Team Insight

Alli Sports Group Partners With OMG The recently formed Alli Sports Group (ASG) has entered into a multi- year partnership with OrderMyGear that makes OMG its exclusive technology provider for online stores. ASG was founded in 2021 when Johnson-Lambe, First Team Sports Center of the Carolinas and Baker's Sporting Goods formed an alliance. All three team dealers were already OMG clients. "This partnership further demonstrates OMG's commitment to the team sporting goods space, helping dealers unlock their full potential," OMG president Matt Kaplan says. "We are dedicated to the success of this industry and I believe this alliance will create new opportunities for immense growth." "When OMG was created it changed everything for the team sports industry and for our companies — it made us better," adds Rhett Johnson with Johnson-Lambe, an OMG client since 2010. "With the creation of the Alli Sports Group, we are looking to change and better everything we do and how we do it. There's no one better in the industry to partner with than OMG to help us accomplish this." "OMG has been nothing less than a game-changer for our business and is one of the greatest innovations in the sporting goods industry that we've seen in the past 40 years," agrees Mike Miros, with First Team Sports Center of the Carolinas, an OMG client since 2014. "Our sales using OMG during the pandemic were instrumental in keeping our business going. Rest assured, with the partnership of OMG and Alli Sports Group I see nothing but great things in the future and look forward to all of us doing great things together." Adds Josh Baker, of Baker's Sporting Goods, an OMG client since 2016: "Mike Miros, Rhett Johnson and myself formed the Alli Sports Group based on the similarities of our companies. At the core of these similarities is our relationship with OMG." Americans' Inactivity Rate Declining As the world slowly began to reopen in 2021, Americans got back on the move, according to the Sports and Fitness Industry Association's (SFIA) annual Topline Participation Report. The report tracks participation rates of Americans aged six and older, across 120 different sport, fitness and outdoor activities, including a section dedicated to the impact of COVID-19 on participation rates. Across the seven sports categories tracked by SFIA, water sports saw the largest year-over-year increase in participation at 2.3 percent, followed closely behind by outdoor sports with a 2.2 percent increase. Team sports saw a year- over-year increase of 1.8 percent, but participation still remains lower than pre-pandemic levels, with approximately two million fewer people participating in team sports in 2021 than 2019. Pickleball continues its incredible rise, becoming the fastest growing sport over the last two years, with participation seeing 39.3 percent growth. For the second year in a row, inactivity levels declined. Decreasing by 0.7 percent from 2020, inactivity is the lowest it has ever been. Compared to 2016, activity has increased 7.8 percent — that is, 16.8 million more people participating in sports and fitness in a five-year span. Lower inactivity levels in 2021 were primarily driven by the 18-to-24 and 25-to- 34 age groups, with youth inactivity – age groups 6-to-12 and 13-to-17 – also decreasing for the fifth year in a row. Harris Named President At Outdoor Cap Outdoor Cap has named Jeanelle Harris president of the company. Harris, who was previously chief sales officer, succeeds Jim Haworth, who is leaving the company to take a position as executive chairman to NOW Diagnostics, a health testing company. Harris, who joined Outdoor Cap in 2019 as senior VP before being named chief sales officer in 2021, has served in a number of leadership roles in her 17-year career in the consumer products industry. Harris had spent 14 years at Olivet International as executive VP overseeing sales and operations and president of its sustainable subsidiary, Ecotech. While at Outdoor Cap, Harris has been responsible for restructuring its sales, supply chain and customer service departments. n Softball's Participation Hurt By Pandemic, On the Rebound According to research from the Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA), there are just more than 1.8 million fast-pitch softball players in the U.S. The number of fast-pitch softball players was as high as 2.3 million participants in 2017, but that decline can largely be attributed to the negative side effects of the pandemic, which has affected participation in all team sports in the U.S. "There's no question that COVID-19 severely impacted participation in many sports, especially a team sport like fast-pitch softball," says Lisa Futterman, SFIA's manager of communications and marketing. "While female sports participation was lagging prior to the pandemic, it will be interesting to see how girls' fast-pitch softball will rebound this year. We expect participation levels to eventually exceed participation in 2019, as we expect athletes to be strongly motivated to return to the diamond and enjoy the great outdoors with friends, classmates and teammates." Of those current 1.8 million fast-pitch softball participants, nearly 65 percent of them are female. It's worth noting that 1.16 million of those fast-pitch softball participants are playing the game on a frequent basis, which is 26 or more days a year. Of those 1.16 million frequent participants, more than 80 percent of them are female. A quick analysis of female fast-pitch softball players in the U.S. indicates that 60 percent of them are between the ages of 6 and 17. And just more than 22 percent of them are between the ages of 18 and 34. From a household income perspective, 58 percent of female fast-pitch softball players come from households that make more than $75,000 a year. Geographically, the three most popular regions for fast-pitch softball players in the U.S. are the South Atlantic (FL, GA, SC, NC, VA, MD, DE and WV – 18.1 percent of all players), East North Central (OH, IN, IL, WI and MI; 16.1 percent), and the Middle Atlantic (NY, NJ and PA; 15.2 percent). When they are not playing fast-pitch softball, the top five most popular other athletic pursuits for fast-pitch softball players are basketball, bowling, walking for fitness, day hiking and walking on a treadmill. n 34 Team Insight ~ March/April 2022 teaminsightmag.com END ZONE

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