Showcase U.
Athletic Recruiting is evolving. College coaches are limited in their resources. Parents are overwhelmed. Student-Athletes want more exposure.
ShowcaseU.com is a website with the resources, the community, and the connections. Read on as Chad Durbin shines the Prolebrity spotlight on his soon-to-be launched venture…
Almost three years have passed since one of my best friends, Jake Chapman, whom I played with in the Kansas City Royals minor league system from 1996-1999, told me about an amazing idea he had to bridge the gap in athletic recruiting. Jake started off by telling me about creating a database so that coaches can search by criteria to find the types of players they were most interested in recruiting. Height, speed, weight, velocity, GPA, SAT/ACT score, etc…if it is numeric, it can be searched for in a database, right?
Almost every conversation for the first several months was about how the website could leap into the current landscape, or current “webscape.” It was exciting, because the main purpose for all of these discussions was to help student-athletes, parents, and coaches interact and get in contact with each other. When minds are collaborating to find ways to better other people’s lives, good always comes from the action.
Now, let me tell you a quick story as to why Jake Chapman was so passionate about creating Showcase U (great name, by the way!). Jake told me the main reason for building a website like ours was because he and his family spent just shy of $1,000 on a recruiting specialist. He was going to get in touch with colleges, video Jake, all the great stuff parents and student-athletes want to see and hear from someone getting paid a significant amount of money to help with the process of gaining exposure to colleges. Here’s why Jake is so passionate. The man and his business of consulting families with the nuances of recruiting dissolved his company and kept the money Jake’s family paid for the service.
Jake’s mission? To create an affordable, legitimate company with ethics based from a deep sense of integrity. I couldn’t agree more with his mindset, that’s why I’m proud to say this site will make a difference because it is built through a deep passion for doing the right thing. I couldn’t help but think about Jake’s ability to turn such a bad experience into one that will make a long-term, positive, impact.
I’m going to try to give a quick overview of what the business is all about. Showcase U is an online resource and community designed for athletic recruiting. A website where student-athletes, parents, coaches, training facilities, trainers, instructors, admissions departments, equipment manufacturers, academic specialists, and other advocates can contact each other and interact. The resources there are meant to create a one-stop-shop for all people involved in the recruiting process. The student athletes will have profiles viewable by all members and searchable by coaches interested in finding the right fit for their programs. Each profile will have video capabilities, pictures, statistics, validation of statistics, and more.
The database of athletes will be searchable by criteria, meaning that coaches can search by vicinity, eligibility, velocity, and more. In addition, coaches will be able to set up email or text notifications, being contacted via text or email when a student athlete enters the database inside of the set limits created by each individual coach. Honestly, there’s so much more, but going on and on and on might be a little much because I’m so passionate and excited about it. I’ll leave the description where it is right there.
One of the first questions we are asked is, “Do you plan on any other sports?” Understandable question, believe me when I tell you we had the itch to try more than just baseball. We are starting with baseball because my current position in Major League Baseball and Jake’s seven years of professional experience gives us a bit of instant credibility. Combined, Jake and I have 20 years of professional baseball experience. Our contacts and expertise provide a tremendous platform for baseball. Once baseball has some of the major kinks ironed out, we plan to walk directly into building our softball database and content. Our logic being that baseball and softball have many similarities.
Scalability is a major focus of the company, because putting together the best possible service/product is our main focus. If we can build baseball and softball up to our high standards, introducing other sports is doable. Quality over quantity, right? Joel Welsh, Showcase U’s CEO, has provided wonderful guidance and direction during the period of time since being hired as a consultant in December and being named CEO on March 1st.
If there are any questions or interest, please contact me at chad@showcaseu.com or check out www.showcaseu.com for yourself! I’d appreciate any criticism or comments. Thanks!
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