Athletic training has never been more accessible. CoachTube, a new website aimed at providing the “instruction, knowledge, and the motivation” athletes need to progress, puts the coach in your hand. Through CoachTube, online training from coaches and athletes is easily accessible to anyone with an Internet connection.
In a recent phone interview, Wade Floyd, Founder of CoachTube, shared some insights into his creation with SportTechie. The simplest way to describe CoachTube’s platform is a “marketplace for sports education.”
Wade Floyd understood the proliferation of online education, which can range from Massive Open Online Courses such as those offered by Coursera and edX to videos shared on YouTube and other streaming services. In today’s technologically driven society, most people look online for instructional videos, which essentially replaced outdated instructional videos on VHS and DVD. Floyd personally felt that instructional videos were incredibly useful, especially when given the power to stop, rewind, and replay at will.
Prior to CoachTube, there was no comprehensive marketplace for sports education. Instead, there were thousands of niche websites, as well as some videos shared on YouTube, which requires sifting through millions of videos to find the desired content. CoachTube aims to fill this market gap by connecting sports education with current technology. Specifically, it curates easily accessible on-demand videos available on computers, tablets, and smartphones and handles all the technology, delivery, and payments for its niche content providers as well as attracting new customers.
Previously, coaches did not have a dedicated platform for teaching and sharing their perspective and ideas with athletes-in-training. According to Floyd, CoachTube became “a platform for coaches to jump on to influence and help people around the world. [Via CoachTube, coaches] can teach anybody with a smartphone or computer.” CoachTube provides coaches with a foundation to help others and themselves, in particular by providing an opportunity for coaches to brand themselves in the sports education market.
Courses offered are from a myriad of coaches, from professionals like Tom Izzo (head coach of the Michigan State Spartans basketball team), to parent and volunteer coaches. Although many parent and volunteer coaches do not have equally impressive resumes, these are the coaches that typically teach younger athletes the fundamentals of sports. And often, coaches actually view the courses available in order to further develop their coaching skills and learn new techniques.
But CoachTube is not a platform solely for coaches to share their insights. Former athletes who also have an abundance of advice for current and aspiring athletes use the platform. For example, Olympian Mia Hamm has a course available for aspiring soccer players.
When initially launched, CoachTube reached out to 150 coaches for their insights and lessons. In fact, Floyd said the original number of coaches contacted was overwhelming. But since establishing themselves, coaches have instead been seeking the company out to utilize the platform.
The most challenging hurdle still facing CoachTube in their goal to become a sports education mecca “is to get CoachTube out to the masses.” Since coaches receive 97% of the revenue when people are guided to their courses by using a coupon code, as compared to 80% of the revenue when a lesson is found by browsing CoachTube, they are often the driving market force.
As CoachTube progresses and works to establish itself as the platform for sports education, they are looking at ways to integrate live video, connected devices, wearables, and augmented and virtual reality to have the ultimate coaching experience. One major tactical move that CoachTube executed earlier this year to help grow its platform was to acquire its biggest competitor, PlaySportsTV. This acquisition grew CoachTube’s platform to contain over 350 video courses.
Along with the design of the website, CoachTube will continue to expand its offerings to include new sports. Rugby lessons will be added shortly. Other sports are currently being tested, such as E-sports, and could be added to the site eventually.
Wade Floyd hopes he and his team, with over 80 combined years of sports, corporate and entrepreneurial experience, can build CoachTube into the go-to marketplace for sports education. In hopes of collaborating with as many involved with sports education as possible, Floyd has more aspirations for his creation—including moving into sports data and working with technology companies. With recognition for the potential of CoachTube, especially once the audience expands, Floyd ended the interview by expressing his passion for “having a place for [athletes] to learn from the best coaches in the world regardless of geography or income.”