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sportstylemag.com March 2021 ~ sportstyle 69 and Social Distancing Signage, customized with each school's colors, mascot and logos. These are just a few of the many new initia- tives that we have developed as a result of this pandemic. Did anything good come out of the past nine months at all? Absolutely. There are valuable silver linings that resulted from the pandemic, some of which I already mentioned. It's years like this one that highlight areas for improvement, leaving you with a choice as to whether simply survive or continue driving growth. How did BSN internally improve? Over the past nine months, each one of our departments has come together more cohesively and in sync than ever before. As a result, we were able to get leaner while simultaneously executing a realistic strategy to not only carry us through 2020, but set ourselves up for success in 2021 and beyond. With each twist and turn of this year, our team continued to ideate and embrace new ways to support coaches and students. I believe that our willingness to remain flexible while still finding ways to improve and innovate will continue to have positive impacts on our business well beyond this pandemic. Looking ahead, what do you and BSN plan to do differently as we head into 2021 in light of what we are calling the "next normal?" We plan on building upon the lessons we learned in 2020. The pandemic has forced us to transact business differently. Prior to the pandemic, the team business was prin- cipally conducted on a face-to-face basis. It has always been a personal relationship business and these relationships are very important. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced B2B buyers and sellers to go digital in a massive way. What started out as a crisis response has now become the next normal, with big implications for how buyers and sellers will do business in the future. How has that benefitted both BSN Sports and your customers? Self-serve and remote interactions have made it easier for buyers to get information, place orders and arrange service in a more expeditious manner. The dramatic increase in digital adoption presents a seminal oppor- tunity. The shift to virtual sales will extend the reach of our sales pros and provide them more selling time and less windshield time, and significantly improve sales force effec- tiveness while delighting customers who are demanding these new ways of interacting. How do you plan to capitalize on that? We will be investing in digital tools as well as education and training resources to equip our sales professionals to better service our customers, whether virtually or in-person. By making sure our team is better armed to service coaches effectively in this virtual environment, we can strengthen relationships while helping coaches focus on their athletes and communities. What systems/protocols/efforts that started in 2020 because of COVID-19 is BSN carrying into 2021? When this pandemic began, keeping our employees safe, healthy and informed was our priority and remains our priority today. Our HR team has led the way in ensuring that all facilities and workflows meet CDC guidelines while making sure employees regularly receive transparent and effective communication. While employees that can work from home have been transitioned out of the office, we still have a large population of teammates working in our warehouses and decoration facilities. Each facility is maintaining strict protocol for social dis- tancing, PPE requirements and daily cleaning practices that we anticipate continuing well into 2021. What do all team dealers and their vendors need to do to adapt to this new business environment? Team dealers and vendors are going to have to become adept at doing business in a virtual world, solve for fast delivery and provide transparency for customers while navigating their B2C capabilities. We have seen a significant increase in demand to ship products to customer's homes, especially in our My Team Shops. This is a very different – costly and more labor intensive – model than the traditional B2B Team model with one customer point of contact. With B2C, customers want you to deliver like Amazon and they don't care that the product has to be decorated. Like it or not, the pandemic has accelerated our customers' desires to be serviced quickly, effectively and transparently. It's our job to do whatever it takes to meet those expectations, no matter what the cost. Is the team market doing this successfully? I don't know what other team dealers are doing to adapt to this new business envi- ronment. BSN Sports is not focused on our competitors. We are focused on our customers and servicing them better than anyone else. We want to impress our customers at every touch point. I wake up every day wondering what can we do to make the customer say "Wow, BSN is awesome and I only want to do business with them because they provide me with peace of mind and an experience that I can't get anywhere else." Finally, what is your prediction for the business of team sports and for BSN Sports in 2021? Our expectation is that once coaches and athletes can return to the field or the court, there will be an unbridled passion for team sports. Kids and athletes are itching to return to the activities they love — as parents and coaches ourselves, we are equally as anxious. When this pandemic is in the rearview mirror, we anticipate a spike in participation and an eagerness to reclaim the memories that may have been missed in 2020. So how is BSN Sports preparing for all that? We are heavily investing in our digital assets, inventory, warehouse and manufacturing systems, product lines and education and training to make sure we are ready meet the renewed demand in athletics. n There are valuable silver linings that resulted from the pandemic. It's years like this one that highlight areas for improvement, leaving you with a choice as to whether simply survive or continue driving growth.

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