Niagara Falls native Amy Audibert broadcasts NBA games in Miami

Basketball has always been more than a “ball and a hoop” for Amy Audibert.

So much more.

It introduced her to competition at a high level — and the commitment and preparation needed to stay at that level — as well as planting the seeds for some lifelong friendships.

A game invented by a Canadian took the Canadian to the University of Miami in south Florida on an athletic scholarship after she graduated from AN Myer Secondary School in Niagara Falls.

After a back injury ended her playing career prematurely, she turned that passion into a profession. Audibert returned to school and enrolled in the broadcast, radio and television program at Niagara College.

Her goal? To work in broadcasting, preferably being part of a team describing the action on the court to fans and, ultimately, in the National Basketball Association.

Mission accomplished. Audibert spent the 2021-22 season on the Toronto Raptors broadcast crew as a sideline reporter and studio analyst on Sportsnet and was recently hired by the Miami Heat to join their radio and television broadcast team this season.

All told, Audibert, 37, spent about seven years in south Florida. She is “absolutely thrilled” to be back in her hoops home away from home to continue her dream career.

“After already fulfilling a basketball dream in suiting up for the Miami Hurricanes, returning to Miami to cover the game that I love so much at the highest level is truly a full-circle story,” she said in a news release announcing the move. “I am so excited to continue a career with an organization that is committed to the excellence required to be a championship each year.”

In a phone interview from south Florida, Audibert added, “I’m so excited to be with this organization. They believe in their people.”

At Miami, Audibert studied sports administration, at the undergraduate and masters level, which was through the university’s school of education. She began thinking about getting into broadcasting after returning him to Niagara Falls.

“I figured I was at home, I was 24 at the time, and I figured if I don’t try now, I’ll probably regret it,” she recalled. “I’m thankful that I tried.”

The program at Niagara was for three years, but the college allowed her to skip the first year “because I had advanced standing with my masters degree.”

“I did miss a lot of the editing and technical stuff, but I was fortunate they allowed me to jump right into the accreditation side.”

How hard was it to change from the mindset of a player competing at a high level on the court to describing the game from the sidelines, Audibert was asked.

“I think that was one of the easier parts,” she answered. “Sometimes, especially in the earlier stages, that’s the more difficult part, like the skill of presentation. You’re not just watching a game, there’s timing, there are technical issues. There is a lot of skill to present.

“The easy part was watching the games.”

Contrary to what Miami Heat fans will hear and see when they follow the team from their homes, Audibert’s job as television, studio and radio analyst is “not just showing up and talking.”

“I have a lot of respect for anyone in this crew who has been able to really push through. There is a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff that goes into this type of job,” she said. “It’s easy for people to sit at home and not really appreciate what is happening.”

Audibert’s workday on game nights does not begin with the opening buzzer and ends with the final buzzer.

“No, that’s the easy part. That’s the part where everything else kind of goes away if you’re prepared properly,” she said with a laugh.

“That’s the joke about it. Some people probably think broadcasters work two hours a day. That’s like, maybe, 25 percent of our day.”

For an 8 pm tipoff, Audibert’s day routinely begins the day before.

“I try to get my prep down the night before. I don’t like to be scrambling too much on game day.”

However, with the 82-game NBA schedule, there are a lot of “back-to-backs — two games in as many nights — that’s not always possible.

“There’s never a set time, I just feel like there is a season and there’s an off-season,” Audibert said. “And when you’re in season, you don’t really have a whole lot of time for everything else.”

She has yet to accompany the Heat on road trips but expects to later in the season.

“I think there are a couple of trips and in the post-season I will.”

Audibert didn’t just fall with the sport when she made basketball her go-to game.

“I think I fell in love with competing, not just showing up to practice. I really started becoming successful as a player when it was the extra conditioning, the extra shots, the weightlifting, just finding all these different ways and outlets to improve,” she recalled. “Yes, it’s a ball and a hoop, but at the same time, I was able to create this whole life out of the game, including my friends, my career.

“For me, it’s not just as simple as a game. I fell in love with the game, but I also fell in love with everything else that it was able to provide for me.”

Audibert never lets herself forget she is calling games featuring the “best players in the entire world.”

“I’m just so in awe of what I get to do and who I get to work with, and the stories and the game that I get to help share. It’s just incredible,” she said.

Given there are only 30 teams in the NBA, Audibert also feels lucky where broadcasting has taken her.

“It’s such a competitive thing, but I also know how hard I worked and I know the path that I really had to take just keeping my head done and just keep going hasn’t been easy,” she said. “I am lucky but at the same time I have worked incredibly hard and I am going to continue to work incredibly hard.

“I feel I’m just getting my toes wet here.”

Her goal is “becoming as close to excellent as I can in my current job.”

“The minute you start thinking too far ahead, you lose focus.”

Her parents, John and Julia Audibert, still live in Niagara Falls, as does most of her family. Her mother recently texted Audibert a picture of a snowy driveway.

“All I wrote back was, ‘Mom, I’m not going to reply with what I’m looking at. That would be just mean,’” she said with a laugh. “It’s gorgeous down here right now.”

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