Capturing the Final Four
Since 2015, the first time Rob Sandoval captured sports through creative video, he knew this is what he wanted to do. Rob has grown tremendously as a creative videographer, from his early days as a student intern at Texas A&M’s 12th Man Productions, to capturing moments like the Final Four for the University of Houston Men’s basketball team as the Director of Creative Video for Houston Athletics.
For the past four seasons, Rob has gotten to work with UH Men’s Basketball as a team creative taking emotional videos and dynamic photos of practices, games, and March Madness. As a Houston native, taking the job at UH was not a hard push because he “always wanted to come back and work in the city. I didn’t get to experience it as an adult because I went to A&M.”
Rob taking photos during game warm-ups for the UH Men's Basketball team /Image provided by Rob Sandoval
The position was exactly what he was looking for as he stepped away from Texas A&M, making a mark of his own in his career. With family close by and a new ability to explore the city he grew up in a different way, Rob excitedly stepped into his new role.
At first, there was a bit of hesitancy in his new position, not knowing fully what he was getting into. The initial months he went “from a school that had so many resources and so many opportunities” to a school where he did not have the same equipment and less staff was a big change. He started in 2020, joining UH athletics in the middle of the basketball season. He was able to fill the role as the creative for basketball but did not get a chance to get to know anyone. Fast forward to the next season, the NCAA allowing for a March Madness through a copy of the NBA bubble, there was nothing but time to get to know the team.
While the bubble was a new way to host the NCAA tournament, certainly nothing anyone had seen before, it offered its challenges as well as benefits. Without having to travel each week the team advanced in March Madness, they were able to spend a lot of time together. Rob used his time editing the footage he got from that day’s events, able to ‘lock-in’ on his work and push himself creatively. At mealtimes, Rob took the time to sit with the players and staff to get to know them better. Ever since, his favorite part of working with the UH basketball team is the family aspect. Something Head Coach Kelvin Sampson prides himself on; that and the overall culture of the team. “When you are in it, everyone is more comfortable and they will show you who they really are and share emotions, and they are comfortable with you showing that off,” Rob explains about how the family aspect of the team and his videos are his favorite.
Rob with the Midwest division trophy after UH beat Oregon State to advance to the Final Four in 2021. /Image provided by Rob Sandoval
In the 2021 season, UH Men’s Hoops, as their twitter denotes, battled their way to the Final Four, with Rob there to capture every moment. “A moment I would never have thought I would get to experience. Getting to live that moment was really cool. And you don’t realize it happened until everything settles and the confetti stops,” Rob said of his experience.
Since then, the Coog’s Basketball has advanced to the Elite Eight in 2022 and Sweet Sixteen in 2023. For Rob, “to be able to experience those things and be along for the ride has been so much fun. I will never take that for granted and I will always be thankful to the team for allowing me to go with them.”
Through this last season, the AP poll had the Coogs ranked Number 1 in the country for almost half the season, challenging Rob to be a better creative. “Everyday is a growing process. From where I started to where I am now, I am a better storyteller, I can make things flow better, I am a better shooter. I would say being with the team has elevated my storytelling because of how good they are. I wouldn’t want to give a subpar product to a team that is really good.” Taking a look at the UH Cougars Mens Basketball Instagram page, you can tell just that. Over the past three seasons of videos, there is growth in the post-game highlights, end of season look backs, and especially the senior send off videos. Rob has been able to push himself each day to be better in every aspect.
Before coming to UH, Rob did not have much experience shooting basketball. A majority of his time as a college student and his two years working for 12th man post-graduation was spent shooting football. Many people know the significance of Texas A&M football, and as Rob is “a college football guy through and through,” and easily fell in love with the content he was able to create. “Getting to show big time basketball is fun, but man when you have 100,000 plus people in a stadium and they have been tailgating, you’re capturing that, capturing the emotions of the play, the cheerleaders, the overall fan atmosphere of a college football game is second to none. Especially in the south it is so different because people live and die by Saturdays in the fall.”
Rob shooting video during a Texas A&M game as part of 12th Man Productions. /Image provided by Rob Sandoval
A pivotal, and certainly memorable moment in Rob’s career was the Texas A&M vs LSU football game in 2018 that went into seven overtimes. That game tied the NCAA record for most overtimes in one game, something surely never to happen again due to overtime rule changes. It was also a long day when you consider the kickoff time of 6:30 pm and lasted until 11:32 pm, and the day starting with the early tailgaters. “That was a long day, long game, lots of emotions…Getting to experience that, then when we won, that was second to none. [The fans] rushed the field, it was crazy. I have experienced a lot of highs but that was probably the top.”
Now that the 2022-2023 basketball season has wrapped up, Rob is looking forward to next season as the Coogs take on the Big 12 Conference. He is also trying to pay it back to his experience in college by having student interns on his team as well. In the past four years, the team has grown from two interns to six, a major win for his team. Rob explains now that there are more interns, “we can rely on students to do some of the things [staff] can’t always reach, we can put them in places to be successful, we can have them be second shooters and set up interviews [to further their growth] and make them a good all-around creative.” The best advice he can give to his interns and any other creatives is to “do everything and anything. Put yourself in as many uncomfortable situations as you can because the more uncomfortable you are, the better you are better for it and it will become an ally. Being everywhere and anywhere, asking questions all the time will go so much farther than you think it will.”
Click the image to go to the UH Men's Basketball Twitter page where Rob's videos, like this one, for the team are shared. /Image of @UHCougarMBK twitter of one of Rob’s videos
