Sports Media Report
RealResponse (@RealResponseHQ), the award winning leading safe and secure feedback, monitoring and anonymous reporting platform for athletic teams and organizations, today announced the addition of new colleges and universities to its fast-growing list, reaching the 100 partner milestone for the first time in the company’s short history. More than 50,000 athletes now have the ability to use RealResponse to share feedback, safely and securely report issues to coaches and administrators in real time for everything from mental health issues, social injustice concerns, COVID-19 policy infractions, misconduct, hazing, sexual harassment as well as using the system to highlight successes and best practices which might go otherwise unnoticed. Their work was recognized by the Charlotte Business Journal this month as one of the “Fifty Most Innovative Companies in the Region.”
“As we head towards a period of increased scrutiny and challenges for athletes in everything from the Olympics to the return to play in colleges big and small this fall, the pressure and challenges placed on athletes and coaches at all levels has never been greater, and we are proud to be able to work with this growing number of colleges, universities and organizations to document, address and most importantly, head off issues within any size programs,” said 31 year old David Chadwick, former Division I basketball player at Rice University and Valparaiso University and the founder of RealResponse. “We started this because we saw, and heard, the need to help the athletes speak, and to help coaches and administrators address issues safely and securely, and the response continues to speak loudly. We are thrilled to eclipse 100 partner institutions and welcome our recent members and look forward to additional news, partnerships and growth in the coming weeks.”
Recent additions to the growing number of partners for RealResponse includes: Boston College, Campbell University, Appalachian State University, Cal State Northridge, UNC Asheville, and Arkansas State University. They join a list that has schools from the Major Five Conferences (Wake Forest, the University of Maryland, Ole Miss, TCU) as well as mid major schools (Army, Georgetown, Grand Canyon, and Liberty) and schools from Division II and III (Cal State Monterey Bay, Western New England, Bowdoin). RealResponse has also begun working actively outside the collegiate space with organizations like the NFLPA, National Governing Bodies like USA Gymnastics and others, and will be expanding with other relationships in the coming months.
“We are living in a very changing, dynamic time, for intercollegiate athletics and the world in general. Within our athletics department we challenge our coaches, staff, and even our student-athletes to question whether just because we have been doing something one way does not mean we need to keep doing it. Is there another better way? Or are we missing something? And that is where RealResponse came in,” said Janet Cone, Director of Athletics, UNC Asheville. “We wanted to give our student-athletes an easy to use and real time tool to provide us with critical information . We are now very confident that the anonymous aspect is going to allow us to gather more information. Instead of someone hesitating and trying to decide, ‘Should I go forward or not?’ They know they can send a message to us. And we now have some information that we did not know that can help us address concerns and issues.” For more on UNC Asheville’s partnership click here.
Three other athletic directors, two in the Big 12 Conference, the other in the ACC, also reaffirmed their growing support of RealResponse:
“RealResponse is used extensively by our Leadership Team, especially our Sport Administrators. The Survey Platform streamlined how we collect feedback and measure our student-athlete experiences, both internally and benchmarked against national trends,” added Jamie Pollard, Director of Athletics, Iowa State University. “The Real-Time Reporting has created an open and safe channel for our administration to stay responsive to student-athlete needs. Lastly, the Documentation Repository has allowed our team to centralize and manage important notes and communications in the daily execution of our departmental processes. It has truly become an essential part of our operations, and I would recommend RealResponse to any peer.
“RealResponse has been tremendous for Baylor University. Student-athletes can approach us anonymously and I can still communicate back, creating a safe environment while offering key resources such as Title IX, Equity, and Mental Health Services. Importantly, these conversations are automatically captured, and the documentation trail and timeline generated provide peace of mind to our department,“ said Dawn Rogers, Deputy Director of Athletics, Baylor University
“Protecting the health and safety of our student-athletes and the integrity of the institution are paramount responsibilities for an Athletics Director. RealResponse is an invaluable tool to help identify student-athlete needs and concerns – and determine the right administrative response – before they escalate into a crisis,” added John Currie, Director of Athletics, Wake Forest University
