Video highlighter: COVID-19 does not stop fan from helping local athletes

WINDOW ROCK

Dean Becenti first started recording basketball games not long after finishing high school in 2016. Now, he makes edited, eye-catching highlight videos for athletes that help them get sports scholarships.

At first, the videos would be shaky, unedited and he would yell during the match.

“It makes me feel like all this hard work I’m doing is paying off and everything I’m doing has a purpose,” Becenti said. “It makes me happy knowing that in this film work it’s not just about me, it’s about helping others.

“I love helping people and I love sports, and this is a good way to combine both,” he said.

Most of Becenti’s family have been involved in sports, including himself, until his high school years when his mother, Natasha Becenti, passed away.

He briefly lost his passion for sports, but he still enjoyed watching the games, so he started videoing them to keep himself busy.

It started slowly, but since 2016 he has gained thousands of followers on his social media accounts, and his YouTube channel has 1.1 million views.

With this many followers and seeing his content online, school coaches had started reaching out to him to ask if he could cover games and make highlights of their players. But Becenti can’t cover all games.

Canceled season

His coverage over the past year was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Nearly all schools in the Navajo Nation canceled their sports seasons.

However, Becenti kept busy as coaches continued to send him whole game recordings to go through and make edits. It took him two months to make five highlights of Monument Valley basketball players as he shifted through a season’s worth of videos.

During stay-at-home orders, he was also visited by PBR athlete Cody Jesus, a friend he made when highlighting him. They spent time together going over old wheels and watching a film to help Jesus improve.

While the pandemic deeply impacts many people, the extra time ignited a spark within him to do more. This year he covered football and volleyball for the first time and is making plans to expand his coverage.

“I want to help out as many of these student-athletes as possible,” Becenti said. “A lot of them weren’t able to participate in their senior season and I just thought about how much it must have hurt them.

“That’s why my mindset is different now,” Becenti said. “That is why my mindset is to work harder than ever and cover more sports and try to cover more schools.”

Coaches reaching out

During the summer, football coach Rod Denetso from Navajo Prep reached out to Becenti and asked if he could do highlights for his teams. Denetso was impressed by both Becenti’s videos and his conduct.

“It’s unique because of how he took the initiative,” Denesto said. “He didn’t go to school for this, but he took the initiative.

“Not a lot of people will do it on their own, but the keyword I keep hearing from him is that he’s doing it for the youth,” he added, “and I thought that was very mature and awesome to do that for the kids. That’s rare.”

Denetso said it’s difficult for a skillful athlete to get recognized in an isolated place such as the Navajo Nation. These highlight videos, however, will help in getting a college’s attention.

It takes a lot of time and effort to make these videos and not a lot of people are tech-savvy to edit their own video nor have the time to go through multiple videos to find the best cuts to use, said Becenti.

Which is what makes his help so appreciative, especially when he does it on his own free time.

“I love it because it gives back to the community and it’s a great experience for him,” Denetso said. “He’s a very humble, great guy. Just a good guy in general.”

Likewise, Tohatchi High basketball coach Tanisha Bitsoi feels the same way. She has known Becenti for about three years and has come to value his efforts.

“He’s very nice and open for doing things for our Native kids, and as far as making film that takes lot of his own time, and it’s very considerate of him,” she said.

“It helps,” she said. “The couple of films he did produce, I sent them out to college coaches. It does benefit our student-athletes and the surrounding area.”

Becenti hopes to continue to cover local sports for years to come and both Bitsoi and Denetso said they’re willing to continue working with him to make sure their kids get coverage.

“I think as, many coaches across the Navajo Nation, we appreciate the work he does for our student-athletes,” Bitsoi said.

Becenti, feeling ambitious, wants to spread his coverage across the Navajo Nation. Before, he watched Window Rock games exclusively – his alma mater.

Still, he wants to travel more and make videos of different sports across the Navajo Nation, the border towns like Holbrook and Winslow, and maybe outside like Snowflake or the White Mountain region.

Where credit is due

Becenti gives credit to his family like his cousin Savanah Watson, a Gallup High graduate playing collegiate softball at Ohio Valley University.

He also thanks his friend, Bloomfield High alumnus Alonzo Garnenez, a basketball and football player who helped Becenti improve his recordings immensely and gave tips on editing videos – something Becenti is very grateful for.

Becenti hopes to continue covering games in the future, as he doesn’t see it as work but more as a hobby. If there is such a thing as a dream job, he’s sure this is probably his.

“It makes me feel honored and humble, helping as many kids as possible in all my years of doing this,” Becenti said. “I have influenced so many lives and I have influenced so many kids that I never thought I would.

“It’s just really is a good feeling not only making families, coaches, schools, and fans happy but just being able to give a helping hand,” he added. “It’s what makes me glad to help and be a positive influence for all these people.”

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