Dads will do anything to help their kids.
It was no different for Todd Young. His 16-year-old son loved basketball and played in a variety of leagues growing up. While attending these games, he noticed parents frequently complaining about their children's playing time, and wondering why certain kids played more than others.
Young didn’t know how good his son was, so he wanted to test him. The problem was, when Young tried to find drills that tested him as a shooter and an all-around player, he could not find anything.
Eventually, Young found inspiration from his son, as his son and his friends were collaborating to make basketball and other sports work via social media apps, while sharing different pieces of information with each other. Sensing an idea, Young began working on Ballogy, a standardized testing and analytics platform for sports.
As a basketball parent, Young saw Ballogy as a necessity. Parents complained at high quality tournaments that there were no measuring sticks, or ways to identify who the top players actually were at the conclusion of camp. In addition, Young noticed the disconnect and lack of collaboration between kids and coaches.
Ballogy functions as a freemium model, and athletes can take tests on the app like the slam dunk contest, three point shootout, or a skills contest that mirrors a format similar to the one used at the NBA All-Star game, complete with analytics. For $5 per month, athletes can upgrade to customizable drills that play off their strengths and weaknesses. There are other tests, ranging from one that goes up to 1000 shots, to hybrid tests, to tests that “you could put a six year old through,” according to Young.
More than a test-taking app, Ballogy also features a tip of the day at the top of the app, with pictures and highlights from professional teams. Athletes can share their own highlights as well.
The app works for coaches too. Coaches can set up a confidential silo via the Coach HQ section of the app, and invite players to that silo, monitoring their progress throughout the summer by assigning them skills assessments or through Ballogy’s custom combine evaluation. Coaches can group players like they never have before, and can also connect with other coaches through Coach HQ.
“Ballogy is doing a much better job to help analyze athletes, which relates to much better job security for coaches,” Young said.
The biggest news for Young and team occurred this month, when the San Antonio Spurs announced that they would be using Ballogy to track the development of youth players at their various camps and tournaments. A chance encounter at a Spurs game led to Young meeting with Joe Clark, the Spurs' vice president of ticket sales and service, who introduced Young to the head of basketball camps for the Spurs organization. The Spurs are looking to implement the Ballogy tests at their camps in early July, with live feedback given by Ballogy-certified coaches.
2018 has also been a year of other strategic partnerships for Ballogy. Hill Country Indoor in Austin became the first Ballogy testing facility, and the company also used the partnership with the Spurs to be introduced to the The Basketball Embassy in order to provide its services to basketball federations around the world.
“Now an eighth grade girl in Texas can truly compete with an 8th grade girl in China,” Young said.
Young and his team don’t intend to stop either.
Ballogy, which is a finalist in Austin Inno's Coolest Companies competition, is working with college coaches to help ease the recruiting process. Many times, a high school coach will tell a college coach about a can’t-miss prospect, only for the college coach to fly out and see this prospect has been misrepresented. Young says they are working with colleges to develop milestones for high school recruits who want to play at the next level.
“It’s like an eHarmony with players and colleges,” Young says.
Ballogy has been garnering a lot of interest, with Young and his team, including Zach Urbanus, the all-time 3-point leader at the Citadel and former trainer of Young’s son, fielding phone calls, emails, and applications from all over the world.
“No one is comparing us to anyone in the space," Young said. “Everyone has been searching for someone like us.”
