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Hello, and welcome to the Shift podcast show powered by
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Strategic Collaboration Network. I am Justin Cohene, your host for
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the segment, and today we have Eric Stevens, franchise owner
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of I nine Sports.
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Nice to meet you.
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So, why don't you tell us a little bit about
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nine Sports?
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Yeah?
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So, I nine Sports is a local youth sports league.
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We serve kids from three to seventeen years old, different
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variety of sports, all throughout Frederick and Carroll Counties in Maryland.
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We are our goal is to help kids succeed in
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life through sports. So we want to help kids really
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fall in love with sports, enjoy the game, get a
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lot from it, want to come back and play again.
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As a sports fan myself growing up playing all kinds
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of sports, I think that is quite admirable. So, based
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on my research, you spent fifteen years leading a public
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safety team on Maryland State highways, which is about as
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far from from running a youth sports franchise as it gets.
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So I'm wondering what was the moment you decided to
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make that leap and what did that transition look like?
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Yeah, great question, and actually currently still serving in that
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capacity as well. So kind of doing a dual role here,
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but so that that capacity, I lead a big team.
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I have about thirty team members on that side in
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that business as well, about the same of my online
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sports team. And I feel that people management is something
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that I'm great at and then I enjoy doing kind
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of So that's that's where that began. That began as
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a job, any old job that I hoped would turn
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into a career, which it did and was fantastic, but
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it didn't didn't really fulfill the need that I had
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to kind of give back to my community, work with kids,
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do something that I loved, was really passionate about, and
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I kind of just happened into the I nine Sports franchise.
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My my daughter was turning three years old and was
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of age to get into her first, you know, experience
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with youth sports, and we looked around for I nine
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Sports because we had previous experience with it in a
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different town where we lived and really enjoyed it, so
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we wanted to put her in that program.
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Specifically, we were pretty new to Frederick.
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County, Maryland at the time, and we looked around and
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found that there was no IN nine Sports franchise here
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and in Frederick County actually didn't even know it was
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a franchise, just knew that it wasn't here in Frederick
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County or kind of disappointed. But the more we looked around,
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we found that it was a franchise and it was
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fairly you know, decent is in terms of a buy in,
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you know, it wasn't was it ridiculous buy in to
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kind of get started with the franchise. And my wife
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and I both grew up in sports and sports and
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kind of looked at each other and thought, you know,
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could we do is this something we could do as
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like a side job?
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You know, could we could we do that? You know?
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And would it be fun? Would we enjoy it?
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And you know, we talked it over and we went
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through some some meetings of course, and and uh, you know,
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we we went all in. And here we are five
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years later, and we've had a blast of it.
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I'm sure everything has paid off as well as you
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could hope it has. So I see, I nine is
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a fun first no tryouts, no riding the bench kind
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of league. I want to ask you how did that
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philosophy line up with what you'd already seen and believed
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from your past coaching at AAU level sports.
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Yeah, so pretty different.
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Uh. And I've and I've coached all levels right from AAU,
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high school stuff, lots of rec stuff, you know. And
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I'm not a huge fan of AAU and travel sports,
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and I'm a huge fan of competitive sports, but at
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Load full transcript
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the right age and at the right time, I think,
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in kids' lives, right, so I think, you know, I'm
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pushing I'm in my forties, right. So growing up, I
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was a basketball guy, basketball kid, and if you played AAU,
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you were absolutely elite. Uh and you belonged typically in
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that realm. And nowadays they're slapping that name on just
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about every league, and you're seeing rec level athletic kids
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and teams pay thousands of dollars to travel cross states
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and and uh kind of you know, their parents are
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playing paying hundreds of dollars just to get in to
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watch them, you know. And and I think it's become
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a little bit ridiculous in my in my opinion. And uh,
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and I'm a huge fan of, especially at the young age,
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doing rec level sports or local travel competitive sports that
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that don't come with a high price tag, but come
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with teaching the kids a love for the game, educating
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them and just not being a money first league, right,
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so I known is very different from that, and that's
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what I love about it. I love being an experience
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that can be a first for many kids just to
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help them harness a love for the game, because if
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their first experience doesn't go well and it's overly competitive
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for a five year old kid who's never touched a
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field or never touched a ball, it could turn them
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off for the rest of their life. And and that
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would be extremely unfortunate, you know, for a kid who
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just didn't know any better and just having into the
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wrong league or the wrong coaches hands and was put
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in a bad predicament. So I love being a league
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where kids can come of all skill levels. And don't
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get me wrong, it's not all first homors. We get
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some really competitive kids in there, and we actually have
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some divisions that will label as competitive for those who want,
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you know, more competition or a higher level of competition.
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And it's very inclusive and I love that about it.
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I really do agree with your take on really the
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pressure that kids and really parents sometimes might feel if
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they're dumping so much money into these sports that they're
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seeing their children play. I think that can certainly lead
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to more negatives and positives. I think that can genuinely
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ruin how the kid sees the sport and if they
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even want to play the sport anymore. So I was wondering,
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there's a big difference between being a great coach, because
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it certainly sounds like you are, and running a business.
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So I'm asking, what's the prise you the most about
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the ownership side of things and what skills have transferred
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better than you might have expected.
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Yeah, that's a good question.
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So the coaching aspect that absolutely love, that's the easy part.
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The stuff that surprised me or that I wasn't prepared
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for is just so random. I turned into a weather
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man over the night, which I wasn't prepared for. So
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every day of the week, I'm checking the weather and
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I'm trying to determine is this okay for a three
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year old to be out there playing t ball? Is
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this okay for any you know, light rain? You know,
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this is okay for soccer, This is okay for football,
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but we can't play out or basketball, you know, And
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so the weather, you know, the NonStop worrying and checking
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of the weather is probably the biggest thing I didn't
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account for. And one thing that I probably did account
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for but not quite as drastic, is just the the
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the feedback from the parents being just so all over
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the place, and sometimes it's you know, you have to
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be able to accept that everybody won't be totally pleased.
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But if the majority of the feedback you're getting as positive,
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then you're probably heading in the right direction. But there's
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always going to be one parent that thinks it's not
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competitive enough, and one parent that thinks it's too
competitive,
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and one parent that thinks you shouldn't have played in
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ninety five degree weather, and another parent that thinks you
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shouldn't have canceled in light rain. You know, it's, you know,
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so that kind of stuff.
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Yeah, I know, it's hard to make a bunch of
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people happy. So I can understand how it might not
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be easy for you, especially maybe when you were first
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starting those kinds of task. I'm sure you just wanted
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to make as many people happy as possible.
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Absolutely.
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Yeah, So I understand that you were involved with the
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Harlem Wizards events and you we're raising over thirty k
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year for local nonprofits through a single annual event. I
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think that's super impressive. I'm wondering how that partnership came
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together and what you might have learned about using sports
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as a fundraising vehicle.
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Yeah, I appreciate that. Yeah.
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So one of our biggest things before our first league
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ever started, as the you know, we initially started up
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our business, we started a nonprofit at the exact same
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time because we knew that there were going to be
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some kids that wanted to get involved in our youth
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sports franchise that wouldn't be able to afford it, and
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we wanted to be able to help.
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As many families as possible, So.
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We started a nonprofit and all we do is raise
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funds for that nonprofit. We don't ask any of the
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parents to contribute to this because that's not part of
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our mission. But we raise funds for this and we
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pay for as many kids as we can to get
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involved in youth sports throughout our community. So we were
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raising you know, a couple thousand a year through donating
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all of our proceeds from our concession stand that we
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run at our games. My mom is the person that
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runs all the concessions and she volunteers their time and
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it's fantastic. So we donate all of our funds there,
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but then we had formed a partnership with the Harlem
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Wizards to host one annual event that would just be
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an awesome, fun event in the community that we could
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then carry more funds over to that nonprofit and put
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more kids in sports who couldn't afford it. So that
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we got involved and we had something like fifteen different
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schools involved, local politicians and former athletes and Principles would
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come play on Team Frederick against the Harlem Wizards. We'd
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have an amazing night, and then we'd be able to
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raise you know, close to a little over thirty thousand
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dollars each year, which we shared with other local nonprofits
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like the Boys and Girls Club and City Matrix so
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that they could continue on their missions as well.
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I think what you're doing for the community is absolutely brilliant.
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So public safety work does have pretty clear metrics, such
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as response times, outcomes, incident reports. I think youth development
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is certainly a lot harder to measure, So I'm wondering,
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how do you know when you're actually making a difference.
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Yeah, that's a good question, right, So.
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Definitely harder to measure, but you know, being so being
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on site is one, right you can always be on
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site for everything. But if you are, it's pretty clear
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from the reactions the look on the kids' faces, the
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enjoyment is there. Right, you can see it in their faces.
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You can see that the You know, it's not just
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about the kids either, it's about the parents, right, So
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we want the kids to have a great experience, but
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if the parents don't share that sentiment, they're not going
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to sign the kids up again. Right, So we have
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to cater to both the child and the parents, and
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there's different ways that we can do that.
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Right.
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So, catering to the child is simple. It's making it fun,
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it's making it easy. It's making them enjoy being out
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there as well as gain something from being out there,
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like gain the knowledge of the sport. So they want
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to come back. Right, If it's only about gaining knowledge
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and they don't have any fun with it, they're not
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going to want to come back. But if they only
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have fun and they don't gain any knowledge on the sport,
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the parents might think it was too childish or not,
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you know, not good enough for what they pay for. Right,
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So you got to hit both metrics. But then from
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the parents side, the more we can make it convenient
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for them, the better and the more that they'll want
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to come back. That's the way we see it, and
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that's the way we operate our U Sports franchise. So
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convenience and youth sports doesn't typically go in the same sentence, right,
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So most parents think youth sports is everything but convenient
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because they're running all over town for games and practices
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and they've got different kids in different sports, so it's
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very complicated on their work life balance, their schedules, their
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their jobs, the kids schooling.
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YadA YadA.
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So what we have been able to accomplish we our
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franchise is set up so our practices are right before
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our games on game day, so there are no weekday
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practices right the games, right practice right before the game
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on Saturdays, typically on Saturdays, unless it's volleyball, then we're
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midweek stuff. But having the practice in the game on
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the same day makes the sport much more convenient for
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the parents because now it's just one day a week
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as opposed to you know, several days a week. And
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then on top of that, most of our locations that
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are outdoors for fall and spring seasons, summer a little
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bit as well. We'll host multiple sports at the same
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venue at the same time. So we'll have football, soccer,
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t ball all set up at one location. So if
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you have numerous kids
playing numerous different sports, you can
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come one stop shop on low location practice games.
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All the same day.
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You could have three different kids playing three different sports,
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get it all in and one day and still have
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your weekdays to cook home cooked meals, do homework, et
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cetera during the week.
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So that's a great answer. I think that you and
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the team you work with has made it just about
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as convenient as humanly possible to make sure as many
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people are satisfied. So I do have one final question
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for you. For someone who was a passion for community
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work and is thinking about the Innine sports franchise model
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as a way to act on it, what do you
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wish you had known before signing on? Oh?
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Sorry, I say that one more time.
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So for someone who has a passion for community work
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and is thinking about the Innine sports franchise model as
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a way to act on it, what do you wish
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you had known before you had signed on to nine.
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Well, that's a good question.
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I'd say there's not a ton I think we figured
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it out a lot along the way, and I think
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I think we had to. I think we learned a
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lot by figuring it out on our own, and it's
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going to be different for everyone. I would say one
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thing that when new potential owners reach out to me
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and ask the same question, one thing I tell them
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that I'm glad we did is keep our.
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Day jobs in the meantime.
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Right that for that first couple of years of of
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most businesses is a bit of a struggle, right. It
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is a full time, you know, career, It is a
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full time job, but that income piece is tough those
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first couple of years, right, So you have to you
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have to kind of you gotta love it, and you
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got to have some income coming from somewhere.
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Right.
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But aside from that, I think that you you got
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to research your community. You got to see what the
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needs are in your community, figure out where you can
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best serve, figure out where the gaps are and how
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you can how you can help fill those gaps. And
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that's that's probably the thing we've been best at.
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I think.
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I think that's great knowledge for anyone who's listening, if
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they are interested in something like this, I would one
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hundred percent be listening to everything Eric is saying. And Eric,
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I just want to thank you for your time. I mean,
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you had some amazing insight today and seriously, everything that
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you said was valuable and I would just like to
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say thanks for everyone that tuned into the shift. For
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more information about Strategic Collaboration Network, go to the website
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www dot strategiccnetwork dot com. Thank you for your time, Eric,
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Thanks Justin.
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I appreciate it. I have a good one.
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Thank you you too.