Honestly you can just apply straight up, it's not like "Hey you're inexperienced so we won't take you in," it'll be more like they can hit you up if something does arise (at least with TFTV, if something small can be streamed, they can pull inexperienced talent for it).

As for practice, doing recordings is always great (though challenging when recording the game at the same time as casting it, but even that is practice for casting when you need to follow the action for a cast). I always recommend just recording yourself over a demo of a match (which you're going even further, by streaming it live).

My first cast with TFTV was being slammed into the Intermediate Grand Finals for ESEA with TheFragile, they just threw me in 'cause I applied (and had done at least 1 or 2 recordings of my casting I think). You'll be surprised what some producers will do to help those who are wanting to get in

lol
but yeah as row said you really dont need much experience to get taken on, just send them a few vods of you doing your own casts and you will most likely get accepted straight away (or at least get some good feedback if ur not ready yet) so just go for it

i got in by messaging dumm one day that i wanted to cast and the response was "ok sure"
good luck soldier

i think i told console that i would cast and my roommate would pretend to be b4nny and he said that would be awesome

tbh if youre interested in getting practice casting then i would recommend you use demos.tf to find games that are both high level and that you arent in. Being familiar with casting situations at the pace of the top level, where you dont know what is going to happen next is very helpful.

I was just at LAN and stepped in, good times.

Message your local TFTV representative of choice (like wan did with me but obv would make more sense messaging some of the NA team)

if you still have VODs of your own casts that is great to have as well so whoever you are contacting already has an idea how you are casting for a first impression, obv we wanna give people chances but for the sake of broadcast quality if someones is genuinely not great letting them get more practice first is better
if you are looking for specific feedback on stuff, talking to other casters can be good as well, know plenty of people doing that

i was in the same position you were in just a little older at the time and i started myself by just demo reviewing like every lans demos until hiipfire got me involved on TFTV and now i run (part of) this place somehow (help) so the career ladder is very much there

if you happen to have time at absolute degen hour for NA im always very much open to host peoples first attempts into casting if they are serious about it so if you ever find yourself with free time at 20-23 cest hmu

all I did was cast over some old demos once and then 8 months later asked essentials to cast LAN and they said yes and also helped me get into tftv casts. it really is no science it seems

I did it because we needed people for CappingTV casts, and then Louster swindled me into doing three grand finals casts for season 2. it's a lot of fun :)

if you can try and get someone to practise casting with you
keep vods up of your practise casts for archive purposes
dog shit casts you learn from
dont listen to chat
dont do drugs

have fun

Most people here hit the nail on the head! TF2 casting is a lot easier to get in than when I started, but I will always suggest grabbing some STVs and recording or streaming you casting them. It's always good practice and if you save the vod you can use it in the "Hey this is me here's an example of me casting" message you'll inevitably send to org runners.

If you want I'd be happy to watch a vod and give some feedback or just have a chat about casting and tf2.

You pick a match - doesn't really matter which - and you commentate it solo. Then you record that using some cheapo software, and post it to youtube, then you post to TF.TV and make your thread title something akin to "Casting Advice" and you post a link to your video you made of you casting, and leave an explaination that you'd like some help.

As long as it's not a tire fire, you should be casting in no time. Worked for me anyways ;)