The idea to establish a web application connecting athletes across the country was born among three students of the Faculty of Business and Management at BUT. “We moved to Brno and were new here. We love basketball and football, but we had nowhere to play and no one to play with. Most team sports can’t really be played with just three people,” describes co-founder Dan Doupovec about their beginnings.

It quickly became clear that they were not the only ones facing this problem. With the help of questionnaires and qualitative interviews, they verified whether there would be interest in a sports app in the Czech Republic. Social media played a key role, where they began posting short videos presenting various hidden sports grounds.

“We filmed a basketball court in Brno, posted it on Instagram and went to a tea house. We didn’t expect any response, but within a few hours thousands of people had viewed the video. People from all over the country then started sending us tips for sports grounds we should definitely come and film. That was beyond our capacity, but we realised there was demand,” adds another founder, Adam Sypták.

The pilot project was a simple Google Maps-based map that attracted tens of thousands of visits over the summer. This was followed by the development of their own web application – now featuring user accounts, sport filters and the option to create matches directly on the map.

When founding the Sportera start-up, the three students also drew on research by the company Multisport, which showed that the number of active athletes in the Czech Republic is declining. A third of respondents identified financial costs as the main barrier.

“Today, many people cannot afford to enrol their children in sports clubs – renting a hall costs money and sports equipment is also expensive. So we wanted to give people the opportunity to play sports more affordably. There are thousands of sports grounds built across the Czech Republic, but city districts do not communicate effectively with residents, so they remain unused. Our goal was to connect supply with demand,” he explains. A similar situation applies to school facilities.

“One of the upcoming features will be a reservation system for school playgrounds and gyms. Schools have empty halls available that no one uses. The public is supposed to book them by phone, but staff cannot handle all the requests. As a result, schools miss out on additional income, and we would like to change that,” he adds.

“Our goal is for a person to find their favourite sports ground within seconds and organise a friendly game there,” adds Stanislav Macák. Currently, around 1,700 athletes and hundreds of sports grounds across the Czech Republic are registered in the Sportera app.

The trio is now developing additional website features and preparing for a nationwide spring campaign in cooperation with the sports equipment retailer Decathlon. The start-up is also collecting successes in student competitions and at the university – last year they won the Change the World Through Movement competition and this year they became an official BUT Start-up.

“Our goal is to simplify access to physical activity, promote an active lifestyle and build a sports community across the Czech Republic. We want to connect the public, cities and sports partners and support more efficient use of public spaces. And of course, to offer inspiration on how to spend free time actively,” concludes Stanislav Macák.

(mar)