Welcome to VirtualHoops! My name is Chris Duckworth and I started this company to help satisfy one simple need: to help take the guesswork out of recruiting for players and coaches.

As a college basketball player, I watched the efforts of my coaches every year to bring in quality players to help contribute to our team. I realized that recruiting for them is a continuous and often taxing cycle. I have always realized how hard it is to get the exposure necessary to make it to the college ranks as a player because I got to college unconventionally.

I played high school basketball in Kentucky, competing well enough to receive all-region honors in 1993. Though I had received numerous letters from NCAA Division II and some Division I colleges, I did not receive a scholarship and opted to walk on at the University of Tennessee. As luck would have it (my luck, anyway), things did not work out the way I had hoped and I found myself back at home with my athletic future uncertain. I spent the next few years working blue-collar jobs and searching for a college to play at. I spent countless dollars on long distance phone calls, even more on long distance travel, just to play in front of coaches so they could evaluate my game. Sometimes, as with everything, I did well and sometimes I did not. It did not mean that I could not play the game of basketball; it just meant that I did not play well that day and that was the only day these coaches would have to see me. I would always think to myself "there just has to be a better way." Eventually I landed a spot at Kentucky State University, where I helped to win a conference championship, furthered my education and finished out my career.

That better way of getting the exposure you all have dreamed of has arrived. Next year, countless amounts of money will be spent by athletes and coaches to make a connection with each other to accomplish their goals. I encourage every athlete and coach to take advantage of this opportunity to make that connection much easier.

  © 2002 VirtualHoops, C.D.i Enterprises. All rights reserved. "Ball and Zeroes", "VirtualHoops"
 and "The Future of Online Recruiting" are servicemarks of C.D.i Enterprises.