Serbian-American layup - Max My Play launches social network for athletes

Internet has got another social network. This one is, however, intended exclusively for athletes and sports workers. After growing expansion of Facebook and Twitter, the U.S. company Max My Play, with a branch office in Serbia, has founded the social network It's My Play with the aim of facilitating self-presentation and self-promotion of people from the world of basketball. The website will later be made available to people engaged in all other sports as well.

Namely, what may look as Facebook for athletes at first sight is aimed at enabling scouts and coaches to find new prospects worldwide in as simple way as possible, whereas registered players, both amateurs and professionals, can easily get a place on a team thanks to this website.

This project is a result of a very long and intensive work and effort of many people. The website was officially launched on July 25th, and about 800 people, mainly players, registered in the first ten days upon launching.

A scout and coach of Serbian origin, who gained his experience in the USA and is part of the It's My Play development team, explains for eKapija that every time he and his colleagues wanted to learn more about a player, there was always a mediator - reporter, scout... There was no network, other than let's say Facebook, where players would be able to write something about their athletic performances.

Creators of this new social network explain for our portal that there was no so-called "search" system that could help you find what you were looking for. For example, if you were looking for a 2-meter player from Lithuania, born in 1992, who would like to go to a college, there was no search system capable of listing candidates matching those criteria.

Also, the scouts who managed to find a player on Facebook had to go to YouTube to watch the videos showing the player's moves and then use Google to check if someone had already published something about that player. We had to browse the whole web in order to find what It's My Play (www.itsmyplay.com) now offers at one place.

- We have actually developed a platform that makes it possible for a player to fit small pieces of personal and career life in his or her profile.

Depending on the category of users, each profile consists of 6 to 8 pages. It serves to enable self-promotion, self-presentation and global networking of basketball players, both men and women, and sports workers: coaches, scouts, agents and people who work for a sports company.

Creators

The company Max My Play is registered in the USA and its managing board comprises people from all around the world. About 50 people are currently working on this project. It is important to mention that the company's advisers are coaches and scouts from the NBA, FIBA and NCAA.

They say that, although people mainly associate It's My Play with Facebook, it is more similar to Linkedin.

When it comes to software, creation of such network was an extremely demanding job. Certain number of programmers are from Serbia, which makes It's My Play one of the rare projects of the kind developed in our country.

- This is only the first version, and we have an exact work plan for the next three years, as well as a plan for new applications, programs, technical aids…- our interlocutors explain.

In the following two or three months, several new products will be launched within the website. Part of Learn My Play section will be in operation as of autumn, enabling all registered sports workers to write their own blogs.

People at Max My Play also say that It's My Play has stricter rules than most social networks.

- That means that we support only the profiles focused on sports. All political messages, alcohol and smoking promotions will be removed from the website regardless of whether they are in the form of a text or a photo.

However, there is always a question of the accuracy of information provided by users.

- There is no unique solution anywhere in the world for immediate data verification. Nevertheless, our connection with other browsers and websites enables you to immediately check if an information written by a user is true – people at Max My Play explain.

Finance

Aside from being extremely demanding in technical sense, it is clear that such global project also demands "serious" investments. They say the first investment round is finished and that the second round starts as early as in September.

Many people worked intensively on the project for a long time, which is why an assistance from "business angels" was necessary. Strongly believing in It's My Play, "angels" from the USA, Russia and Serbia invested in the project.

Our country is chosen to host one of the branch offices of aforementioned U.S. company because of personal contacts, as well as because Serbia is seen worldwide as a country of basketball players and IT experts.

Plans

This social network currently connects only the people from the world of basketball, and its founders plan to expand the project as early as in 2012 to include first football and then other sports as well.

So far, the largest number of registered users are from Poland, followed by Serbia and the USA.

- On the launch date of our website, a famous basketball blogger from Poland wrote the following: "I am currently at the game, but you should know that I am watching it with only one eye because my other eye is on a new basketball website that looks fantastic and I recommend it to everybody." After that, our website had over 1,000 visits from Poland.

When asked when they think the first players will be "drafted" through It's My Play, they self-assuredly reply: "In 2012."

Their wish that we do not name individuals best shows their belief that team spirit is the most important in sports. It will stay that way until mid-October when the network will be officially presented to broad public in Serbia.

J.Đ.