USA Lacrosse believes the new preferred mobile-first engagement solution relationship with TeamSnap not only simplifies administrative work, but will help keep families in the game.
Especially parents who are trying to support their kids in a sport they have no background in.
"What I often say inside the walls at USA Lacrosse is 'I'm the audience,'" USA Lacrosse VP and Head of Commercial Revenues Will Blake told Buying Sandlot. "I didn't play, but my kids are. Help me understand it on behalf of my children so that I can be helpful to them as they as they decide whether or not they like it."
Blake said he believes attrition in lacrosse often comes down to two factors -- cost and friction.
"If registration is confusing, if communication is spotty, if a parent can't find the schedule, that family has a bad first season. And a bad first season is really tough to bounce back from. Same thing with coaching. If a coach gets out there and gives it the old college try, but doesn't have any resources to do it.
"It all comes down to how each program is empowering its parent volunteers on the coaching side to help them create a more unified approach to coaching that involves curriculum, involves skills and drills, involves player development so that the kids have a better experience, but the parents don't feel like they're lost out there too."
TeamSnap CEO Peter Frintzilas -- another lacrosse dad who never played the sport himself -- said the platform is looking to harness educational content similar to what it does with its MLSGo partnership and in other sports. The partnership also includes preferred access to TeamSnap ONE, which opens the door to TeamSnap's live streaming infrastructure in partnership with XbotGo.
"We've developed the content rails and algorithms to match up the various skills and drills training programs that can be matched up with practice plans, matched up with the schedule, distributed throughout the team," Frintzilas said.
"It's kind of a season in a box, right? How do you give a volunteer that's never coached lacrosse eight practices for a 10U fall season and help eliminate the barrier to entry. In some cases people are scared to coach a sport they never had before. We want to be able to help bridge that gap."
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