With a new investment, a local company is looking to keep football players and coaching staff safe amid the pandemic while still keeping their skills sharp.
The Quarterback Equalizer, a virtual training app that gamifies the training process, announced landing a $100,000 investment from ArlanWasHere Investments, a VC firm created by Arlan Hamilton, founder and managing partner of Backstage Capital.
California-based Backstage Capital was launched by Hamilton, a Dallas native, in 2014 with a focus on women, people of color and LGBTQIA founders. Since its founding, Backstage has invested more than $7 million across 130 companies, including McKinney-based barbershop and salon booth rental startup ShearShare.
The app uses gameplay to help quarterbacks improve their decision making abilities, including reading defensive coverages and executing offensive strategies on the field faster. It also helps improve throwing accuracy. This is done through virtual matches and coaching rooms, where users can review past plays. The company said the technology can accommodate players with skills ranging from the youth league level all the way up to the professional level.
The app is available on the Google and Apple stores.
The app was launched out of Equalizer Games, which was co-founded by former NFL assistant coach John Tomlinson. Currently, it is the only app listed on the company’s website. However, in a release, the company said The Quarterback Equalizer is the first in a series of mobile and online cognitive games the company plans to release.
“We provide a Virtual Coach in the platform that takes the player in a classroom and teaches the user how to identify defensive pass coverages and how to attack the defense,” Tomlinson said in a statement. “We then take what the user learns in the classroom and track their performance in an interactive game. We work to train the eyes and understand defensive movement – building eye discipline.”
The funding follows an unsuccessful attempt to raise $250,000 through a Kickstarter campaign in 2019. However, the coronavirus pandemic has brought increased focus on ways to maintain skills while keeping safe and socially distant. The company said The Quarterback Equalizer is already being used by coaches in Texas, North Carolina, Virginia and Louisiana, among others.
With the new investment, Equalizer games plans to build out its technology and expand into a full suite of athlete e-learning ventures. It also plans to use the funding to help get the product into the hands of more coaches and players, especially as many districts are looking at delayed in-person openings this school year.
“I grew up in Dallas, so I know how important school sports are to Texans,” Hamilton said in a statement. “It’s a great place for a product like this to be born and nurtured. I know how much football has positively impacted the lives of my nephews, and hopefully nieces one day. Equalizer can give coaches and athletes a certain edge, while teaching them soft skills as well – like manners, sportsmanship and critical thinking.”
