Like many kids on the school playground or in the school cafeteria during lunch time, Tegan Dugal likes to chop it up with his friends about the recent New England Patriots game, the Monday Night Football matchup from the night before or anything else happening in the world of sports.

Twelve-year-old Tegan Dugal of Lewiston. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020 and school switched to remote learning, Dugal still found a way to let people continue to hear his sports take by firing up the camera on his phone and talking.

“Just talking about sports and being able to put my thoughts out there about everything,” Dugal, who is 12 years old and about to begin seventh grade at Lewiston Middle School, said. “I was nervous at first because I didn’t know what people would think about my thoughts, I didn’t want people to not like them. But everyone has their own opinions. I learned to just don’t be afraid, it’s your opinion, you get to say it so just have your say.”

Dugal soon began uploading his sports take to his YouTube channel, Tegan’s Sports Talk.

“I just really love sports and talking to my friends about sports, so I thought I could make my own show out of it,” Dugal said. “I just love talking about sports, especially football.”

Dugal has had some guests on his show, which has garnered over 4,000 combined views, including his grandfather, his dad and some of his friends. 

“They love talking sports, and it’s why I mainly started this channel,” Dugal, who wants to play football and baseball in middle school, said. “We just usually have conversations in the morning about football and what happened in the games.”

While the shows with his friends through video calls were fun, they aren’t Dugal’s favorite of the shows he has done so far.

“My favorite one was with my grandfather. He was a good guest to have on,” Dugal said.

Dugal prepares in advance for each show to ensure that it has a direction and a theme or topic. He compiles what he wants to talk about and the questions he wants to ask on a piece of paper that serves as a prompt to help guide the show along.

If he records a take that doesn’t like, he deletes it and records it again. After he has shot all of his videos, he uses an app on his phone called CapCut Video Editor to splice his takes together into a seamless video.

“I used a different app at the beginning, and I didn’t really edit it at all at the start,” Dugal said. “I have some graphics now, because it was plain. I wanted to do some more stuff with it because it was just sitting there, so I wanted to add some cuts and graphics.”

Dugal asks his his guests thoughtful questions, adds thought-provoking retorts and is prepared with rosters, injury news and transaction news. 

Tegan’s Sport Talk might be just the beginning for Dugal, who wants to become a sports commentator when he grows up.

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