ZEBULON — Sports fans — even young ones — know the famous Al Michaels call at the end of the Olympic hockey game between the U.S. and Russia in 1980.

“Do you believe in miracles? Yes!”

Michaels’ call is just one of the memorable moments in sports broadcasting.

The Carolina Mudcats’ Director of Broadcasting, Patrick Kinas, is holding a sportscasting camp July 6-8 that he hopes will light a fire under would-be broadcasters.

“All I can say, in all honesty, is that if I were 14 again, knowing that I wanted to somehow edge my way into this field (of work), if something like this existed I would’ve done anything I could to go,” Kinas said.

The camp, open for kids and adults ages 13 and older, offers formal play-by-play instruction — something Kinas said wasn’t available to him as he worked his way into the industry.

“For days and nights, I’d be playing games, practicing calls,” he said. “I’d be watching TV practicing calls and listening to as many games as I could learning how to call a game.

However, having the chance to do it alongside some of the state’s best would have given me a big step forward in knowledge and confidence that I was approaching it the right way.”

The “state’s best” Kinas referred to are his friends from various organizations that will help serve as instructors and mentors for the camp. Some of those include Bob Harris of Duke University, Mick Mixon of the Carolina Panthers, Neil Solondz of the Durham Bulls, Jeff Gravley of WRAL, Gary Hahn, the voice of N.C. State, and David Jackson, the voice of Appalachian State.

Kinas said he couldn’t be more grateful to have colleagues and friends who are willing to help mentor the aspiring broadcasters as they travel to different locations over the three-day period. He said lots of people at one time or another have been where all of these campers are now — high school or college, wanting to learn as much as possible about the field and from the best around.

“You’d be hard-pressed to find any sports fan in the state who hasn’t come across any of these people on radio and TV on dozens of occasions, and I think that gives this camp tremendous strength and depth,” he said.

Camp-goers will head to Raleigh on day one for an instructional course in the morning and some practice play-by-play and analysis. Day two activities will be held at Five County Stadium for work with on-camera events with the lineup of TV anchors.

“We’ll be doing mock interviews first to get them comfortable in front of the camera, then roving through the stadium to do live interviews, followed by post-game interviews with players and coaches,” Kinas said. “During the game, the campers will also be doing mock play-by-play, along with joining the Mudcats broadcast with me.”

On the final day of camp the group will travel for a live play-by-play of an AAU girls basketball tournament in Raleigh, followed by an afternoon break-out and camp wrap up, according to Kinas.

The size has been capped in the 12-14-camper range to ensure sure it’s manageable and the ratio of instructors to campers is where Kinas thinks it should be.

The cost is $350 for individuals, or $300 per person for a pair to sign up. Kinas said he’s already had registrants up to the age of 23 and space is filling quickly.

“I think this is a great way for kids to get a pretty all-encompassing view of what all goes into not just calling a game, but the preparation and research to get ready,” Kinas said. “They’re going to hear from experts who have made livings in this field for years, and many broadcasters that they and their parents have spent years listening to.”

He said the ideal result would be for attendees to get comfortable with headsets on and before a microphone or camera, understand what the play-by-play broadcaster is attempting to accomplish with each call, see and understand a game from a broadcaster’s perspective (as opposed to a fan), enhance interviewing techniques, have full interaction with broadcasters during question-and-answer sessions, meet other young adults with similar interests, work off a checklist of strengths and weaknesses for the time following the camp, and have a great time on top of it all.

“It’s going to be a very supportive, positive, mentor-based camp and with as much fun, interaction, calling, instruction and breakdown as we can fit in,” Kinas said.