When student athletes decide to take their game to the next level, their success isn’t entirely determined by skill alone. Equally important – but often overlooked – is the breadth and width of their network. Regardless of how talented a student may be, their chances of getting recruited by top colleges or professional leagues are slim to none if they don’t have the right contacts.
But Globasport, a UC Irvine startup and recent addition to UCI Beall Applied Innovation’s Wayfinder program, aims to help build aspiring professional and college athlete’s networks by connecting players, trainers and coaches on a sports-specific social platform.
“It’s ‘the LinkedIn of sports,’” said George Mansour, Globasport CEO and alumnus of the UCI Henry Samueli School of Engineering. “It’s everyone’s athletic profile in your hand; it’s your [sports] business card.”
Unlike other recruitment sites, such as Sports Recruits, which offers contact information for college coaches for a $30 to $50 monthly subscription, Globasport provides the same information free of charge. The coach database is set to release this month during the app’s relaunch, among other new features.
For players just looking to improve their performance, Globasport offers online programs that help users train at home. The app’s current training content is produced by the company itself; however, Globasport plans to feature programs by trainers who have amassed followings on other platforms like Instagram.
The app also lets users keep record of their best plays. For its relaunch, Globasport will release a new video tool that allows users to compile clips from their games into short highlight reels. Users can bookmark and save a player’s best moments with voice activation or an on-screen button. It’s Mansour’s hope that such a convenient, creative tool will draw more users to Globasport.
Because of his engineering background and lack of entrepreneurial experience, Mansour is grateful for the lessons he has learned from the Wayfinder program.
“It really changed my mind about how I look at building this business,” he said of the startup incubator. “A lot of times as an engineer you’re working … and perfecting a product, when in entrepreneurship, it’s not really about that. It’s about the consumer and really getting into their psychology and approaching each thing slowly.”
Globasport’s platform currently supports soccer for all ages, with plans to expand into other sports in the future.
“I just have this vision that we are able to incorporate it in [all] sports at all ages across the world,” Mansour said.
Learn more about the Wayfinder incubator.
*Main Graphic: Kate Wokowsky
Read the article on the UCI Beall Applied Innovation news blog.
Kaitlin Aquino 