nearly two weeks earlier, Northern Lehigh finally got a chance to open its winter sports season last week. The Bulldog basketball teams opened their seasons on Jan. 21 against Catasauqua with mixed results, as the girls picked up a win and the boys suffered a setback. Meanwhile, the wrestling team lost its Jan. 22 opener to Northwestern.

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NOT GOING DOWNTOWN … Over the years, the three-point shot has become a staple of high school basketball offenses. That wasn’t the case Friday night, however, as neither Northern Lehigh nor Salisbury hit a shot from beyond the arc in their Colonial League girls basketball game. It was the first time this season that a game involving a Times News squad was played without a three-pointer being made.

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30-SOMETHING … The Panther Valley boys basketball team ended a six-game losing streak with a victory over Roberto Clemente Charter School on Saturday. In the game, Panther freshman phenom Stephen Hood scored 21 of his game-high 30 points in the second half. Hood nailed three three-pointers, and had a five-for-six performance at the charity stripe.

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CRITERIA VICTORY … Last Thursday, Tamaqua and Faith Christian Academy finished their non-league wrestling match tied at 33-33. The two programs had to rely on criteria to decide the outcome. Thanks to the fourth criteria - most bouts won - the Blue Raiders came out victorious by winning seven of the 13 bouts.