Former Goalkeeper Stuteville Finding Success As Entrepreneur

Like all successful business ideas, PS90 Soccer Camps came from a simple desire. When Ball State soccer alum Tristin Stuteville was a teen, she attended SoccerPlus youth camps led by legendary coach Tony DiCicco, the coach of the famous 1999 US Women's National Team and a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame. SoccerPlus was sold just prior to his passing and the new camp owner had a competing camp already in place.

Soon, Stuteville found herself concerned about the camp's participation decline and she wanted to find a way to stay on the coaching path DiCicco had blazed for her. She wanted to make sure all he built and all she had learned from him about soccer did not disappear.

"I really cared about those camps. A lot of us in the soccer community grew up on them," Stuteville said. "I wanted to keep those camps going knowing what they did for me and so many others. I wanted others to be impacted by Tony's methodology and principles the same way I was."

Stuteville teamed with one of her contacts in the Kansas City soccer circuit, Joey Piatczyc, a college All-American at men's MAC school West Virginia and New York Red Bulls draft pick. They drew up a pitch. The plan: to manage and operate the former youth camps in partnership with the current owners while growing the brand back to the glory days under DiCicco.

PS90 Soccer Camps Tristin Stuteville — The PS90 Soccer Camps team. ( Photo: Tristin Stuteville)

After several meetings with company that took over her childhood camps, the two groups parted ways after being unable to come to an agreement. Undeterred, Stuteville realized she had a business plan in place. She had an idea. The know-how. Some instructional experience. A decorated playing background as an all-conference player and BSU's all-time winningest goalkeeper. Numerous contacts in soccer playing and coaching community.

"Why not go out on my own?" Stuteville thought.

PS90 Soccer Takes Shape

Just before reporting for the 2019 season – Stuteville's final year at Ball State – she and Piatczyc created a plan and found seed funding faster than a penalty kick hits the net.

Stuteville, who graduated from BSU in 2019 as a marketing major with a master's degree in athletic coaching education, connected with Kansas City businessman and investor Doug Kinney. In four hours, she made her pitch and secured startup funds for PS90. Soon, she had a team to help with insurance and accounting and was able to locate an office space in suburban Kansas City.

"We were really fortunate to meet Doug and the timing of it really worked out," Stuteville said. "He really helped us learn what we needed and to help us fill in all the gaps."

Stuteville and partners brought the company in life faster than an episode of Shark Tank.

She landed a partnership with a major apparel brand and a marketing deal with international social media soccer and lifestyle brand SoccerGrlProbs.
While being honored at the United Soccer Coaches Convention in Baltimore this past January she landed a technology partnership with former USWNT player Yael Averbuch-backed Techne Futbol.

Together with SoccerGrlProbs, they'll offer the nation's first all-female residential soccer camps - all female players, coached entirely by female coaches.

The first five PS90 camps – which are co-ed and open to ages 10-18 – will take place at nationwide sites this year. PS90 also offers two Kickoff Camps, free training events aimed at bringing soccer to low-income audiences.

"The Kickoff Camps are a way for us to give back to our communities. We want to bring the kids in those areas an experience that they otherwise wouldn't be able to have," Stuteville said. "We are creating soccer opportunities that are accessible for everybody. We want everyone to have an opportunity to get involved and be able to play, regardless of money."

PS90 Camps
Type: Co-ed Residential Camps
Age: 10-18 years old
Duration: 4 days, 3 nights at college campuses
Camp Listings

SoccerGrlProbs Camps
Type: All Girls Residential
Age: 10 – 18 years old
Details: 4 days, 3 nights at college campuses
Camps Listings

Soccer Camps Tristin Stuteville PS90 — Campers at a PS90 soccer camp. (Photo: Tristin Stuteville)

Soccer Camps As A Tech Company

Whether Stuteville pictured this or not, PS90 could actually be considered a tech company. While she was setting up a soccer business, the investor Kinney connected her with developers in the sports landscape, and they began talking about ideas of how to meet players and parents where they currently are. Together, they have taken some modules built for other projects and merged them with their new ideas to bring some new and unique technology to the sports camp landscape.

The software is an app called CampFlow and it is the full stack technology piece that makes the Ball State grad's startup stand out. Here's how it works:

A camper is registered, and her parents download the CampFlow App. During onsite check in, the camper is given a wristband that uses an RFID chip to communicate through the app to the campers' parents. Parents have access at all times, no matter their camper's location.
All camp business is run through the app and wristband. All financial transactions and purchases are as simple as scanning the child's wrist, and parents reloading their balance through "Camp Cash".
The parents also receive a Google Cardboard set, which connects with the camp app to provide a virtual reality experience so the parents can follow all the camp action.

Each PS90 camp is equipped with multiple 360-degree VR cameras at the practice fields. There are mobile cameras at each field that can hone in on certain players and action. Each camp has a tech advisor on staff to make sure parents and coaches get the whole viewing experience.

When a camper takes the field, he or she scans their wristband, sending a push notification to the CampFlow app downloaded by the parent. The parent can then put a smartphone in the Google Cardboard piece and watch the camp and even record it. Then with one push of a button, the camp video can be shared or posted online.

"Parents are part of the camp experience," Stuteville said. "And it's as easy as opening a door, but we have learned over the past year we need to rein in expectations and set realistic timelines that are communicated between our development team and our management team. Our dev partners are great and have done a fantastic job working with us to help us understand the development cycle of things at this scale. The initial app will launch with our most important features and will scale up every couple of weeks with new and exciting features based on feedback from our partners, parents and campers."

The Uber Of Soccer Training

When every so-called tech unicorn becomes mainstream, it's often called the "Uber of what the company does." WeWork was supposedly the Uber of shared workspaces. Neatso has been called the Uber of house cleaning. PS90 might actually be the Uber of the youth sports camps industry.

When a camper is registered for a camp, she receives app access for a year. In addition to a VR camp viewing and recording experience, parents can also connect their young soccer player to local qualified coaches – much like finding a nearby rideshare.

"The entire process is parent-driven," Stuteville said. "Parents have the approval access."

Perhaps after a tough outing a young goalkeeper needs to work on a certain skill. Well, mom or dad can pull up the app and connect with a licensed coach in the area who teaches that needed skill. Video recording and uploading is also available so young players can track and share progress.

With the ease of connection and parent control, everyone involved is sure to receive a 5-star rating.

While the journey has just started for Stuteville and the PS90 team, the Ball State grad has already built a successful business while pursuing a passion and applying her education earned in Muncie. Having success while helping young players learn soccer is now the former goalkeeper's new clean sheet.

CLICK HERE and scroll down the page to find this summer's PS90 camps.