OpenSports Turns 1 and Here’s What’s Coming Up 🎂 🏀 ⚽️🏐
More sports, more ball runs, more pickup games, more community ❤
OpenSports is officially ONE year old!! We had to kick, fumble, and fall to really start to construct our identity. Luckily, being officially welcomed to the world of toddlerhood means we are experiencing the tell tale signs of growth!
We’ve watched admirably as new teams and friendships have grown out of connections built through OpenSports. Here are some of our proudest accomplishments in our first year:
- Activating an incredibly diverse soccer community, with our cornerstone “WakeUp PickUp” Friday morning soccer series, where we all challenged conventional norms of sports always being after 6pm.
- Helping players in our OpenSports community successfully host their own pickup soccer and tennis games, and hearing that at these games, “everyone was happy” 😊
- Bringing home several notable prizes that have helped us build our organizational capacity and network of partnerships with Interac and organizations affiliated with Play for Tomorrow.
This year OpenSports will continue to focus on pickup sports by connecting with key leaders of various sports communities. More games posted = more games played = happier players 🤙
Community: ongoing & coming up
“(When you want to play basketball) you don’t know where to go, where to look, if people are going to be there.”
🏀 We listened to the impassioned frustrations of local basketball players including some of the most influential basketball names in North America, ballgod and balltalks, and we are opening our hearts, minds, and designs to make sure that you can always find good runs. Our new “flash game” and followers features, designed to help you know who is currently playing at your preferred locations, are coming soon!
🥇 OpenSports recently sponsored the 2017 BOTB (Battle of the Blocks) basketball Tournament, where 6 local teams competed for victory (and a shiny new trophy). Congratulations to the winners “Vern Venomz”!
🍪 Our generous sponsorship from Clif Bar has allowed us to meet hundreds of players at Toronto’s Central Tech Stadium and Monarch Park Stadium as they walk through the doors to play games. Players who we’ve spoken to have been meeting the platform (and energy bars) with a lot of enthusiasm!
⚽ We are partnering up with Nutmeg Soccer, Toronto’s amazing volunteer run free kids soccer and life skills program, to help streamline the registration process and RSVP system. We are really looking forward to playing a role in this flourishing and impactful community initiative.
What’s new on the app
📱 Have you seen our redesign? Check out your player profile to see your reviews and how many games you’ve organized and attended. View the new player cards section to see a clean listing of local OpenSports users and a much easier way to see who is most active on the app!
Sports events for you this week
Tuesday: Beach Volleyball at Earlscourt Park
Tues, Wed, Thurs: Evening PickUp — Christie Pits & Back Campus posts
Saturday: PickUp Soccer games — Morning and Afternoon posts
Want more? Let us know! We will help you grow your sports community. E-mail alicia@opensports.ca if you have feedback, ideas, or just want to give us a little shout out!
Your friends,
Alicia and the OpenSports Team