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This is Buying Sandlot — the only newsletter that focuses solely on the business of youth sports.
Let’s get to it.
In the email today:
🏀 Shoot 360 Founder Talks Growth, Mission
It was a beautiful day. Craig Moody suggested his son and friends go outside and shoot hoops.
They said no, they would rather stay inside and keep playing NBA 2K.
“It clicked with me: If I could make a gym like a video game, I’d think we’d have it made,” Moody told Buying Sandlot.
Moody is well on his way. He meshed his 20-plus years coaching high school and college basketball with his extensive business and logistics background to launch Shoot 360 — an AI-powered, gamified basketball training platform — in 2012.
Shoot 360 is used by almost every NBA team over a decade later, its franchise business is experiencing rapid domestic and international growth and a partnership with US Sports Camps and Nike Sports Camps was recently announced.
“We have a great camp platform,” Moody said. “We talk about our technology as a training competition and experience platform. If you’ve ever been to a sports camp, you know they do a lot of skill stations. We are perfectly set up for that and we can do all the traditional things, but kids get exposed to our technology. Our saying is, ‘Get better, faster.’ That’s what the technology lets you do. It just speeds up your progression.”
Moody also believes Shoot 360’s focus on skill could be a critical answer at a time when many stakeholders, including the NBA, are taking an introspective look at national talent identification and development systems as the rest of the world quickly catches up -- and demonstrates better ways.
“I realized you almost had to play kids in certain positions because they were not skilled enough to play in other spots,” Moody said. “And the truth is that globally it’s becoming a position-less game. Maybe the big guys don’t move as fast, but the really good players have all the skills the guards do.
“We have really gotten into this area of, ‘Let’s compete, compete, compete.’ And there has been no governing body that said, ‘No, let’s play less and develop skill.’ You can’t throw kids into a gym and just tell them to grind. That world is gone. They want to be entertained, they want quick gratification, they want to feel like they can see they are getting better in order to invest. That was our answer — we have to develop more skill in the U.S. and, by the way, it can go global. And they can have a blast doing it. Everything we do transfers to the court. We don’t do gimmicky stuff, but we can make it really fun.”
Shoot 360 has set an ambitious goal of 600 locations worldwide by 2030. Moody said he expects there will be 60 locations in the U.S. within the next few weeks. There are also currently international locations in Canada, Georgia and Taiwan with a wave of openings anticipated in Asia by next year.
Shoot 360’s franchises consist of both standalone venues and autonomous sub-venues — think Starbucks inside a Target.
“Our focus on skill and helping kids have a pathway to whatever version they want to make of themselves is our calling card,” Moody said. “We are opening the opportunity for kids and our mission is to grow the game.”
A few extra nuggets from my conversation with Moody:
1) Shoot 360 has been compared to TopGolf in some corners. But no one should hold their breath waiting for beers and nachos to make an appearance at a location.
"TopGolf is very social and it’s not really for golfers, per se," Moody said. "I think we do all things. We build our resources for NBA and WNBA players and then we use software to get it to wherever we need it for young players. And we can use software to create entertainment experiences, which we do, but we don’t aspire (to that). It’s not a great comparison because TopGolf does one kind of thing."
2) Shoot 360 has begun launching shooting leagues for adults at some locations, though. Moody said they have been extremely well-received.
3) The logic: Moody said there are about 28M people in the U.S. playing competitive or recreational hoops, but there are another 150M or so “retired” basketball enthusiasts. And most people age out of full-court basketball by age 30. Shoot 360 wants to get those people involved again in a sustainable way.
4) Shoot 360’s skills-focused effort to expedite athlete growth reminded me a lot of Fast Track Tennis. But Moody said there are currently no plans to create an at-home product for myriad reasons, including a very practical one — weather. You can’t shoot hoops in the garage for half the year in most parts of the country.
5) We have written a good amount about the late-bloomer issue with elite youth sports. Moody said Shoot 360 can be an antidote — and also help keep participation rates up.
"It takes athletes who maybe haven’t developed physically yet and allows them to better compete because they can make up for it with skill," he said. "Our competition system in the U.S. is great, but it kind of pushes out kids at a younger age who haven’t developed as much. We talk about kids getting their skill level high and then their physicality starts to come. It’s amazing the amount of progression you can get with the right kind of reps and feedback."
💰 PCA Lands Major Grant Toward Programming
Positive Coaching Alliance will receive a $10M grant from Lilly Endowment over the next five years.
The funds will be used to enhance and expand PCA’s national programming with a focus on its character development initiatives.
Strengthening national infrastructure
New strategies to reach traditionally access-challenged areas
Revised programming based on updated research and knowledge
Digital engagement with coaches and parents
Investment in PCA’s certified trainers
The programs will reach over 1.5M kids, according to PCA.
🏒 Helios Closes $2.2M Seed Round
The hockey wearable company will look to scale after securing investments from Hall of Famer Ron Francis, Stadia Ventures and others, according to SBJ.
Helios’ main offering is a sensor that attaches to an athlete’s shoulder pads and tracks on-ice metrics. It does not require GPS or other technology to be present in an arena to operate.
The tech launched with a youth hockey focus but has gradually climbed the ladder and is used at the junior, college and pro levels; the U.S. women’s national team also uses it.
Helios has at least two current NHLers involved — SBJ reported the Utah Mammoth’s Alex Kerfoot participated in the seed round and the company announced a collaboration with Matthew Knies of the the Toronto Maple Leafs in June.
🏈 NFL’s Next Big Flag Football Move
The Shield plans to start pro leagues for men and women before the sport’s Olympic debut at the Los Angeles Games in 2028, commissioner Roger Goodell said last week at a conference in London.
“The demand is there. We’re seeing colleges in the states and universities internationally also that want to make [flag football] a part of their program. If you set that structure up where there’s youth leagues, going into high school, into college and then professional, I think you can develop a system of scale. That’s an important infrastructure that we need to create.” -- NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell
The NFL has been all-in on flag amid its explosive growth at the youth level, especially with female athletes.
The news also comes a few weeks after Tom Brady and other current and former stars were attached to the Fanatics Flag Football Classic next year in Saudi Arabia.
⚽️ Another MLS Academy First
San Diego FC has opened the league’s first residential academy as part of the Right to Dream organization.
Right to Dream is an international soccer developmental platform with academies in Egypt, Denmark and Ghana; San Diego FC owner Mohamed Mansour is also the RTD chairman.
San Diego FC Academy athletes — boys and girls — will receive five-year scholarships regardless of performance. It will also be able to cross the border and bring in talent from the Tijuana, Mexico, region.
The Chicago Fire recently became the first academy to make three-year commitments to all new U13 players.
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