8A- Solving The Problem

The opportunity I have been discussing during this course is basketball training. I found this opportunity to be especially pressing during the current pandemic because many people now do not have access to courts, equipment, or even trainers. Some online training programs do exist, but they tend to work on general skills and often do not account for the player not having all necessary equipment. 

The service I will be proposing is personalized online basketball training. Personalized training means that I will account for the circumstances each player is in to make a training session that they can complete without worrying about not having enough equipment. Some players may only have access to a basketball and a flat surface right now. Personalized training allows me to design a training session that requires nothing except for a basketball and a flat surface. These training sessions will most likely be performed through Zoom, but other video services such as FaceTime could work as well. 

Another part of my online training program would be based off of player types. Prerecorded training sessions could be designed for certain player types. Any player who fits into that mold could purchase the program and use it to get better. For instance, one program would be designed for undersized guards because they have a different need than bigger guards. This would allow me to reach a larger audience because personalized one-on-one training means only one player could be trained at once.

This will still be a viable unmeet need when the pandemic ends (whenever that may be) because of the lack of trainers across the country. Areas such as California and South Florida have an abundance of qualified basketball trainers, but areas up North or in the Midwest typically do not have enough to match the demand. Additionally, many trainers are just basketball coaches looking to make money on the side, so they usually see the game of basketball as a whole and do not notice or learn about the micro-details of skills training. Also, coaches tend to train players to prepare for their team, rather than their long-term development. Basketball skills training should be focused on skill development and player development which is what my online training program would focus on.