YouTube host, 11, scores pro athlete interviews
Reisterstown’s David Polsky hosts ‘King David’ channel
Some TV hosts spend years practicing their craft before landing interviews with celebrities, let alone their idols. But 11-yearold David Polsky has gotten lucky early in his career.
The Reisterstown resident and aspiring actor has played ping pong and practiced yoga poses with former Ravens player Jonathan Ogden. He’s taste-tested candy blindfolded with tight end Dennis Pitta. He’s skied with Olympic gold medalist Tommy Moe, compared hand sizes with Ravens guard Marshal Yanda, and — a major highlight in his reel — pied kicker Justin Tucker in the face.
Just before Halloween, David teamed up with his brother Evan, 14, to launch his YouTube channel, “King David,” where he has interviewed some of his favorite athletes and engaged them in comical challenges and games.
“What inspired me was really that I love just playing games and I love sports also, and I thought of this idea, and I said, ‘That might be fun … Why don’t I just share it with the world?’ ” he said.
To recruit guests for his YouTube channel, David goes to signings and events to ask athletes to participate, said David’s mother, Andrea Polsky. David’s father, Dr. Brian Polsky, specializes in sports medicine, but has never worked with the athletes David has interviewed, Andrea Polsky said.
“I give [David] credit, because this is something we said early on — my husband and I — that we were not going to do this for him. If he wanted to do it, then this was his. We stood back and we would take him places but … he did all the talking,” said Andrea Polsky. Evan Polsky handles the filming and the editing of the show.
The response from the athletes David has approached has been overwhelmingly positive, Andrea Polsky said. Some have even invited David and Evan to their house. Moe, an Olympic skier, offered to give David a private ski lesson on camera. “They’re on a roll,” Polsky said. To date, David has uploaded 12 videos, which include his behind-the-scenes trip to the Ravens practice facility with Baltimore ravens.com reporter Garrett Downing.
While David said he gets nervous at times, and convincing people to do interviews can be challenging, fun has always been the focus.
His favorite moments have been sharing laughs with his guests, “like when I was with Justin Tucker and we did the pieing in the face,” he said. The Tucker video is far and away David’s most popular — while most of his videos have view counts in the hundreds, this one has been watched over 1,800 times.
“When I did it to him, we were both just laughing at how funny he looked with all icing on his face.”