Success at O’Dea is Paving the Way for Alum Jason Fridge's Announcing Career By Zane Hitch

RANDOR, PA – Jason Fridge, O’Dea class of 2021, had a legendary career for the Fighting Irish. Fridge was a captain of a state champion lacrosse team, as well as one of the most popular high school commentators in western Washington, even being featured on MaxPreps, Slam High School, and many other popular Instagram pages.

At O’Dea, Fridge was the primary commentator for both football and basketball, and rarely missed any games.

Fridge is continuing his lacrosse career at Division 3 powerhouse Cabrini University, who committed Fridge as the reigning D3 national champions. At Cabrini, he is also continuing his announcing career, and very early on was given his first chance.

"Within the first couple weeks at school, my coach was able to give my name to the school's athletic communication director and he reached out to me about commentating for a soccer game without meeting me in person before," Fridge said. "It was a double header, men's and women's soccer, and I had never done a soccer game before so, I'm not going to lie, I was freaking out before."

But there was nothing to worry about. Fridge had a very successful broadcast and impressed the Cabrini athletic department. He impressed them enough in fact, that they gave him another opportunity, this time Field Hockey.

“I had to learn the rules of Field Hockey in two days and then comment on it for an hour and a half, but everyone loved it, and then I became the unofficial voice of Cabrini Field Hockey."

Even with very little knowledge of the sport, Fridge found a way to put his own special touch on the game. He made the game entertaining for Cabrini and their opponents fans watching the live stream all season, impressing the Cabrini athletic department even more. Fridge was able to comment on numerous men’s and women’s soccer games as well field hockey games during the fall athletic season. He is currently commenting for the Cabrini basketball team and adding to his resume even more.

Fridge credits much of his success to his experience and development announcing for O’Dea.

"Having the experience from O'Dea was priceless. They were looking for people just like me, and having the experience gave a lot of trust in me for a freshman whose voice they had barely heard," Fridge said. "If I didn’t have that experience at O'Dea with Mr. Lara and the DMC, there is no way I would be able to have this experience where I have just hit the ground running right away and build up my resume as a freshman."

But, Fridge’s accomplishments at O’Dea are not only related to his commentating and athletic abilities. His work in the classroom at O’Dea is benefiting him as well at Cabrini.

"I came in with so many credits from high school that while I am in my second semester, I am academically a sophomore.”

This allows him to take more classes that he is interested in which are helping him become a better announcer and tell the story of sport even better.

Fridge’s resume keeps getting longer and longer, but he will have to take the spring off from commentating as he will be in the middle of his own athletic season. And, unless he can find a way to announce from on the field, his fans will have to wait until next year to hear his voice again.