At Middlebury sporting events, fans can expect to see a typical cast of characters standing on the sidelines: coaches, bench players and referees. However this past year, a new figure has appeared on the edges of many Middlebury sports games: George Madison ’26.
Since enrolling at Middlebury in the fall, Madison has been filming the practices and games of many Middlebury sports teams. He has then edited and posted the footage on his Instagram account @gmadvisuals in the form of highlight tapes and videos to increase excitement around college athletics. Madison has since collaborated with the Athletics Department, and many sports teams at Middlebury feature his work on their social media pages.
Madison’s experience with sports photography dates back to his time before Middlebury. When he was younger, Madison had a general interest in cameras and photography, but he did not really get involved in sports photography until his senior year of high school.
“I randomly decided to take some photos of our high school basketball game one day, and then they ended up paying me to shoot for them all winter,” Madison said. “From there I started doing more teams and sports and just kept growing.”
When Madison got to Middlebury, he continued to shoot photos and videos that he posted on his personal Instagram. Madison’s content caught the eye of Middlebury soccer player and fellow photographer Jordan Saint-Louis ’24, who put Madison in touch with the soccer coaches, leading Madison to make official content for the team.
“They were the first team to hire me and give me the opportunity to shoot content at practices and games, so I am grateful for that,” Madison said.
Since Madison’s early work with the soccer team, he has gotten other opportunities to make content for specific teams and the Athletics Department as a whole. Madison says that cross country and basketball are his two favorite sports to create content for, but he likes the challenge of covering a wide variety of sports.
In addition to making videos for Middlebury athletics, Madison is also a member of the men’s track and field team and the men’s cross country team. For Madison, balancing academic work and being on a sports team is challenging enough, but creating content has given him even more to balance in his first year.
Creating the videos is not as simple as just going to the games and pressing play on the camera, Madison explained. Madison spends time on editing, color grading, sound design and file organization. Despite all these responsibilities, Madison has felt comfortable with how he has allocated his time.
“I find that it’s worth the extra work though since this is what I want to do in the future,” he said.
Madison has personal goals with his page. He wants to use the content he creates at Middlebury to attract larger clients, but he also hopes that his content can bring more attention to Middlebury athletics.
“I want to provide high quality content to the teams and individuals I work with,” Madison said. “As an athlete, I know how cool it is to have some high quality content, and I want to provide that feeling to others.”
