The Just Play team was honored to have Coach Keith Grabowski, Offensive Coordinator at Oberlin College, join us at the AFCA convention in San Antonio this weekend. Grabowski, who is infamous for his knowledge in sports technology and coaching, took a look into everything Just Play has to offer. He wrote about his experience on Coaches Edge Technologies that can be found here. It’s great to have coaches like Grabowski working closely with our organization so we can stay in touch with everything coaches need. Read what Grabowski had to say about joining our team below:
Just Play team with Coach Grabowski
“Over a year ago I began interviewing the CEOs and founders of sports technology companies. The purpose of my calls was to find the best tools for coaches. The project grew and the results will be published in my book CoachingHD. The main idea of my book is today’s technological revolution does not remove the humanity of the game, the player-coach relationship. Instead, it enables the coach to reach the minds and hearts of his or her athletes in order to help them and, collectively, the team to reach its full potential.
I was pleased to find a tool for which I have been searching for years. Just Play Solutions builds interactive learning tools on top of the coach’s playbook. This is something that many of us do that now, but we have to use all kinds of add ons and work arounds to our video breakdown systems. Just Play gives a coach the only solution he needs for interactive coaching that reaches multiple learning styles.
Austin Barone developed Just Play from his experiences as a player at the University of Kansas. I loved his vision for the product and the company. Over hours and hours of calls, my relationship with Austin grew to the point that I was invited to join his team in San Antonio for the AFCA Convention. I was really interested to see what Austin would be able to do as a leader.
As the CEO of Just Play, Austin Barone really impressed me with his ability to quickly mold a group of talented individuals into a team. As coaches we understand how important it is to have talent, and how that talent is useless if it does not come together and provide synergy in reaching the teams goals. I was expecting to see a group of “techies” who struggled to understand athletics and coaching. That’s not the Just Play team. The Just Play team is a group of former athletes who understand the importance of connecting with a player in a way that is relevant to him or her. It’s an unselfish group focused on the mission and vision of the company. While they are a competitive group, there is a lack of ego. They are driven by helping each other and the team succeed.
I imagine as athletes, these were the individuals we all would have loved to coach. They each have their own skill set; they are team focused, and they are driven to improve and succeed. Austin did an outstanding job of bringing together a talented group of individuals with different strengths and knowledge into a team that is poised to bring a great product to coaches.
Getting to know each of them individually, I would feel very comfortable relying on them to help me meet my own team’s needs. They work to understand a coach’s needs and solve his or her problems. I highly recommend making Just Play and the people behind the product part of your team. I made them part of mine, and I know they will help us succeed.”
Have any questions for Coach Grabowski? Tweet him at @CoachKGrabowski and connect with us at @JustPlaySS.