How young athletes are using ‘virtual resumes’ to directly communicate and share their talent with college and high school coaches
Kennedy Broyles, a high school softball player from Tennessee is pursuing a division 1 scholarship through the free Sports Thread social networking app. “I have only had Sports Thread for a few months but through the recruiting process featured on Sports Thread, I have gained contact with multiple future college options including Iowa State! This recruiting process has guided me and helped me show my skills in the game”
High school athletes and their parents are well versed in the intricacies and complications of the college recruitment process. For students aiming for college scholarships through athletic recruitment, it can be a daunting process to try and get themselves in front of the coaches and colleges that matter, to be seen and get that all-important shot at a place in a prestigious university team.
In a time where remote work and school were the new normal, this process has become even more complicated and discouraging for young athletes. In addition to missing schoolwork and dealing with the stresses of completing high school at home, athletes hopeful of college sports recruitment have found themselves with fewer opportunities. COVID-19 resulted in canceled schedules and travel plans, leaving high school athletes in the lurch and forcing them to find new ways to connect with coaches and college recruiters nationwide.
A new era of college sports recruitment
When 22-year-old athlete and techie Sean Leary started Sports Thread, a college recruitment app in 2017. Leary wanted to make it possible for high school athletes to connect and network with colleges to get the exposure and opportunities they wanted – early on. His goal was to empower young students with more effective ways to communicate with coaches and recruiters to increase the chances of families and students to more effectively pay for their college education.
Similar to LinkedIn for professionals, this kind of recruitment app uses technology built by award-winning development support to create a virtual resume for players and recruits alike. Today the app houses over 2,000 colleges. If an athlete gets the attention of a coach, they can start chatting directly in the app – for free.
Athletes can upload videos of their workouts, game, and personal highlight tapes and showcase their personalities and strengths to help coaches identify the players that meet their specific requirements. Apart from college recruiters and coaches, sports recruitment app also connect high school athletes with other athletes, helping them support and motivate each other and build a stronger personal network for life.
Like other social media-based networks, Sports Thread also allows students to create an athletic profile that they can leverage to keep track of and display their stats—a first step towards building their professional brand. Users can also access a resource center with more information about the colleges and important rules to remember about recruitment.
The Sports Thread platform has 2 million people who access it for various uses and recently cracked the top 50 sports app list on the Apple App Store rankings.
People like Sean Leary have proven that an app can truly disrupt any market once the right product-market fit is identified. With strong technology mentorships like partnerships and execution, a great idea can turn into something that truly enhances lives and provides opportunities that did not exist before. Sports Thread’s success is an inspiring story of how young entrepreneurs can leverage technology to take community engagement to the next level.
Nik is the CEO and Founder of Saritasa. His passion for technology and the incredible
enhancements it brings to our everyday lives is what inspired him to start Saritasa back
in 2005. He recognized that many businesses are often afraid to adopt new technologies
and sought a way to bridge the gap between innovation and business.
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