Tyson Hockley had big baseball dreams set for this summer.
The talented 12-year-old pitcher had hopes of playing for the top tier Layritz Little League squad, as the Victoria-based program was ready to host Canada’s best young ballplayers for the 2020 Canadian Little League Championship. The winner of that tournament would have booked a ticket to the historic Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
COVID-19, however, kept Hockley and his teammates off the diamond.
“So that was really sad and heartbreaking when that got cancelled,” said Hockley.
Without baseball, Hockley had plenty of extra time on hand to throw himself into something new.
“I’m bored, why not make the most of it. I always thought of starting a YouTube channel so this is like the perfect opportunity for me,” said Hockley.
“He had to rechannel his focus and his energy, so he’s spent a lot of time in building his YouTube channel and trying to entertain people. He’s had a lot of fun with it,” said Derek Hockley, Tyson’s father.
For the past few months, Hockley has shot, hosted and edited several videos to share with the world. He’s produced videos on topics ranging from “Cleaning my crazy messy room” to “How to make money as a kid.” One video, however, has stood out from the rest.
“My most popular video is my owl video where I went to Quarry Park to film some barred owl,” said Hockley.
With a multi-camera set-up and a speaker that played owl sounds, Hockley had a face to face meeting with a barred owl. Neither Hockley nor the hooter were harmed in the production, just a close encounter that even caught the attention of the viral video American TV show, Right This Minute.
“That was amazing. That was like a dream come true,” said Hockley.
Though baseball is still his number one pastime, Hockley has made the most of his free time in discovering a new passion.
“I love making these videos, it’s super fun. Even editing I know it’s a lot of work but it’s still really, really fun to have all of my ideas come to life for viewers,” said Hockley.
“He’s very resilient, you know a lot of kids might have not have bounced back as fast,” said Darla Hockley, Tyson’s mother.
“We’re really proud of him in how he’s been able to channel his loss into something positive and really stay positive throughout this whole ordeal we’re all going through right now,” said Derek Hockley.
As for what we can expect in Tyson’s next video?
“We’ll just have to wait and see, make sure to subscribe and catch it.”
Tyson’s videos can be found under the YouTube page: Tyson Hockley.
Kevin Charach
