Why I founded TeamSportz
If you play sports, you might have dreamt of becoming the next Kobe Bryant (RIP), Ronaldo or Jonny Wilkinson and if you coach sports team you dream of discovering the next Giannis Antetokounmpo or Mo Salah. As a child, growing up in Angola, I used to watch my mum play basketball for the local team and kept every one of the newspaper clippings reporting her games. Basketball was my one true love.
Playing basketball enabled me to escape the harsh realities of my environment (Angolan civil war) and was the cause of many childhood shenanigans as I bunked off school to play around town or masqueraded as my father (we have the same name) in order to play on his behalf for his university team.
As a teenager, moving from Angola to Brazil to study, then moving to Portugal where I started my career as a software developer and to the UK without speaking English — I am not stranger to adversity.
As with all areas of my life, I was self-taught and my passion and relentless drive for improvement mean that I can still compete today with the younger members of my basketball team, even at the ripe old age of 42!
With the rise of AI, I finally thought that I would be able to use technology to improve my performance on the court yet no matter where I looked I was unable to find a solution. I wanted something that could be used indoors and could perform an analysis of my game rather than just tracking how far I have run or my heart rate. This is where the concept for TeamSportz was born.
TeamSportz is fun and has been built for everyone that enjoys sport and wants to be able to improve their performance or stay active.
I am very lucky because I have been joined on this journey by an amazing team that have contributed countless hours of their time and unique skills to realise my dream.
Recently we have launched our beta app for iPhone app and Android is coming soon.
We have built a Coaches Hub so that coaches can organise and manage player development.
My passion for building TeamSportz stems from my life experience as I know firsthand the impact that technology and sports made in my life as a father, husband, professionally. — Now I am putting all that into TeamSportz. I hope that:
by making AI simple, affordable and accessible it will also have a positive impact on others lives
If this article inspires you or you think you know someone that the TeamSportz vision or company-profile would inspire please don't hesitate to forward, share, like and reach out to me — I would love to meet you.
Francisco Baptista is CEO & Founder of TeamSportz, a platform to help athletes meet their full potential by measuring and generating accurate performance data during drills and exercises. You can follow TeamSportz on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, or their website, teamsportz.pro.
