FEATURE STORIES
PROSPECT DUGOUT
Y
outh sports is a multibillion dollar industry: one that many parents simply cannot afford. Between equipment, team membership fees, showcases, private training lessons and tournaments, thousands of dollars are being spent on young athletes. Families skip out on vacations to travel for weekend tournaments. Kids miss out on birthday parties and outings with friends to attend sports practices and games.With over 60 million participants, youth sports has become an incredibly large and competitive industry. The motivation for many players is being recruited to play college-level sports, and with that, receiving high-ticket scholarships, as well as the opportunity to one day play professionally. NCAA schools give $3 billion in scholarships,
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(left to right) Craig Maddox, Nick Swisher and Joel Hartman
Craig Maddox speaking at a 2020 Prospect Dugout event
and only 2 percent of high school athletes go on to play at the highest level of college athletics. These statistics show just how competitive and selective college athletic teams are. CRAIG MADDOX ’07 and JOEL HARTMAN ’06 know what it’s like to start out as a student-athlete with dreams of one day playing professional baseball. Coming from the professional leagues to help young athletes in the junior leagues, Craig and Joel saw a need within the baseball community and filled that need with Prospect Dugout. Their goal is to give tools, exposure and resources to young athletes who want to take their skills to the next level, whether that is playing college or professional baseball. “Our background in baseball helped us to identify the need in the market and
we did independent research online to learn social media strategy. Having a partnership with someone who really picks up where your weaknesses are has been so beneficial to Joel and me,” said Craig. Craig and Joel both played baseball for the SEU Fire. Craig was one of the first Southeastern baseball players to land a professional contract after college, and Joel played professionally as well. The two reconnected at a Southeastern alumni baseball game which led to the founding of Prospect Dugout. Craig and Joel saw that many young athletes lack exposure because they cannot afford to attend expensive tournaments and showcases. As a solution, they founded Prospect Dugout, a free online space featuring young talent. Craig and Joel built the
platform to reach mass amounts of people quickly.Their posts reach over one million people each month, giving widespread exposure to the highlighted players. “We have maintained the account for four years, and we have reached over 320,000 followers now. Our activity and engagement rates are off the charts,” said Craig. Athletes of any age or skill level can send photos and videos to Prospect Dugout in hopes of being featured on their Instagram page. Many college coaches and recruiters follow the page, as well as some professional athletes. In the beginning of 2020, former New York Yankees player Nick Swisher reached out to Prospect Dugout to team up with their work in helping young athletes achieve success. In March of 2020, the
three began their partnership with a live virtual call-in show. The partnership has grown as Swisher has become an active participant in Prospect Dugout, interacting with players and working as a business partner with Craig and Joel. Prospect Dugout is an online community network where players can create a profile to interact with fellow players, as well as upload their own contact and be discovered by college programs across the country. Craig and Joel launched their first version of the Prospect Dugout app in 2018, amassing over 20,000 downloads on iOS. In the summer of 2021, they are releasing an updated Prospect Dugout app with more forward-thinking integrations relevant to the current social media climate, along with an Android version.
The main feature of the Prospect Dugout app is its Player Database featuring an advanced search function where coaches and scouts can find specific players to recruit based on position, skill level, location and more. The app also includes rankings, game and showcase stat records, a social news feed called the Dugout, messaging and a Prospect Planner for college coaches/scouts. Players can upload their game schedules to make sure recruiters know which events to attend and where to find them on the field. They aim to keep their services affordable in order to give every athlete the opportunity to be a part of their community and have access to their resources. “Essentially, the player’s Prospect Dugout profile becomes an online resume to send to coaches and recruiters,” said Craig.
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