Articles
How I work: Chad Smith, Pendleton Heights High School, Pendleton IN
Pendleton Heights High School, in Pendleton Indiana, had an outstanding 2019. They were one of VNN’s top schools and earned an “A” on their 2019 Report Card. Athletic Director Chad Smith sat down with us last spring to talk about his school, what led him to his current role as AD, and how they’re using VNN to improve their athletic department and community.
Tell us about yourself.
I’m in the middle of my 4th year as the athletic director at Pendleton Heights High School. I graduated from Pendleton Heights in 1999 and earned a degree from Indiana State University in 2003. I started my career in education immediately after graduation from ISU. I held multiple positions within our school corporation for 13 years before becoming the assistant AD in 2015. After serving in that position for one year, I was promoted to my current position. At home, I have a very understanding wife that tolerates the demands of my job. We also have two children ages 11 and 4.
What made you want to be an athletic director?
I have always been involved in athletics. Being a high school athlete has shaped the person I am today. I was a football coach for 13 years and knew the impact that I had made with our football players. This job was never the plan but when the opportunity came about, I felt like it was the right thing to do because I would have the opportunity to help more than football players become better people. Now I get to help over 300 athletes be better young men and young women.
What are some of the biggest challenges in your job?
There are so many challenges in this job. One of the biggest challenges is trying to mold all of our coaches, athletes, and parents into believing in a single vision and philosophy. We have a single philosophy in terms that it is important that we share athletes and it is always WE before ME at Pendleton Heights. We also have a singular vision in terms of strength and conditioning. We believe in training the whole athlete and not just specializing in a particular sport. We have also adopted the motto “We Are One” and it has really taken off. We Are One has made it a priority to support the members of our community just as they support us in competition.
How do you communicate effectively with your coaches and teams?
We use multiple ways to communicate such as email and social media. The most common is by using VNN. This gives us the ability to contact everyone all at the same time and virtually immediately. By using VNN we are able to update everyone on schedule changes, opponent changes, time changes, etc.
What do you find special about Pendleton Heights and your athletic department?
Pendleton Heights is a special place. This is where I first learned how to be a young man. My coaches and teachers did a great job of giving me the tools to be successful. We have a history of not having a lot of turnover in our teacher staff and coaching staff because this is a great place to work. It is special to me to think that I now get to impact a young adult in the same way that my teachers and coaches did when I was a student.
You guys have done a great job aligning with VNN’s mission, connecting communities through sport. Why do you think that is?
Being an athletic director has so many demands. I always laugh when someone asks, “What does an AD do all day?” VNN helps make the job of the athletic director easier by making things involving website and communication technology as easy as possible. Even someone with limited technology experience like myself is able to run an athletic website because of VNN’s ability to make the process simple.
How have BoxOut Sports and RallyAroundUs improved your programs?
We have had a few teams use RallyAroundUs for fundraising needs. They had a great amount of success with little to no work. They literally made a short video and supplied some contacts and let the system work. We are going to encourage more teams to start using RallyAroundUs.
Anything else that you want to share with us?
I have the best job in the world but it is very demanding. I appreciate anything such as VNN that helps me do my job better.
Special thanks to Chad Smith for taking the time to answer some questions. Look for more of these “How I Work” articles in the future.
VNN and Philadelphia League launch partnership
MINNEAPOLIS, MN – VNN, America’s largest and fastest-growing high school sports communication platform, has announced a partnership with the Philadelphia Public League, the interscholastic athletic league for public high schools in the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The deal launches a new official online home for the League on VNN’s SportsHub platform. It also debuts collaborative automation features between the league and its 73 member schools.
Across Pennsylvania, the VNN marketing platform has made promoting high school sports easy for athletic directors regardless of their school’s size. With current partners that include perennial state title contenders Upper St. Clair, Aliquippa and Penn-Trafford, the agreement with the PPL extends VNN’s network to 14% of the state’s high schools. It also introduces “power” conference features to a new website for the organization that launched on August 1.
The features, which include automated schedules, scores and standings, will be populated through administrative tasks that athletic directors already do every day on their localized VNN platform. This ultimately creates a vertically-integrated, engaging and accurate home for the league online.
As part of the partnership, each member school will receive a collegiate-style website, team coordination app, fundraising tools, media score reporter and scheduling via the league’s long-time partner Arbiter. They will also receive their choice of other digital services including live scores, spirit shops, video, collegiate-style game graphics and an online ticketing box office.
The agreement streamlines planning and promotion tasks across Philadelphia Public League member schools, saving time for local administrators and connecting communities closer to their high school sports more than ever before.
“With the Philadelphia Public League celebrating its 100th birthday this year, the kind of adaptability, collaborative spirit and out-of-the box thinking baked into all levels of the organization is something you can see clearly with this initiative,” said VNN CEO Rick Ehrman. “The board and PPL leadership are setting the pace for conferences across the country and we couldn’t be more excited to have the honor to help them kick off year 101 with a project that not only saves time for member schools, but shines a light on all the great things young athletes in Philadelphia are doing.”
“The Philadelphia Public League is very excited about our partnership with VNN,” said Michael P. Donahue, the Vice President of League Operations. “It will serve as a valuable tool for our coaches and athletic administrators across our great city, but more importantly it will provide a platform from which our student-athletes can showcase their skills and be recognized for their accomplishments. As our league enters our 100th year, we will continue to seek out partnerships, such as the one with VNN, in order to provide our student-athletes with the experience they deserve.”
For more information about VNN and to schedule a demo of the platform, visit vnnsports.net, or contact VNN’s local state representative Chris Heibert at cheibert@vnnsports.net.
About VNN:
VNN is America’s largest and fastest growing high school sports communication platform. As the exclusive partner of over 15% of all U.S. high school athletic communities, VNN connects the high school sports experience onto a single platform for 19 million passionate parents, athletes, fans, software providers and athletic administrators.
Who is the most impactful high school athletic department in the nation? The 2020 VNN National Championship is coming.
It’s Friday night at your hometown football game. Hundreds of fans pack the bleachers, erupting when your team takes the field. Chants and cheers echo through the stadium. You can feel the adrenaline buzzing in the air as the announcer lists off the starters.
It’s easy to feel the sense of community at a game where fans show up, rain or shine, and support their team. But what about the rest of the time? Is there a way to measure that excitement?
We talk a lot on this blog about how VNN products help high schools rally parents, athletes and fans around their local sports programs online, but beyond what our software does, it also gives our team a unique point of view into 2,500 local communities across the country.
It’s with that in mind that today we’re announcing the 2020 VNN National Championship – a title that we’ll be awarding next month to the school that objectively had the best, most engaged, excited, deeply connected community across the VNN Network during the 2019-2020 school year.
So, how does someone win? A strong sports community comes down to four factors:
- Community interest
- Community engagement
- Coaches involvement
- Relationships and development
For every category, we’ll put numbers to them, apply them across the network, and create an algorithm using weighted averages that shows us the most impactful athletic departments to their local community. The criteria includes things like content popularity, number of coaches involved, student body engagement, all while controlling for things like enrollment to ensure that our smaller schools get an equal shot at the top prize as the big ones. The best part? This past year, our schools didn’t even know we were measuring them – making this inaugural campaign perhaps the purest of all the calculations we’ll do.
Our team is in the process of crunching final numbers but once we have the results, VNN will be presenting several awards that commemorate the work from August 2019 through July 2020 (2019-20 school year):
- 1 National Championship
- 4 Regional Championships
- State Titles (1 per VNN State)
Each winner will take home a trophy to proudly display at their school. Stay tuned for final results.
How to raise $10,000 before your sport season even begins
Every coach knows the importance of a good fundraiser. It can ensure your team gets to play in the latest tournament, or practice with up-to-date equipment.
While traditional fundraisers like bake sales and car washes have served schools well for years, they can also be time-consuming and inconvenient. Online fundraising is a cost-effective, easy alternative that allows athletes to reach more supporters.
In fact, several VNN schools raised thousands of dollars this past month using RallyAroundUs, a digital fundraising platform for athletics. The process is simple. Teams create a video explaining why they’re seeking donations and send it directly to their friends and family. The video is shared automatically to the team’s athletics website, and can be synced to its social media accounts. Fans can then donate online or pass along the video to other supporters.
Through RallyAroundUs, the top five teams raised a combined $34,731 in August:
- Fremont Wolves Boys Golf raised $5,370.
- Greenfield-Central Cougars Boys Soccer raised $5,590.
- Greenfield-Central Cougars Girls Soccer raised $6,055.
- Northmont Thunderbolts Cheerleading raised $8,265.
- Centennial Hawks Boys Basketball raised the most with $9,451.
The Centennial Hawks posted a team video, two articles and Q&A about their fundraiser to encourage donations. A late donation in September helped them land their goal of $10,000 – before their season even began. According to the team’s donation page, these funds will help them buy new practice jerseys and workout equipment.
As some teams wrap up their fundraising efforts, others have just begun. Many VNN schools launched fundraising campaigns in September. In just over a week, a few teams are standing out:
- Northmont Thunderbolts Football has raised $7,861.
- Easley Green Wave Volleyball has raised $3,375.
- Michigan City Wolves Volleyball has raised $2,575.
Interested in learning more about fundraising for your team? Schedule a demo with RallyAroundUs here.
Introducing Rapid Replay, video for your VNN website
Soon, there will be a new way for VNN schools to show off their favorite touchdowns, goals and dunks.
VNN is partnering with Rapid Replay, a free video service, to bring video players to our platforms. Schools can share game highlights, athlete interviews, historical footage and more.
How does it work?
The concept is simple. Fans use the Rapid Replay app to capture and upload videos at sporting events, then Rapid Replay and VNN do the leg work to sync the videos to schools’ athletics sites. Not only does this make your site more engaging, but it also allows fans who missed the game to watch highlights.
To give you an idea of what’s in store, here are a few of our favorite videos that were captured with the Rapid Replay app over the past few years. Take a look:
Slam dunk at the Rainier Beach vs. O’Dea boys basketball game (Dec. 2018).
Ali Gerbracht pins her opponent to become a state wrestling champ (Jan. 2019).
Game-winning shot at a Franklin Central High School boys basketball game (Feb. 2019).
A beautiful set and spike at a Tomball High School volleyball game (Aug. 2018)
Jesuit baseball catcher tags a runner at home for the third out (July 2018).
A nice chip-in eagle at a Scripps Ranch High School girls golf match (Aug. 2018).
Interested in learning more about Rapid Replay before the launch? Get started with Rapid Replay here.
VNN Summer Bash: Results and recap
Last weekend, nearly 300 students from 76 high schools across the country logged online to compete in VNN’s Summer Bash esports tournament with AVGL.
This free, two-day competition allowed athletes to win gear, grants, and glory for their schools – all while getting on the radar for college esport scholarships.
Day 1: Fortnite
The tournament kicked off Saturday afternoon with 123 teams participating in Fortnite duos. Teammates vJawnn and YoZann from East River High School (FL) scored a whopping 91 points to earn a first-place victory.
Teams from Bradford Preparatory School (NC) and Timber Creek High School (TX) scored 76 and 75 points, respectively, to claim a close second and third place. MVP went to player dkmango from Bradford Prep, who finished the day with 34 eliminations.
Day 2: Rocket League
On Sunday, 17 teams participated in a 3v3 Rocket League tournament. In a close championship match, team Reboot Esports knocked out team Panda Express 1-0.
Panda Express claimed second place while team Perspective Esports snagged third. With a killer ceiling shot against team The Homies, player Remade of Reboot Esports earned the title of MVP.
Overall, this two-day competitive tournament gained plenty of hype and over 50,000 streams.
Grant winners
After the event, AVGL gave $2,500 worth of gaming gear to the top placers while VNN awarded grants to the schools with the most sign-ups. With 88 registrations, Timber Creek High School (TX) won $2,000 for its athletic department.
Sam Mizener, Virtual Manager of Timber Creek athletics, was excited to hear the news. He’d promoted the event on the school’s athletics website and social media, but was still surprised to learn that they won. The event had over 400 views on their site – clearly giving students the reminder they needed to sign-up.
In second place, Pomona High School (CA) earned $1,000 with 38 athletes signing up. Last but not least, Beloit Memorial High School (WI) received $500 with 13 sign-ups.
Next up: VNN’s support of esports will continue with our sponsorship of Intel Inspires, a three-day esports recruiting event. We’re excited to join TikTok, NickEh30, High School Esports League and more in partnering with AVGL for this exciting event.
VNN schools receive over $360,000 in payback
Last week, VNN awarded $361,321 to high schools across the country through its revenue-sharing program. Carmel High School (IN) was the top earner, receiving $7,536 in its first year with VNN.
“That was definitely more than twice of what we expected to come back,” said Jim Inskeep, athletic director at Carmel High School. “It was a nice, pleasant surprise in these uncertain economic times.”
Each year, VNN pays a portion of its earnings back to schools that make it possible. The amount is based on local advertisements and site traffic. The more advertisements and traffic that a VNN site has, the more money the school can earn.
Finding advertisers
Rallying community support was no issue for Carmel. As a single-school community with 5,400 students in grades 9-12, Inskeep said Carmel High School is “the hub of all activity in so many ways.”
“We have a lot of local businesses that want to partner with us and give back, but we’ve struggled to find ways for community partners to get involved with our athletic program,” Inskeep said.
VNN provided an easy way for community businesses to advertise while supporting athletics, he said.
Driving traffic
Since locating advertisers, Carmel’s athletic staff has worked hard to keep fans visiting their athletics site.
“We do so much day-to-day on our [linked] Twitter account and our coaches are posting all contest results to our website,” Inskeep said. Coaches also have their own logins to upload team stories and photos, which has been a huge asset, according to Inskeep.
“We found it to be an awesome tool for coaches to create and post their own content rather than passing it off,” he said.
Regularly posting content, as well as having strong community support, has clearly paid off for Carmel.
“Right now, we are in such a conservative spending mode not knowing what attendance may look like so … this type of unexpected payback is something that helps,” Inskeep said.
Interested in joining VNN and learning more about the payback program? Schedule a demo today at vnnsports.net/schedule-demo.
What's the best wearable for high school sports teams?
When COVID-19 took over in March of 2020 and forced millions of Americans into their homes, many took the extra time in their abodes to look at ways to improve themselves. Some read books or listened to podcasts. Others spend extra time on Zoom or Google Meet with their families. Many more just tried to adjust to the new normal of working from home while millions of students joined them under the same roof.
Another way that people have improved their lives in the last seven months is further exploration of their health, including the use of new wearable technology to break down performance on a variety of levels.
Enter WHOOP and Oura Ring, two companies who have taken over wearable technology with personalized performance insights on the human body.
Below, we looked over both products in order for you to decide which one would work best for you.
WHOOP:
Directly from their website, WHOOP is a wrist-worn heart rate monitor that tracks health data, including your body’s recovery, respiratory rate, and activities 24/7 to help you optimize your well-being. WHOOP is membership based, advertising for as low as $30. The membership currently comes with the WHOOP Strap 3.0, the newest band that is engineered for a high-performance lifestyle. The strap’s 5-day battery life allows users to wear the band 24 hours a day, diving into the consumer’s body recovery, strain and sleep patterns.
The biggest draw at first glance is the WHOOP app on your mobile device which acts as a sleep coach, a strain coach, and allows you to journal so that the app can help set new goals for you the following day, week or month. The app is set to show you ways to recover faster, train smarter, sleep better and monitor your trends.
Another huge benefit of the being a member of the WHOOP family is the sense of community that has grown among the members. Those with an active membership can join and create teams with friends and family while also friending like-minded fitness enthusiasts. You may also create custom teams based on your activities, interests and training groups, among other factors. For the competitive users, there is a leaderboard to see how you compare to other WHOOP members and to help you stay motivated.
Founder & CEO Will Ahmed is a former D1 athlete at Harvard, playing on the Varsity Squash Team as a captain. What he realized is how hard he would train and work but never knew what kind of gains he was making besides getting on a scale. He figured that athletes can—and should—be able to track their improvements and that success shouldn’t be random as he felt many times it was when he was at Harvard.
Whoops seems like a great product for many, especially for those who don’t want to break the bank. The community aspect will appeal to many customers as well and the design of the band looks comfy without drawing too many eyes to it. It can be worn during any occasion and gives the in-depth analysis that many are looking for in a wearable band.
High School Use: While budgets might look a little different in 2020 than they did in 2019, WHOOP is a cheap enough option that high school teams or athletic departments as a whole could experiment with them without breaking the bank. Coaches could use these devices as a way to keep student-athletes more accountable with their sleep, and their resting patterns. The team could set goals as individuals as well as team goals each week and coaches could examine these results from their student-athletes to gauge if they are pushing their athletes too much, not enough, or just right. While practices and games in the fall won’t look the same from coast-to-coast, this potential extra time gives teams around the nation a chance to really dive into something new like WHOOP.
Oura Ring:
It’s hard not to notice the National Basketball Association (NBA) logo on the top of the Oura Ring website when you click into it. Right there in the top left corner sits the famous blue and red logo, along with a statement about how Oura Ring is helping the NBA players, coaches and other staff members get back to playing basketball.
Oura Ring’s big push besides a huge sponsor like the NBA is their drive to help their customers get better sleep. The company pushes back on the “you can sleep when you’re dead” statement that many of us have been known to say and have paragraphs upon paragraphs on their website dedicated to the importance of sleep. They breakdown how many people can actually function on six hours, and what’s the importance of sleep not only on the body but on the brain. The company also does a fantastic job at breaking down specific things you miss out on if you don’t get enough sleep each night. The Oura Ring breaks down your bedtime, deep sleep, latency, REM sleep, sleep efficiency, sleep score, sleep stages, time in bed, total sleep time and total wake-up time. While it feels like a lot, it’s broken down nicely for you and allows you to react quickly to any potential changes you might want to make (less caffeine at night, etc.).
A couple other things an Oura Ring will track for you when you aren’t asleep is your body temperature, heart rate variability and resting heart rate. The temperature monitor—especially during the COVID-19 Pandemic—is what drew the NBA to select and work with Oura Ring. Players, coaches, and anyone inside “the bubble” in Florida can have their temperature monitored at all times, allowing them to have further knowledge on if they have come in contact with the virus. Oura Ring also tracks many everyday functions like activity score, inactive time, steps, calories burned and activity goal completion.
With an app for the Apple App Store and Google Play, anyone with a smartphone can utilize the technology the Oura Band has to offer. For iPhone users, Oura Band also works seamlessly with Apple Health to further connect you with your mobile device in all aspects of health.
Oura Rings are available in three colors and two different styles with every color and style priced out at $299 USD. There is an opportunity to get fitted for your Oura Ring on the website with tips on what finger you should wear it on and what size you should purchase. The rings look very similar to a traditional ring and many would never know that you even have it on. With that style and discreet look, you can wear Oura Ring anywhere and everywhere to get the best tricks and tips for your health in 2020 and beyond.
High School Use: Like WHOOP—and beyond in some senses—Oura Rings are really focused on the importance of sleep. While sleep is important for any high school student, the Oura Rings could really bring light to how much our 14-18 year old population is lacking sleep and furthermore how it is affecting their lives in school and on the field, court, ice or any other playing surface. The team that would purchase the Oura Rings would have to get used to wearing rings as opposed to a potential band but Oura Ring has made them feel so discreet, it hardly feels like it’s there at all.
“The Pick:” While both products seem to have a lot to offer WHOOP makes the most sense for the high school demographic. Besides the lower starting price, WHOOP bands are easy to wear, has a long battery life, and just fits more overall to a high school student-athlete of any kind. The journal feature could be great for coaches and teams as a topic of discussion daily, weekly or bi-weekly and the sleek design is just an added bonus. With many student-athletes having that competitive drive, the WHOOP community features would allow for teams to set up challenges and face off against each other. Coaches, student managers, and others involved with the team could join the challenges as well, building a culture unlike any other. When it comes to where you should go for your team’s next wearable technology….WHOOP (there) it is!
How Herriman did it: Planning successful home games during COVID-19
On August 13, all eyes were on Herriman High School (UT) as they hosted Davis for the nation’s first high school football game of 2020. Any other year, organizing the first football game in the country would be nothing short of exciting – but in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, Herriman faced unique challenges.
As one of the state’s largest 6A schools, it was crucial that Herriman made the game as safe as possible. They needed to adapt new rules and regulations. And while they’d been preparing for fall sports since spring, they only received confirmation that the football season would happen in July.
So, how’d they pull it off? Here are a few key ways that Herriman ensured the game was safe and successful:
Establishing expectations: First and foremost, Herriman kept its community informed prior to the game. They posted schedules, safety information and news updates to their social media accounts and official athletics website, hhsmustangathletics.org. As the game approached, Herriman kept fans up to date with safety regulations and ticketing information.
By frequently communicating with the community, school leaders and coaches were able to establish expectations surrounding the game.
Using digital ticketing: To enforce social distancing, the stadium was sold at only 25% capacity. The home team was allotted 700 tickets, while the visitors were given 300 tickets. All fans were spaced out and required to wear masks.
Brad Tingey, athletic director at Herriman, said players, coaches and cheerleaders’ families were prioritized and offered tickets first. The remaining 150-200 home tickets opened up for general sale online to reduce contact at the game.
With just a few clicks, fans were able to navigate to the school’s athletic site and buy tickets ahead of Thursday’s game. All tickets were purchased digitally through HomeTown Ticketing, a free and secure online ticketing company. The assigned seating provided an easy way to contact trace if necessary.
Tickets sold out within an hour.
“Sincerely, the online ticketing was crucial to us pulling it off,” Tingey said. “I have no idea how we would’ve done it without the online capabilities that we had.”
Engaging as many fans as possible: With limited seating, it was important for Herriman to reach fans in creative ways. This past spring, the school decided to move all football games to Thursdays so a local TV station could broadcast them. This season opener gained twice as many views as last season – 14,000 households tuned in and another 5,000 devices streamed it.
While broadcasting isn’t always an option, there are other ways to involve fans at home. Live tweeting updates, writing recap stories, and posting photo and video highlights can keep fans engaged from a distance. Herriman used Box Out Sports, a sports graphics platform with ready-made templates and designs, to keep their site updated with compelling graphics.
“It looks really nice and professional,” Tingey said. “And it’s very easy to use.”
Now that Tingey has seen the benefits of selling tickets and engaging with the community online, he doesn’t think the athletic department will ever go back to its old ways. In fact, they’ve already discussed utilizing digital capabilities during the basketball season.
“Even after the pandemic and the crisis is over, we’re planning on continuing online,” Tingey said. “It’s the new normal for us.”
Interested in getting your school ready for the new normal? Schedule a demo of VNN’s cutting-edge communications technology, request digital tickets for your school’s website, or watch our workshop on YouTube for more information.
VNN acquires WPA Network
MINNEAPOLIS, MN, JULY 2020- VNN, America’s largest and fastest growing high school sports communication platform has acquired Washington Prep Athletics Network (WPA Network), the Lynden, WA-based software company and largest provider of comprehensive data management tools for High School Athletic Directors in the state.
The deal connects thirty-five leagues and 85% of Washington’s High Schools to the VNN network.
VNN’s acquisition of WPA combines two major players of resource planning, communication and content creation software in the high school sports industry. Together the two will leverage each other’s skills in product development, fundraising, conference management and game scoring to create a new fully-integrated package of digital necessities for athletic departments, ultimately saving administrators time and creating revenue-generating opportunities for all parties involved. Combined, the companies represent a consortium of technology-minded athletic administrators across forty states.
“The openness, excitement, and sense of membership that WPA’s technology has brought to local communities in Washington is exactly the kind of partnership we aim to build with high school athletic departments all across the US,” said VNN CEO Rick Ehrman. “The digitization of athletics is helping schools and their administrators save time, promote their programs, and make school sports more fun, affordable, and accessible for everyone involved. Through acquisitions like WPA and expanding our platform, we plan to lead the market in making this a reality for all schools.”
“The focus of WPA network has always been to provide tools to Athletic Directors that make their jobs easier and improve the quality and timeliness of the information that they provide to their parents and communities. VNN is a like-minded company that provides similar services on a national scale. The acquisition by VNN is exciting because it will strengthen WPA Network and broaden the tools and services that we can offer to Washington Athletic Directors”, said Mark Martin, Founder and CEO of WPA.
The acquisition, VNN’s 2nd in the past six months after fundraising company RallyAroundUs, continues the company’s consolidation of compatible businesses and brands to Connect Community Through Sport. Notable partnerships include the “Stimulus Plan for High School Sports” with Chipotle, “Project Five” with former Minnesota Viking Chad Greenway and Twin Cities Orthopedics, HomeTown Ticketing, 8to18, BoxOut Sports, Arbiter, and the company’s revenue sharing program which contributes $350k yearly on average to VNN network schools.
About VNN
VNN is America’s largest and fastest growing high school sports communication platform. As the exclusive partner of over 10% of all US high school athletic communities, VNN connects the high school sports experience onto a single platform for 19-million passionate parents, athletes, fans, software providers, and athletic professionals across the country.
About Washington Prep Athletics Network
WPA Network has been the dominant provider of high school athletic websites and league scheduling and collaboration tools in Washington State for thirteen years currently serving 35 leagues, 350 high schools, and reaching over 95% of high school athletes and families in the State of Washington.
How to make $22,000 for your team in the middle of a pandemic
The story:
When Lance Schneider was hired by Miamisburg High School in March 2019 to lead the Varsity Football program, there was no shortage of excitement in the community. The Vikings, who play in Ohio’s GWOC (Greater Western Ohio Conference) went 3-7 in 2019, but with Schneider’s impressive 107-63 record over the 16 years prior leading the way, were hopeful that 2020 would mark the first steps to title contention.
The next step in the Schneider era was set to kickoff against Xenia High School August 14, but this offseason, community members have enjoyed a front-row seat to his new brand of leadership through the use of online fundraising, which has earned the team $22,000 without a single in-person meeting in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.
So how’d he do it?
The digital-first approach, which embraced social distancing guidance to its advantage, started with a team video created through photos and highlight reels from past Viking seasons and a purpose statement. The two were then distributed out to the community via digital fundraising app RallyAroundUs with contacts submitted from athletes, and promoted on the school’s official athletics website, miamisburgathletics.com.
Since its launch in mid-June, the resulting campaign has helped the team raise $22,000 in just under a month and reached not just local connections in the Greater Dayton area, but also family members and fans outside the community who are often unable to participate in local fundraising efforts.
With single donations ranging from $5 to $2,500 from 300 supporters, it notches a highly-visible early win for Schneider in 2020, who has now established himself to the Viking faithful before his first snap on the sidelines this year; clearing a major obstacle securing new equipment and demonstrating how his mind can turn challenges his team may face into winning strategies going forward on the field.
“With the COVID pandemic, we felt using an online fundraising platform was the best way to go. Using social media platforms proved to be a safe, easy method for us to get the message out about our fundraising needs,” said Coach Schneider. “This will certainly be an integral part of our fundraising efforts for years to come.”
Want to set up a fundraiser for your team? Schedule a demo here: https://www.vnnsports.net/schedule-a-fundraising-demo-with-rallyaroundus/
VNN named official website platform of the Georgia High School Association
MINNEAPOLIS, MN, June 2020 – VNN, America’s largest and fastest-growing high school sports communication platform, has announced a partnership with the Georgia High School Association, the governing body for Georgia high school athletics. The deal initiates a mutual dedication to bringing top technology to schools in the state through VNN’s communication platform, and marks the beginning of collaboration between the two organizations.
Since VNN’s first signings of Thomasville and Centennial High Schools in 2014, the company’s sports marketing platform has made promoting sports programs easy for athletic directors across Georgia. Now partnered with 26% of the state’s high schools, the package includes a collegiate-style website, team coordination app, fundraising tools, and media score reporter. Schools can then plug-in services that digitize their departments even more, including registration, scheduling, live scores, spirit shops, collegiate-style game graphics, video, and an online box office, which have all become ‘new necessities’ due to COVID-19 restrictions and uncertainty looking ahead. Taken together, VNN’s SportsHub platform helps streamline the administration and promotion tasks athletic departments do on a daily basis, saving them time and connecting local communities closer to their high school sports more than ever before.
“Looking across the 39 states we have partner schools in, Georgia is a model state for collaboration like this,” said VNN CEO Rick Ehrman. “Not only have we seen just how forward-thinking the athletic directors in the state are and the pride at their schools, but included in those communities are some of VNN’s most charitable, long-time sponsors including Northside Hospital and Life University, which together with local businesses have given back $150,000 directly to schools in the state through our revenue sharing programs to continue developing athletic programs. Considering the great high school athletics environment in Georgia, it is only natural to be working with the GHSA to promote events and continue building relationships to support high school sports.”
For more information about VNN and to schedule a demo of the platform, visit vnnsports.net/schedule-demo, or contact VNN’s local state representative Brandon Rogers at brogers@vnnsports.net.