Jim’s ‘appy with new partnership

‘Find a Player’ booming

The Burnside man behind the app dubbed ‘Tinder for sports’ has joined forces with no fewer than nine governing bodies to grow participation among young people in Scotland.

Jim Law, 43, is the founder of Find a Player, an app which helps players locate games, and organisers of those matches search for team-mates or an opponent.

Launched three years ago, it has facilitated more than 100,000 sports events in no fewer than 140 different sports.

And now it is set to gain a huge boost by teaming up with sporting bodies including Bowls Scotland, Basketball Scotland and national youth information and citizenship charity, Young Scot.

Jim believes that alongside improving administration, the app can also expand the reach of lesserknown sports.

He told the Reformer: “We had been speaking to a number of governing bodies for a while to help get their sports out there to more people.

“Young Scot have a wide marketing channel with young people so we felt it was a natural partnership for us to make.

“I think the more minority sports can benefit. The bigger sports have the budgets and the marketing to get their sport out there, whereas the lesser known sports find it more difficult.

“The app is rated 4.7 out of five on the App Store so it is progressing well. We just need to get it out there to even more people.”

Minority sports will also utilise the app as a means to keep track of participation levels.

Bowls is among one of the first to sign up to the new partnership, alongside golf, badminton, basketball, cricket, lacrosse, netball, hockey and volleyball, which collectively boast more than half a million active registered players in Scotland.

Several other sports are interested and expected to join the movement in the months ahead.

Jim continued: “This is a fantastic 10-way partnership and a powerful reinforcement that technology can play a positive role in helping young people enjoy sports and lead an active lifestyle.

“Find a Player is thrilled to partner with Young Scot and the eight national governing bodies, including Basketball Scotland, each of whom should be commended for being so forward-thinking and open to innovation in order to help us all collectively grow participation.

“We’re hugely excited by the opportunity to work with such great partners but, much more importantly, we hope this can have a really positive impact on the nation’s wider health and wellbeing.”

Cambuslang and Scotland senior ladies bowler Rachel Sinclair attended the launch along with the town’s netball star Bethan Goodwin and several other Scots sportsmen and women.

Young Scot vowed to promote the partnership through all social media channels.

Louise Macdonald, chief executive of Young Scot added: “It will help them to connect with other young people in their community as well as get involved in new and exciting sports activities which fits perfectly with the theme of Health and Wellbeing in the Year of Young People 2018.”

Jim’s app grew in popularity last year after a £100,000 cash injection from property and technology investor Michael Sacks.

In 2016, Find a Player raised £150,000 through a crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs, hitting its £110,000 target in just two days.

And last year it also beat a number of global brands including Arsenal, the New York Marathon and the German FA to win the prestigious best app award at the Sport Technology Awards.

We hope this can have a positive impact on the nation’s health