Hopewell Sports Nation Announces Media Partnership with Beaver County Softball Network!!!

Saturday – 4/13/2024 Hopewell Sports Nation is happy to Announce a Brand New Media Partnership with the Beaver County Softball Network!!!

As we continue to grow here at Hopewell Sports Nation it is our goal to keep expanding our article coverage to as many sports and youth athletic clubs as possible. In addition, we are working to improve the quality of coverage to extend past game recap articles and enhance our coverage into capturing live action videos of Games, Interviews, and College Commitment Announcements to go along with our mission of supporting our hometown Athletes and Township.

Through a media partnership with Bill Littler and his streaming Youtube Channel/Facebook page we hope to do just that. HSN will now be able to bring Live Coverage of Games in high quality resolution, professional quality video interviews with your favorite Hopewell Township Softball Team players and more.

Bill’s Channel is called The Beaver County Softball Network, and what to expect in the future from this partnership after an interview with Bill Littler. HSN is excited about partnering with another Hopewell Baseball Alumni whose history goes back to the Joe Colella days!

A little about me that many probably don’t know…

I have a special place in my heart for Hopewell, I graduated from Hopewell in 1992.  I’m hidden in their trophy case somewhere.  I was a special team’s letter winner on the first Hopewell team that made it the WPIAL championship.  I also played for the famous Coach Joe Collela, Hopewell’s baseball coach for almost a century!  His mindset was small ball and I give him all the credit for teaching me the value and how to play small ball.  It’s essentially how softball should be played and how I taught my daughter to play.  It worked out for her earning a scholarship to play softball at Youngstown State.  I also know Mr. Short, Hopewell’s Athetic Director.  He was the trainer at Hopewell when I played football and baseball there.

 What is Beaver County Softball Network?

Beaver County Softball Network is a platform created for the softball girls of Beaver County! Our mission is to broadcast live softball games across various levels, including varsity, recreation, and travel teams, within the Beaver County communities. The network aims to connect players, families, and fans by providing free access to these exciting games. You can find us on Facebook, and YouTube to stay updated with our live streams and content.

How did you get started?

I’ve coached my daughter from when she played tee ball all the way through her youth career at Central Valley and her travel career at Valley Rage.  It was known early on that her athletic ability in softball would eventually go beyond my knowledge of the game, so I made it a point to find an organization that had current and former players coaching and that led us to Team Pennsylvania.  I stopped coaching at that point, but I never stopped recording.  I’ve been recording my daughter’s softball games since she was 11 years old.  She’s currently 19 playing softball at Youngstown State University as a freshman, and I continue recording her games there!  She has her own YouTube channel dedicated to her highlights that I’ve created over her career.  Check it out!!!  I also helped develop websites for teams and organizations as well as managed social media content for a few softball organizations.  I have an amateur background, but I learn more every day.

Why did you get started?

Once I realized my daughter’s career was nearing completion, I wanted to stay connected to the sport but control my own schedule.  I really enjoy the game and I feel I have a lot to offer to the sport.  I was approached to get back into coaching by several teams and organizations, but I’m not ready to commit to a single team or organization.  I want to use my knowledge of the game and the rare technical skills to help showcase players from Beaver County and surrounding areas.  I started in the summer of 2022 streaming an 8U All-Star game and I failed miserably!  The idea was to figure it out and get an idea of how the community would accept it.  It blew up quickly, probably too fast and I had to learn on the fly.  And I’ll never stop learning and improving, that’s the only way this will be successful.

What are your goals?

The main goal is to provide a stage for Beaver County softball at no charge to the viewers.  One thing the local teams will experience when the WPIAL playoffs start is the playoff streaming coverage will charge them to watch their daughter’s play, which is absolutely appalling to me.  Too many businesses have their hands in the parent’s pockets in youth sports.  I promise to never charge anyone to watch my live streams or videos.  And I also promise to provide something as good or better than those who do.

Where do you see your business going in the future?

I’m only a one-man team at this point and I’m doing this as a not-for-profit entity.  It’s literally my hobby, something that was needed now that both my kids moved away to college!  I want to continue focusing on softball, but I may consider expanding in the future.  What I do can be duplicated, so it should be easy to expand as I find others who share the same interests.  I’m only able to stream 1 to 3 games a week, but it would be great to double or triple that!  I just can’t do it all myself, so I’m limited.

How do you give back to the sport?

I’ve been involved with Central Valley softball from when my daughter was 4 years old until she graduated high school.  I coached youth teams, all-star teams, and I was even an assistant coach for Central Valley Varsity.  I also coached with the Valley Rage organization, the oldest, largest, and CHEAPEST local travel softball organization.  I led a team of representatives from Beaver County districts to redevelop the Beaver County Youth Fastpitch League.  It fell into the wrong hands, and it fell off the track a little bit, but the team of district representatives pulled together and brought back what is now of the better youth sport organizations in the area.  I even umpired for a couple years.  I have a lot of knowledge about this game, and I chose this network over coaching or umpiring because I feel I can help more players than just one team or one organization.  What I offer can be shared by many players around our area!

What are the benefits?

The biggest benefit for me is being able to play with electronics and stay involved with softball.  I wasn’t plugged into softball until my daughter started playing and it really is an exciting sport to watch.  The behind-the-scenes benefit is the challenge of growing in the social media space.  I guess in some ways, I’m a wannabe influencer!  Watching the network grow in YouTube and Facebook is fun and there is income in the social media market if you take advantage of it.  It’s a great way to fund this network through monetization.

Why partner with Hopewell Sports Nation?

When you are involved in social media, your focus should be partnering with other groups or businesses that share the same niche.  This helps you grow in the social media space and that will open opportunities that you wouldn’t have otherwise.  Both entities are very young, and it is beneficial for us to help each other grow together.  The best thing about this partnership is HSN has a skillset that I don’t have, and I have a skillset that HSN doesn’t have.  It’s brilliant to partner because of that alone!

Subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow us on Facebook.  By staying engaged on social media, you are helping the financial investment of this network!!!