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Here at Extra Inning Softball, we always love to learn about new technologies that are making the sport better on and off the field.
Like most of our readers, we’ve been at tournaments, showcases and other events where we’ve wanted to ID a team and/or its players and looked for the team flyer to do so.
It’s a great thing to have, but there are inherent problems with the printed flyer as one observant club coach noticed… and he did something about it.
Josh Canfield spent six years coaching Gametime 2024 Premier, a team that consistently finished in the Top 3 of almost all of the tournaments it played in, and wasn’t a fan of the “backstop flyer” system. A grad of Oklahoma State who runs a high school athletic fundraising business, Josh got together with TJ Williams an Oklahoma alum and computer programmer of over 20 years, to create a modern approach to the recruiting team and player profile system.
Putting aside their Bedlam Series rivalry (Cowboy vs. Sooner), the two created Recruiting Flyer which has rapidly taken off in the fastpitch world.
Here’s the story as told by Josh and how this genesis of an idea has turned into a reality…
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The idea behind Recruiting Flyer
In October of 2019, I was coaching a 14U traveling softball team and we were just getting accepted into some showcases.
Most all teams put together some sort of recruiting flyer for college coaches to grab whenever they come watch the girls play, and we were no different. We began putting ours together for future events we had entered during the fall of 2019 season and, as we began putting our flyer together, I got with a couple guys on our team and started talking about a way to make a flyer digital.
With the wind and rainstorms we have in our neck of the woods, the last thing I wanted was to print flyers that would blow away to the next county or get soaking wet and feel like a wet piece of bread!
I didn’t want to worry about making copies and about updating the flyer, it just seemed like way too much to worry about.
Most travel ball coaches are like I was with a full-time job on top of coaching; therefore, getting off work, making any updates on my team’s flyer and remembering to go make copies was just getting old and was sometimes the last thing on my mind.
On top of that; forgetting to get the folder on the backstop after the games became a regular practice for me.
“Didn’t want to be just another piece of paper”
The last thing we wanted for our team was to be just another piece of paper a college coach grabs.
I knew from working in sales that pieces of paper get lost and all of them look the same, especially in the bottom of a college coach’s backpack. If we wanted to serve our team well and benefit them to the best of our ability, we knew we had to make this flyer digital.
As we began developing this for our team it occurred to us this was something that could benefit way more people/teams than just ours.
We spent the next 16 months brain storming, expanding, developing, and visiting with college coaches to see if this was something that would help them.
Instantly we found out this is something that will help them keep track of and follow players/teams, make recruiting notes on their phone, and see the field location and times of games for teams.
From our research, we learned college coaches were also tired of carrying papers and keeping up with them.
Using the phone to ID teams & players
Therefore, we made this platform where college coaches can recruit at showcases from their phone.
It’s a simple system that allows college coach to:
- Make notes of players and teams on their phone and review later that evening in the hotel or a month down the road.
- Follow teams & players for quick access to who they are interested in.
- See the team’s schedule, game times, and location with a map of where teams are playing.
- See the entire team’s flyer by scanning a simple QR code.
Easy to use, cost-effective too
While developing Recruiting Flyer we had a couple things in mind: “How can we keep this as simple and user friendly as possible?” and “How can we make this as cost-effective as possible?”
In travel ball, I know expenses are something that add up very quickly. We feel like we have done both.
We created a platform that is simple for teams to create an account, add a team, add your roster, and add your full schedule (none of which has to be done in one setting and all can be done in just a few minutes).
We also have a support team ready to help and answer any questions you may have. Although, we are confident you won’t need much, if any, assistance.
Lastly, we created a platform that is affordable: for roughly just $8-10 per kid per YEAR!
That’s right, for $125 per team for the entire year you can have your own virtual Recruiting Flyer.
We have talked with tournament directors and college coaches and both believe this is the future of showcase tournaments.
Features & benefits
For numerous reasons—but simplicity’s sake being at the very top!—here are the benefits for each team that signs up:
- Digital Recruiting Flyer that college coaches are going to follow and make notes.
- Team schedule and map of where you are playing.
- NO MORE COPIES!
- Ability to make updates and changes day of tournament/showcase.
- Personalized Recruiting Flyer with QR code that you can hang on the fence for college coaches to scan/access.
Finally, anyone who signs up after reading this article can join for $100 annually ($25 off) before Aug. 15, 2021 when you use the discount code: XINNING
Here are the simple steps to creating your team’s Recruiting Flyer:
- Go to the website: recruitingflyer.com
- Create Account
- Create Team
- Apply Discount Code
- Add Team
- Update Roster and Schedule
Feel free to follow us on our website, Facebook and Twitter for updates and additional information:
- Website: Recruiting Flyer
- Twitter: @RecruitingFlyer
- Facebook: @RecruitingFlyer
Remember: anyone who signs up after reading this article can join for $100 instead of the regular price $125 when you use the discount code: XINNING.