Job opportunity for students
Drake Ives ’22 is a business economics major proving that the path to success starts at the intersection of passion and purpose. Combining these two disciplines, she created the business concept of Big Leagues Ball Club, an idea that, along with friend and partner Rivers Clarke ’21, won them second place in the 2020 SC Innovates pitch competition.
Ives started playing t-ball in the first grade and joined a travel softball when she was in the fourth grade. At fourteen years old, she was playing on an 18U showcase team, traveling across the country playing softball.
“Sports had a huge impact on my life, and taught me the importance of hard work, team work, and goal setting,” Ives said “I am passionate about coaching young athletes to become true winners, on and off the field.”
Big Leagues Ball Club is a platform where qualified sport instructors can connect one-on-one with athletes of any age, skill level, or any sport. It allows athletes to reconnect with sports that they have played and loved in the past by providing mentorship and coaching lessons to young athletes. Currently, Big League Ball Club offers access to coaches in basketball, lacrosse, softball, baseball, volleyball, swimming, and tennis.
Ives said that she came up with the idea “from the position of having zero dollars, and I needed to make money.” Over the summer, she worked with over 40 girls giving one-on-one softball lessons.
“Giving these lessons made me realize that there is a huge demand for individual lessons in every sport, but there is no supply due to a lack of networking and convenience for parents,” she said.
In addition to teaching skills in different sports, Ives stresses the importance of incorporating mental training into each lesson.
“Winners travel,” Ives said. “Losers stay home. If you want to become a winner, it starts with this simple thing: setting a goal. With a firm commitment to servitude and selflessness, winners set goals at the intersection of their purpose and passion.”
Wofford students are welcome to join the Big Leagues Ball Club coaching roster if they are passionate about a sport with prior experience as a player. Working for Big Leagues Ball Club offers college students an opportunity to “be your own boss” by working one’s own schedule and by determining your own hourly rate.
The coaching application can be found on the website with this link. Ives welcomes new coaches to be able to share in the Big Leagues community which emphasizes teamwork, leadership, and competitiveness. Ives compels us to “think about how much better society would be if we all lived like we were one big team.”
