Students who livestream sports help Lee’s Summit kids open the action to families

When sports started back up at Bernard Campbell Middle School, there was a problem. Because of COVID restrictions, each player only got two tickets to allow parents to come, but no one else could see the games. That’s when Kenny Taylor and his broadcast students stepped in to change things.

Taylor — who teaches theater, broadcasting and video technology at Bernard Campbell — embarked on an experiment with his students: livestreaming the school’s sporting events.

“We had the opportunity to step up and start our livestreaming and learn a whole new skill set and really put on something that was meaningful and important to our community,” Taylor said.

The project was only for kids who wanted to do it on top of their normal classwork. Usually students don’t produce live content, so it was a real switch for them.

“Students were really up on that challenge, looking for ways to get involved and be a part of a team. The pandemic had taken away so much of that aspect of life, and being around each other in safe ways was something really meaningful,” he said.

The response to the project has been incredible, Taylor said. He’s heard from parents, teachers, students and even opposing teams. Although this isn’t the first school to set up a livestream, Taylor wanted to make it more than just one camera capturing a wide angle from the top of the bleachers.

Instead, his students ran multiple cameras to switch angles during the game, as well as their own graphics and scoreboard. Taylor led them in this effort but made sure his students got the hands-on experience.

“They felt ownership of what we were doing,” he said.

Amelia Stroud, 13, didn’t know much about sports before running the camera and mixing the shots on the livestream project.

“At first I did it for fun, but then it became more. This is really cool and exciting. I get to learn more about things that happen with different sports,” she said.

She particularly liked that her work was valuable to others.

“It makes me feel more pride and joy that I’m doing something others can enjoy,” she said. “I’m working on a team with an excellent coach, my teacher, who has always been very supportive and helpful.”

Students filmed numerous events for the winter sports season, as well as a few other events, such as Scholar Bowl and the school talent show.

The sports broadcasts weren’t just about the video. They also included commentary, courtesy of the students. Perhaps the most enthusiastic commentator was 13-year-old Tyson Tingue.

He’s been preparing for this moment since he was 5, doing running commentaries at home as he watched games on TV.

“Most of the time, my mom and my dad will be like, ‘I’m just trying to watch the game. I don’t need input on every single play,’” Tyson said.

It has come in handy sometimes.

“We’d go to Royals games, and he’d be announcing the game as we were sitting there, and people would start listening in, even when he was 6 or 7 years old, and start asking him about the players,” said Amy Tingue, Tyson’s mom. “At 8 or 9, he would save his Christmas money and read it (the baseball scouting book) like a novel, from cover to cover, and it’s a 3- or 4-inch thick book.”

With the broadcasting class, Tyson finally got his chance during the basketball season.

The biggest perk was “being able to talk non-stop without being told to stop, because that’s my job. I talk a lot, and that does get in the way sometimes,” he said.

He hopes to keep doing this in high school and eventually make it a career. To catch up on any of the livestreams, visit https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcaZ3t_Z4ipPiuiamIamp_g/videos.