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This Is ‘SSKN’: Local teen making internet waves with sports show

LOWER PAXTON TOWNSHIP, Pa. — He’s brash, bold, and is coming for sports reporter’s jobs. Sammy Schwab, 14, of Harrisburg, could be the next bi...

LOWER PAXTON TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- He's brash, bold, and is coming for sports reporter's jobs.

Sammy Schwab, 14, of Harrisburg, could be the next big thing in the world of sportscasting. One year ago, with the support of his parents (and the encouragement of his parents' friends), Sammy launched Sammy's Sports Kids Network, or SSKN, a YouTube based, weekly web series where Sammy recaps the week in sports with statistics, opinions, and his own personal touch of fun which can only be found in a young teen.

"It's hard sometimes, but it helps I like to talk," Sammy says.

This week, he was taping his Super Bowl preview show.

His dad, Dan, helps produce SSKN episodes behind the scenes, filming Sammy on an iPhone set on a backdrop of sports memorabilia inside a home office.

Sammy Schwab

"The only thing better than the Super Bowl is the World Dodgeball Championship, which is bigger than the World Cup, World Series, and World War II combined!" he jokes in the most recent episode, a nod to the film Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story.

Sammy calls himself a sports fanatic and 'trivia buff.'

In only a year, the show is catching on. In some cases, episodes have been viewed hundreds, or even thousands of times. Pro Football Hall of Famers Marcus Allen and Shannon Sharpe have retweeted Sammy, he exclaims, while current NFL stars Odell Beckham Jr. and Giovani Bernard have liked it on Twitter.

He's even had the chance to interview Hall of Fame running back Eric Dickerson.

"On ESPN, they're all adults telling it to adults or kids who are adults, but now it's coming from a kid so maybe a different perspective is what they want," Sammy says. "Instead of watching an hour and a half 'SportsCenter' in the morning on ESPN, you catch watch a 4-5 minute 'SSKN' which gives an overview of the whole week."

Since Sammy is only 14 years old, he thinks sportscasting is what he wants to do as he gets older, but he's not sure. His parents, Dan and Patty, say their first focus is him entering the 9th grade at Central Dauphin High School.

"Over the next couple years, he'll have to decide if this is what he wants to do, but he is just loving it," mom Patty says.

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