Former Disney Exec Taps Into Youth Sports With New App
During his 20+ years at the Walt Disney Co, Ben Sherwood definitely has experience when it comes to youth entertainment. He’s now using that to create a new app that will focus on youth sports.
The exec has created the Mojo app which offers tutorials and practice programs for youth-soccer coaches. Ultimately the hope is that the app with reach the hands of some 500 million kids who participate in organized sports!
A visit to the website and you can see that the app is being hailed as “Your one-stop-coach-in-a-box.” So far the Mojo has raised over $8 million from investors including Tom Werner owner of the Boston Red Socks along with women’s soccer champions Julie Foudy and Brandi Chastain.and Russell Wilson, the Super-Bowl-winning quarterback.
Sherwood told Bloomberg that he got the idea for the app during his stint at ABC News and Disney’s cable networks. Sure he was coordinating things like the ABC Nightly News or programming for Hulu but he also had to race his kids to sports practices. He recalls, “I was scrambling out of the office at Disney or ABC to get to fields to coach, and I didn’t have any idea what I’d do with these kids.” Sherwood continued “I would look on YouTube, and I thought, ‘This could be done so much better.’”
Sherwood recruited Reed Shaffner, who previously worked at a Southern California software company to be his co-founder and the Mojo app was born! The duo designed the app with coaches in mind, especially those that may have limited time and experience. Users start by selecting the age of the players, their experience level, how long they want to practice and then the app provides drills, diagrams, plans, instructional videos and more!
Coaches have the option of accessing one new plan a week for FREE or can delve a bit deeper for $20 a year.
Sherwood sees this as a great way to help lower-income youngsters who are involved in sports but may not have access to private coaches. “The gap between haves and have-nots is significant,” said Sherwood, who has signed a partnership with US Youth Soccer. “We’re working state by state with them to put Mojo in the hands of coaches.”
Sounds like a fantastic new endeavor and one that we here at MickeyBlog will be following closely. Readers are encouraged to keep checking back with us for further news and updates.
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Source: Bloomberg