- I am Coffy Louis and I'm from South Florida, and I have essentially been playing soccer all my life. Being from South Florida, a lot of the kids that I hung out with actually played soccer and I know that's something that can't be for everyone. The issues for a lot of us when it came to playing soccer were the expenses. There were kids who could afford them, and those who could not. I was one of the kids who could not afford traditional travel club expenses thus I was left playing for a minor club which had season fees around $90 not including transportation to games. I know the kind of developmental gap that this creates because at those lower level clubs, you do not receive any individually tailored training and the clubs themselves are run poorly; with coaches occasionally missing practice sessions because of their other responsibilities.
- Now that I know that clubs are already organized under specific national affiliates, there is not much need for my original idea of organizing local clubs under regional and national sponsors. My business' focus would have to be to go through individual clubs and assess their sponsorship needs. I also think that there still exists a possibility of creating sponsored tournaments that cover travel costs and give the players exposure. These tournaments would not need to be between teams under the same national affiliates but they can be.
- My business would still focus on (but not be exclusive to) non-academy type clubs located in low-income neighborhoods, but I feel like there should be no median family income restrictions; rather the clubs should be evaluated on a case by case basis. This is where I would then have to do further research on the costs of memberships to only include those whose annual fees (membership only, i.e. not including travel expenses, etc.) fall under $300. The list of clubs would also have to be narrowed down to those without a major sponsor (i.e. Walmart, Dick's, etc.) and who's coaches work a job unrelated to that which they perform at the club.
- I think the club managers genuinely care about their players' financial security and I know that they would welcome any help to alleviate the burden. I also think that introducing new sponsors that they may not have been aware of, or sponsors which can help them collaborate with other clubs is not only good news financially; but it can also work for the clubs in terms of increasing their brand awareness and get their name out there.
- I think I am very good at analyzing situation that I have been in and figuring out why things worked out the way they did, and how I can work to ensure that the next time I'm in that situation, it works out differently and hopefully better. If I could actually start this business, I think it would give me the opportunity to work out problem solving methods in the real world where it actually matters. Combined with my experience and innate knowledge of club soccer, I feel like I can make a real difference.
I think that all the aspects of my business idea work well together because none of them can really exist or work without the existence and incorporation of the others. The success of my idea also hinges on my ability to work with people and get them to see my perspective on certain things and why I'm doing them. I know that is a part of every business and it is something that I feel like I still need to work on if I want to be successful.
I removed the requirement that the clubs be situated in lower-income neighborhoods because of feedback suggesting that club participation barriers should be removed for everyone as a whole. But I still focused on smaller clubs because that is where I can make the most impact. Another piece of feedback I received concerned travel fees, and I think if I were to lower club expenses significantly, then they would be able to cover travel costs.
No comments:
Post a Comment