Matt Griffin of Sports International Tells Us How COVID-19 Has Affected Football Camps

First of all, how are you and your family doing in these COVID-19 times?

Matt Griffin: Doing well, thank you.

Tell us about you, your career, how you joined Sports International.

Matt Griffin: After graduation, I was in need of a job in the area where the company was originally based. I actually applied for their sister company, which I was not interested in at the time but knew I needed to find something. Thankfully that company passed along my resume to Sports International, and the rest was history. Fast forward 16 years, and I had the opportunity to purchase the company, which I did and have been the proud owner of now for roughly 1 ½ years.

How does Sports International innovate? 

Matt Griffin: That is the million-dollar question. How to do you separate yourselves from other football camps is something we work on every day. There is no solution, but there are many little things that we try doing daily, which helps us improve upon the product. At the end of the day, we want the customer to have a great and positive experience. If they go back and tell their friends to attend next year, we know we have done an excellent job.

How the coronavirus pandemic affects your business, and how are you coping? 

Matt Griffin: The coronavirus hit us very hard. All our camps are overnight and held on the campus of a college or University. Due to the virus, each of our host locations rescheduled us to 2021. As a new owner, it was a tough time, but thanks to our loyal and faithful campers, we have been able to survive and hope to come back even stronger in 2021!

Did you have to make difficult choices, and what are the lessons learned?  

Matt Griffin: We sure did. Due to the loss of revenue, we had to two lay off two loyal and hardworking employees. We would love to be in a position to bring them back someday, but we have a long road ahead of us. I consider us one of the lucky companies that have not had to shut our doors.

How do you deal with stress and anxiety, how do you project yourself and Sports International in the future?  

Matt Griffin: Slowly… If you get ahead of yourself, it typically doesn’t end well. You do what you can in the time you have and make sure you treat every person as if it is the most important thing to you at that moment. If I do that, the rest will typically work itself out.

Who are your competitors? And how do you plan to stay in the game? 

Matt Griffin: Every camp is a competitor. Each participant has many options, and they don’t necessarily have to come to our camp. The only thing we can do is control our product and make sure everyone has a memorable experience. If we do that, we will have a camp that lasts a long time.

Your final thoughts?

Matt Griffin: Thank you for including us.

Your website?

www.footballcamps.com