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The College Conversation: Club sports another way to keep playing

July 31, 2010|By Lisa McLaughlin

There are athletes who've been playing ball, swimming laps, slamming, digging, paddling and attacking for years. As they enter high school, they dream of playing in college or even going pro.

But the reality is that most athletes won't make the cut past high school. They'll begin to see the obvious differences between their height, weight and strength, and that of their peers, and become fully aware that their chances of being recruited are dramatically shrinking.

While they are feeling dismayed about their ability to play in college, more confusion is caused by the lack of honest answers from their high school's coaching staff. It's only on that rare occasion that clients tell me about their coaches having advised them honestly about their chances of recruitment. Instead of blowing smoke, coaches should at least help athletes explore the vast options available in college, where athletes can continue playing their sports outside of the realm of the NCAA.

Club sports and those in the National Intramural Recreational Sports Assn. (NIRSA) offer the opportunity for your child to play competitively against other colleges. And these teams are nothing like your high school's intramural program. They train hard and travel miles to compete against other colleges in their league.

Some club teams are even better than low-level NCAA varsity programs. The NIRSA offers competitive intercollegiate athletics in basketball, tennis, volleyball, flag football, golf and soccer. The main requirements for participation include being enrolled part-time and no involvement on the school's varsity team. The Collegiate Water Polo Assn. offers something similar, as do other sports.

But, let's say your child doesn't want to maintain any level of competition. I imagine, on some level, that he or she still wants to continue participating in his or her sport. You've got to help them explore the other recreational opportunities on college campuses. If he or she swims, make sure the college has a pool. Or encourage participation in alternative sports like rugby, ultimate Frisbee, or even inner tube water polo.

The truth is most high school athletes will never get the chance to play at the NCAA level, regardless of the division. Recent data show that about 3% of male basketball players go on to play NCAA hoops.

There are more than 30,000 high school water polo players and less than 2,000 playing in the NCAA.

Let's not keep this a secret to our young athletes. Let's help them remember the main reasons behind their love of sport.

It feels good to sweat. And it does a body good to stay in shape.

The rush of adrenaline during competition is invigorating. Whether they win or lose, being exposed to competition is good for them socially.

The camaraderie is downright fun and playing on a school team promotes a consistent connection and feeling of sisterhood or brotherhood. Even a tough loss brings a team closer together.

The endorphins aren't so bad either. They're a necessary chemical for relieving the stress of a tough class or bad breakup. What a great boost to keep your kid feeling good when something gets them down.

I love seeing students' faces light up when they hear they have options. It's nice to know they can still play in college — it just might look a little different.NJCAA Region III Awards

As part of its continuing commitment to two-year college athletic teams, My Sports has linked up with NJCAA Region III leaders to help recognize year-end achievement on four levels.

Beginning with the 2010-11 academic year, My Sports Dreams will sponsor four annual awards: Male and Female Athletes of the Year, Athletic Director of the Year and Sportsman of the Year.

Wholly contained within New York State, Region III is one of 24 subdivisions of NJCAA athletics. The region, which has 26 member schools divided among three conferences, officially sanctions 15 intercollegiate sports for both men and women – accounting for nearly 300 athletic programs in total.

While the sponsorship is a new venture for both the Region and the New York-based fundraising company, they are quite familiar with one another already.

“Many of our schools – including my own – have worked with My Sports Dreams and understand both the value and professionalism of their system,” said NJCAA Region III Director Mick McDaniel, who also serves as Athletic Director and Women’s Soccer Head Coach for member school Tompkins Cortland Community College. “My Sports Dreams has real understanding of the collegiate market and they have demonstrated success and commitment to helping our athletes achieve their goals.”

“We understand the importance of two year colleges in this country, and want to be a part of supporting them in every way,” added Tom Hess, Vice President of Sales at My Sports Dreams.

High school sports running on empty

Fewer coaches. Reduced travel. Pay to play. Budget cuts push school districts to find new ways to keep kids in the game.

By BILL KING  Sports Business Journal

Jim Quatromoni was raised in Hull, Mass., a tiny beach town 20 miles south of Boston, where he played on the same high school basketball team that he now coaches.

He remembers the way his stomach turned flips when, in the summer before his junior year in 1989, he heard that the town had pulled its funding of school sports. The local booster club — eight or nine sets of parents, really — raised enough money to keep the programs afloat that year.

So it was that Quatromoni, who is also Hull’s athletic director, was quick to come up with a plan last year when the town axed all $265,000 from the high school athletic budget.

He mobilized the booster club and the students. He cut costs. A few weeks into the school year, he raised more than $6,000 in sponsorships competing in a triathlon; this less than four months after surgery to resurface a hip.

Again, Hull saved sports. The football team upset its nearby rival. The boys soccer team made its first state tournament appearance. With not a penny of public funding, Hull fielded a full complement of sports, serving 223 student athletes, which was four more than the year prior.

“I thought it would be one year,” Quatromoni said. “We’ll do this and people will come to their senses. Times will get a little better and we’ll get it fixed.

“It was a tough night when it didn’t go through.”

On May 17, the voters of Hull rejected athletic funding yet again, denying an override that would have delivered $182,513 of the $286,127 the sports programs would take to operate this school year.

And so Quatromoni, the boosters and the students are at it again, parking cars, collecting tolls at the beach, selling squares for a “meadow muffin” raffle, and, yes, running another triathlon, trying to repeat their work of a year ago.

“What I’m afraid of is that people who weren’t in the trenches started feeling like it was business as usual around here,” Quatromoni said. “But it wasn’t and it isn’t. None of us feel we should have to be doing this. But we understand that if we don’t do it, bad things are going to happen.”

It is a sentiment voiced at schools in every corner of the country, a concern shared by urban, suburban and rural, in communities both blue collar and white collar. Long an expectation of students and parents, a high school athletic program no longer is a given — or at least a free one isn’t.

Schools in at least 43 states will charge students who choose to play sports a participation fee this year, with costs typically ranging from $100 to $150 per sport. Most offer discounts to those who play multiple sports and set a cap for families, but some don’t.

With tax rolls shrinking and school budgets bleeding, many of the nation’s harder hit districts have given athletic administrators a choice:

Find a new way to fund your program or watch it go away.

Cause for concern

Up2Us, a New York-based advocacy group that serves as a unifying voice for youth sports organizations, estimates that the nation’s high schools cut at least $2 billion in funding for athletics in 2008-09. While that figure is based on a small and select sample, the researcher who signed off on it, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, assistant professor Brian Greenwood, says he now believes it has grown to “10 times more than that.”

In a position paper it began circulating among legislators and other decision-makers late last week — co-signed by Nike, among others — Up2Us presented an overview of what it described as the state of youth sports. In it, the group laid out four goals: To aggregate evidence that linked sports programs to positive behavior; to document the decline of opportunities; to contrast the benefits of youth sports with the risk of their reduction; and to suggest ways to forward youth sports on the national agenda.

“It’s a looming crisis that hasn’t gotten much attention nationally,” said Paul Caccamo, executive director of Up2Us, “probably because we’re not used to worrying about whether our kids will have a chance to play.”

Caccamo is quick to stress that this is not an issue for athletes and their parents alone. Sporting goods manufacturers rely on an active society to buy sneakers, balls and bats. The pro sports world relies on high school programs as an early feeder system for talent and, more importantly, a breeding ground for fans.

“It impacts our fan base,” said Peter O’Reilly, vice president of fan strategy and marketing for the NFL. “We have a strategic imperative of getting kids connected to the game at a young age. We know the correlation of kids playing the game and then becoming fans of the game. When you start to cut into the access to play sports and to play football, the prospect of that impacts our fan base over the long haul.”

The NFL Youth Football Fund, provided jointly by the league and the NFLPA, last year distributed about $5.2 million in grants to youth organizations and high schools across the country, with more than half of that going to build and refurbish fields. The league estimates it put about $15 million into youth sports and physical education last year — for example, a $1.8 million grant to provide fitness assessments at 1,120 schools in the 32 NFL markets.

Two weeks ago in Canton, Ohio, the NFL convened a youth and high school football summit, bringing together more than 100 coaches from 50 states. Before the meetings, organizers asked coaches to provide hot topics to explore.

“Economic concerns are high on their list,” said Alexia Gallagher, director of NFL Charities and the NFL Youth Football Fund. “We want to find out from them, on the ground, what’s happening related to budget cuts. … We’re always working to evaluate our programs to see how we can make them better and fit with the changing times.”

All the major U.S. sports properties can point to charitable endeavors that benefit youth sports. Many donate millions. While those grants help in pockets of need, Caccamo argues that they would be more effective if they were linked.

“Now is the time we have to get together and say, if we want to see this continue, we need to take on a coordinated plan,” Caccamo said. “What I see are a lot of piecemeal plans. NFL Play 60. NBA Cares. MLB has RBI. Everyone has programs. But we need to coordinate around a set of goals.

“Nike, a tremendous supporter of ours, can worry later about whether they’re a Nike player or an Adidas player. Let’s right now worry about if they play.”

Pay up or don’t play

When the director of athletics for the 72 high schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District learned that she had to cut $1.4 million from her budget, she ran some quick math and determined that it would mean axing about 700 coaches from 600 teams.

“I didn’t want to accept it at first because I realized what a huge hit it would be,” Barbara Fiege said. “We just couldn’t create any more efficiencies and I knew it would start affecting the kids.”

Fiege shared the information with a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, whose story ignited support from the sports community in Southern California. The next day, she heard from Anita DeFrantz, president of the LA84 Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to serving youth sports. DeFrantz told her the foundation typically did not work with school districts but would do so in this case, providing a grant of $252,600 and encouraging others to join in.

Through additional contributions from the Dodgers, Chivas USA, Nike, Easton and others, the Los Angeles school district was able to avert coaching cuts, keeping all sports alive for its 35,000 student athletes.

There were other reductions, though. The district slashed $650,000 in funding for athletic transportation, which came on top of $335,000 in cuts to that area last year. So even with a full complement of coaches, Los Angeles schools faced another dilemma. They no longer had the money to bus teams to their events.

As a result, the district is asking parents to contribute $24 per child for the year — a voluntary donation, not a fee — to cover the cost of ferrying teams to games.

“We had no recourse but to ask for contributions from the athletes’ families,” said Fiege, who operates in a district in which 77 percent of students receive free or reduced-price lunch. “We understand there will be some that will not be able to do that based on circumstances. So we’re highly recommending schools do some fundraising to come up with that. Because if they cannot, then we would have no recourse but to eliminate some games on the schedule.”

It’s a dilemma facing many schools in tightly pinched districts. They have been able to save coaches, and as a result save teams, but the cost of transportation — typically about $300 per event in Los Angeles, for example — has been problematic.

The most common approach toward cuts has been a logical one: Play less often and stay closer to home. Schools have shortened schedules. Teams are sharing buses. Some state associations have changed rules so that schools need not travel as far to play district or conference games.

Even after those cuts, many districts have found the only way to continue to offer sports has been to charge a participation fee.

Opponents, such as Up2Us, say participation fees stunt participation, pointing to an expected drop of 10 percent for every $100 charged. But tracking by the National Federation of State High School Associations shows participation has remained steady nationally, even as fees have become more common.

“What we’re hearing from our membership is that they don’t feel like it’s having a real negative impact,” said Bob Gardner, executive director of the NFHS. “It’s something no one likes to do. But when you look at the budget deficits, it’s something that can raise quite a bit of money.”

The state that has been most diligent about monitoring the impact of pay to play is Michigan, where the state high school athletic association has been surveying athletic directors about participation fees since 2003. It was Michigan that first circulated what has been an often regurgitated prediction that athletic participation would drop as fees were implemented.

In its most recent survey, the MHSAA found that 221 of 475 schools that responded (47 percent) charged participation fees in 2009-10, a slight increase over the 43 percent that reported charging fees two years ago. Thirty-two percent of those that did not charge fees said they were considering adopting them this year. Only 14 percent of those who charged fees said they saw a drop in participation as a result of it.

High school athletic administrators suggest two reasons that the shift toward pay to play hasn’t scared off athletes:

* Most schools and districts that charge participation fees offer waivers for students based on need. Typically, those who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch pay no fee or a reduced fee for athletics.

* Many parents are accustomed to paying for their children’s athletic endeavors from the time they put on their first soccer, tee-ball or basketball uniform, so paying for the privilege at school doesn’t seem so foreign, especially since for many the cost is far less.

“We’re not in favor of pay to play,” said Bruce Whitehead, executive director of the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association. “But we understand why it’s starting to happen. It’s another means to solve the financial problem.

“The danger with pay to play is, obviously, that student athletes who don’t have the financial resources at home that others do might not be able to participate. Nobody wants that.”

At the core of Up2Us’ message is an economic sequence that argues that in the long term, it will cost the nation more to cut school sports than to fund them. It argues that cutting, or charging for, school sports will lead to higher dropout rates, more teen pregnancies and increased teen violence, all of which will lead to higher societal costs.

“It’s the only way the schools can see to keep their doors open,” said Shellie Pfohl, executive director of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness, Sports and Nutrition. “The consequence of this is that the kids that we really need to reach are not going to have the resources to participate. We’ll keep a lot of kids. But we’re really going to see over time a huge negative fallout because the kids that are at most risk for health-related issues — not to mention all the social negatives of school dropout and teen pregnancy and violence — are the kids that are now going to be left out of the equation.”

Pfohl, who was appointed in February, brought a background of pairing government with nonprofits and the private sector to promote health education. She said the president’s council can play a similar role for school athletic programs. For example, it could encourage joint-use agreements between stressed districts and parks and recreation departments, as some communities have embraced. It also can put resources behind spreading the message.

“We have to help people understand the medium and long-term ramifications of cutting these kinds of programs,” Pfohl said. “Those have to be weighed.”

Stepping up

Quatromoni thinks back to the steps Hull took to save sports a year ago and groans at the prospect of repeating them.

The first step was to institute participation fees: $200 for the first sport, $150 for the second and $100 for the third, with an individual student cap of $525 and a family cap of $975. Football and hockey players paid a $75 surcharge because their sports cost more to run. The fees generated $54,165.

Hull also placed an admission fee on all events for the first time after decades of asking for donations at the gate. That generated $26,490.

Replacing paid scorekeepers, timers and other support staff with volunteers saved the school about $14,000. Cutting schedules by as much as 20 percent in some sports, consolidating transportation when possible and delaying some equipment purchases brought the savings to about $33,000.

Much of that seems repeatable.

But the prospect of repeating the Herculean task of fundraising is daunting. The booster club raised $82,486 last year. Other donors added $29,515.

“It’s a tireless group of parents we have here,” Quatromoni said. “But I don’t blame them if they’re getting tired. None of this is a recipe for sustainability. But what do we want to do? Stop?

“My wife will kill me for uttering this, but I keep wondering how can I not do this? How can I not chase this down? This isn’t exactly what you sign up for when you get into this world of athletic administration. But these kids have been fighting for us on these fields for so many years, I don’t know how we can walk away from that.

“It’s time for us to fight for them.”

National Junior College Athletic Association

The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), the governing body of intercollegiate athletics for two-year colleges, has named My Sports Dreams as its “Preferred Fundraising Partner.” The NJCAA, whose mission is to foster a national program of athletic participation in an environment that supports equitable opportunities consistent with the educational objectives of member colleges, will be recommending that all member schools and teams explore working relationships with the company heading into the 2010-11 academic year.

“It is no secret that our country is battling tremendous economic challenges. The unique position of two year colleges in our educational system – institutions which seek to maintain exceptionally low tuition rates and maximum acceptances for students – means they are especially vulnerable to reductions in public funding. Working with organizations like My Sports Dreams is one of the ways we believe we can quickly and creatively fill funding gaps for the teams at our member institutions,” said NJCAA Executive Director, Mary Ellen Leicht.

“The opportunity to partner with the NJCAA is a milestone achievement for our company. We’re also hoping it will be a breakthrough for athletics in two-year colleges, where budgets are under unprecedented stress,” said Tom Hess, Vice President of Sales at My Sports Dreams. “These institutions are critical to the economic vitality of our country. They promote socio-economic mobility and frequently provide access to higher education for student populations that are not served by four year colleges.”

National Coach Survey

My Sports Dreams is proud to announce their sponsorship of the National Coach Survey. National Coach Survey is a research organization that aims to be an advocate for the interests of coaches nationwide, and is fostered on the belief that coaches are extremely important positive influences in the development of our nation’s youth. Their site, NationalCoachSurvey.org, is updated with weekly surveys that anonymously collect information about numerous issues unique to the world of coaching. As polls are tabulated, public advisories will be distributed to both the media and Athletic Directors nationwide and posted on the site as well.

“Our research shows that coaches are important influencers in the decisions young people make on and off the field,” said John Kelly, Publisher of NationalCoachSurvey.org. “However, they rarely get the credit they deserve. We aim to change that by promoting their interests and goals while spotlighting just how important they really are.” In addition to the surveys, NationalCoachSurvey.org aims to help coaches in all facets of their job – potentially including partnership with companies that can provide discounts on travel, equipment, or other sports-related services to coaches who participate.

“We deal with coaches every day, and know that they are truly unsung heroes,” said Jordan Kern, Co-Founder of My Sports Dreams. “National Coach Survey will be a valuable asset to their cause, and we’re proud to sponsor that effort.”

Anaconda Sports

Anaconda Sports, one of the nation’s leading providers of branded athletic supplies to sports teams, has partnered with My Sports Dreams to make the best athletic equipment, gear and uniforms more affordable for thousands of college, high school and travel teams across the country.

"This is a marriage of industry leaders looking to make an immediate and significant impact on thousands of coaches and tens of thousands of athletes," said Greg Fall, Director of Marketing at Anaconda Sports. "The economic challenges our country has gone through the last few years have devastated team budgets at every level of competition. Rather than surrender to circumstances, we're fighting back by aligning ourselves with My Sports Dreams because they can help teams restore money cut from budgets that will be spent on essential supplies."

"We are thrilled to be working closely with Anaconda. Their reach is national and their brand is among the elite names in the business," said Jordan Kern, Co-Founder and Partner at My Sports Dreams."

Triple Crown Sports

My Sports Dreams is proud to announce that they have reached an agreement to become the official fundraising partner of Triple Crown Sports. Since its establishment in 1982, Triple Crown Sports has become the premier grassroots sports event marketing organization in the country.

Under their umbrella, Triple Crown affiliates and franchisees organize and facilitate some of the biggest and most prestigious amateur tournaments in softball, baseball and basketball - offering the teams involved chances to play for regional, national and world championships. Now, they have come together with My Sports Dreams to help their member organizations raise money for gear, equipment, travel and tournament fees and other expenses.

"Independent baseball, softball and basketball programs provide athletes with great opportunities beyond just their school teams, but often have a harder time renewing their resources," said Triple Crown founder Dave King. "Working with My Sports Dreams, we can help those teams and players who want to be part of the Triple Crown family cash in those opportunities."

"Triple Crown's tournaments are an important building block for both developing and recreational athletes, and we're proud to be a part of such an influential family," added MSD Vice President of Marketing Jordan Kern.

Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference

My Sports Dreams is proud to team up with the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference that will help conference members raise significant sums of money for operating expenses. Organized in 1923, the Jayhawk Conference is one of the NJCAA’s most prolific. Its 19 member institutions have won more than 100 National Championships in 12 different sports, and hundreds of former Jayhawk athletes have gone pro in their respective sports.

“The KJCCC is the home of some of the best competition at the junior college level, but like most small schools, our members have been hit hard by the state of the economy,” said KJCCC Commissioner Bryce Roderick. “We feel that My Sports Dreams will help our programs continue to run at a high level and make our conference one of the best in the nation.”

Collegiate Development Football League

My Sports Dreams is proud to announce a partnership agreement with the fledgling Collegiate Development Football League. The CDFL, which fielded four teams in its inaugural 2009 season, is an organized football league designed to provide a “second chance” opportunity for serious and committed post-high school aged football players.

“Our league gives college hopefuls a chance to gain exposure so they can play at the next level,” CDFL Director George St. Lawrence said.

“Helping athletes take their game to the highest level is the central core of our mission,” said Jordan Kern, Co-Founder and Vice President of Marketing at My Sports Dreams, “and we’re proud to be working with the CDFL, an organization that provides that opportunity for football players to continue both their academic and athletic careers.”

Women’s Blue Chip Basketball League

My Sports Dreams and the Women’s Blue-Chip Basketball League will be working together to help the young league assist its franchises in attracting capital for operating expenses. In operation since 2005, the Texas-based WBCBL has 58 teams throughout the United States and Ontario, and its rosters include former collegiate stars, WNBA and NWBL alumnae, and top international imports. The league’s mission is to give highly-competitive basketball players the opportunity to extend their careers and gain exposure to professional and overseas scouts.

“We’re excited to be working with one of the leaders in the sports fundraising industry,” said Willie McCray, President and Founder of the Women’s Blue-Chip Basketball League. “In six years we’ve grown from a handful of teams in the South to nearly five dozen across the country. We believe that My Sports Dreams can help all of our athletes continue to thrive and hopefully take their games to the next level.”

Velocity Sports Performance

My Sports Dreams and Velocity Sports Performance have partnered together to make the very best training seminars more affordable for youth, high school and collegiate athletes across the country.Velocity Sports Performance's program helps athletes train like professionals to develop speed, power and agility, while My Sports Dreams provides fundraising solutions to teams seeking to generate thousands of dollars.

"We are excited about our partnership with Velocity Sports Performance, and look forward to helping teams raise the money they need to take part in VSP's wonderful programs," said MSD Partnership Director Ross Tillman.

Sports at the Beach

My Sports Dreams and Sports at the Beach have partnered together to make Sports at the Beach’s unique baseball experience more affordable for youth athletes across the country. Based near Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, Sports at the Beach is 95-acre complex that hosts thousands of travel baseball teams every summer for camps, clinics and week-long “Summer Classic” tournaments.

“For young athletes, the travel tournament experience can be very rewarding, and we’re proud to offer a program that allows teams to battle elite competition in a beautiful atmosphere,” said Bobbi Brooks, Tournament Director at Sports at the Beach. “We’re confident that our partnership with My Sports Dreams will help a wider base of athletes be able to take advantage of that opportunity.”

TeamPages.com

My Sports Dreams is proud to announce a partnership agreement with Team Pages that will help bring thousands of athletes into the digital age. Teampages.com offers professional website development and management services to youth sports teams and leagues, and their services currently allow more than 25,000 teams to post rosters, schedules, photos, videos, and team communication online.

“It’s still unbelievable to some organizations just how important having a web presence truly is,” said Derek Story, Director at TeamPages . “We’re confident that our partnership with My Sports Dreams will help thousands of teams tap into that market and usher in a new age of communication.”

BigSigns.com

My Sports Dreams is proud to announce that they have reached an agreement to make BigSigns.com one of its preferred partners. My Sports Dreams selected BigSigns.com as their partner to provide stadium graphics, windscreens, ground and wall decals, championship banners, media backdrops as well as other signage to help high schools and colleges upgrade and beautify their facilities, brand their programs, improve recruiting, generate sponsorship revenue and present a first class image to their fans, alumni and opposing teams.

“We look forward to being able to recommend My Sports Dreams to our prospective clients, many of whom are feeling the budget crunch and may not currently have the funding available to pursue improvement projects for their stadiums, fields, courts and/or gyms,” said Corey Leonard, President of BigSigns.com.

Fitzilla Sports

My Sports Dreams is proud to announce a partnership agreement with Fitzilla Sports that will help make a revolutionary training tool more affordable for thousands of athletes. Fitzilla Sports manufactures the Fitzilla Core Exercise Sled, a weight sled designed to provide ultimate functional core training in a short amount of time. It allows athletes – alone or in tandem – to perform multiple exercises and achieve a full body workout, with emphasis on the core region.

“We’re very excited to work with My Sports Dreams, and we’re confident that our partnership will help thousands of athletes bring their training to a whole new level,” said Tom McColley, Owner of Fitzilla Sports.

Kansas Association of Basketball Coaches

The KABC represents coaches at more than 300 high schools in the state of Kansas and hosts an annual coaches clinic for its members.

“More than 100 current or former Major League Baseball players have come from the state of Kansas,” said Nick Spirito, Kansas Sales Manager for My Sports Dreams. “By teaming up with the KABC, we can help many more future Major Leaguers acquire the resources to reach their goals as well.”

New York State HS Hockey Coaches Association

Founded in 1996, the NYSHSHCA represents over 200 coaches at more than 60 schools in the Empire State. Their mission is to service all aspects of New York State High School Hockey, from hosting clinics to assisting with state championships and rankings to maintaining the Hall of Fame.

“Hockey is a burgeoning varsity sport in the state of New York, especially here in our own backyard of Weschester County,” said Jordan Kern, My Sports Dreams’ co-owner and VP of Marketing. “It’s an expensive sport as it is, and the current state of the economy doesn’t help that. Our partnership is a great opportunity for the NYSHSHCA’s members to keep their programs running at a high level.”

Section 6 Runs

Section 6 Runs is a great resource for high school cross country and track and field athletes in Western New York. While not officially affiliated with the schools, Section6Runs.com promotes the local scene by advertising clinics, spotlighting runners and reporting on meets within the district.

“Track and cross country are often seen as ‘lesser attractive’ sports, even at the high school level, so their budgets are often smaller,” said Tom Hess, VP of Sales for My Sports Dreams. “By working with Section 6 Runs, we can help those athletes in western New York excel despite that stigma.”

Louisiana Track & Field Coaches Association

Since 1985, the LTFCA has served more than one thousand track and cross country coaches in the Pelican State as a liaison to the Louisiana High School Athletic Association. The organization has lobbied for rule changes and event additions, hosts an annual coaching clinic and recognizes outstanding athletic and academic performances.

“With money tight in school systems throughout Louisiana, My Sports Dreams can really help our athletes attend more meets and purchase the equipment and gear they need to excel,” said LTFCA Media Relations Director Paul Garvey.

Illinois Basketball Coaches Association

The IBCA works with basketball coaches at every level, from youth to high school to college. The organization provides clinics, job placement services, camps and other resources to its thousands of members.

“Working with the IBCA, we can not only help coaches at multiple levels, bu