New Member Spotlight: SportsEdTV
Featuring Victor Bergonzoli, Chief Executive Officer, SportsEdTV
When and where was SportsEdTV started? Tell us about their history and about the team.
SportsEdTV was founded in 2018 in Miami, Florida. The founding group comprises experienced entrepreneurs from professional sports, sports coaching, sports technology, film production, media, and brand marketing. For team bios, visit https://sportsedtv.com/about-us.
All the members of the founding team felt that a resource needed to be created that would connect everyone to the best coaching content in the world, regardless of geography or socio-economic background. SportsEdTV was designed to be that FREE access point, providing athletes of all levels with the three things they need to improve: world-class coaching; a supportive community of athletes, coaches, and parents; and a directory of global training and coaching resources.
What is your history with SportsEdTV and your background?
I was co-founder of Dartfish, a leading sports performance video analytics company, and had been in the US for 20 years (from my native Switzerland) when I was approached by a friend, who told me his good friend was looking for a CEO for a new sports media venture. That venture was SportsEdTV. When I met with their chairman and heard their story, I was hooked. The idea of reaching billions of people in the world looking to improve at sports was irresistible for many reasons. First, I am a believer in the democratization of learning, and since SportsEdTV offers free content, we can really change the world in this area. Second, all of us at SportsEdTV believe that participation in sports leads to better outcomes in life.
Tell us in your words about the services SportsEdTV provides.
Most people who play sports want to improve. It does not matter if we are talking about a kid trying to be a world champion or someone trying to beat their brother-in-law on a family vacation. Everyone likes to feel they can improve. Our mission is to provide the tools for this improvement. We offer content, in the form of world-class videos and blogs. We offer a supportive community, who can offer advice and comfort along the journey. And we offer a directory of resources — coaches, physios, facilities, apps — that can help along the way.
What are the target markets for SportsEdTV?
People who want to improve at sports, along with their coaches and their parents.
Do you have any plans for partnerships with SportsEdTV or expanding your offerings into different industries/markets?
We have a partnership with i9 Sports. They use our content to help educate the coaches in their sports programs, as well as the parents of the kids who sign-up with them. We have a partnership with the National Federation of High Schools, who use our content on their website as a resource to high school coaches. And we have a partnership with the National Alliance for Youth Sports, and they also use our content in a similar fashion. Our goal is to partner with as many sports organizations as possible who need quality coaching content.
Does SportsEdTV have memorable successes or big wins that you would like to share?
We have had many. One big milestone is that every country in the world has watched SportsEdTV, and we have had several days where every country has watched in one day! We have also helped one of our early commercial partners, VOLKL Tennis, greatly increase their business. The wins we look for are simple — people improving in sports and our commercial partners improving their business. If we do those two things, we will be around for a very long time.
What are some upcoming plans for SportsEdTV? Where do you see SportsEdTV five years from now, and so on?
Our goal is to be the leading online resource for sports learning. We currently offer video instruction content in eight sports — we want to increase that to thirty sports. We want to be the go-to resource for brands, in the sports business or not, looking to connect in a meaningful way with people -consumers - who play sports. We are convinced that we can offer a much deeper connection between brands and consumers than other media because our members and viewers are trying to achieve a goal that is important to them. There is an emotional component tied to their use of SportsEdTV. For that reason, they will remember and reward the brands that they encountered along the way to their improved performance.
What is one thing people should know about SportsEdTV that they may not know from the website?
The website is quite extensive and covers a lot of ground. Probably the biggest thing we would like people to know is how committed our team is to provide the BEST services and products to athletes and brands. Everyone in the company is a former athlete, so we have all been there and know the ups and downs of sports. We are all competitive and will settle for nothing less than being great.
How and why did SportsEdTV come to become an SFIA member? Share how you heard about us and your experiences.
I had met Andre Gorgemans when he was the president of WFSGI and went to an SFIA conference in 2001. I was still in Switzerland back then. When I came on board with SportsEdTV, SFIA was on my list to join but we wanted to have some milestones achieved before coming more in the open.
How do you see SportsEdTV services and expertise benefitting the SFIA community?
Anyone who markets goods or services to athletes, who targets sports participants rather than just sports fans, can grow their business by working with SportsEdTV. Whether they want to feature their products in action in great video content, or they want to begin a dialogue with consumers in our community about a new product, or they want to sell products directly to our members, we have something to offer. All of our commercial alliances are customized to the unique goals and objectives of each partner. We can also offer experts for interviews, speakers for conferences or sales meetings, or help organize corporate sports events for members. If it has to do with sports and learning, we can help.
Learn more about SportsEdTV here: https://sportsedtv.com/
