Former Carleton student Nicholas Van Zant has co-founded Full Roster, a website connecting users to pick-up hockey games within the area.
Van Zant created the website with friend Andre Munroe. He said the idea was something “birthed out of necessity.”
“There’s an issue always scrambling around for subs,” he said, when trying to organize pick-up sports games.
Van Zant said the idea took off after meeting website developer Paulo Arruda at Startup Weekend Ottawa, a gathering of people looking to start a business.
Then, Van Zant said after two weeks of development the website launched early 2014.
The website was largely promoted through Reddit, a popular Internet forum, before achieving a partnership with the Canadian Adult Recreational Hockey Association.
Since then, visits to the site have come from 420 cities, six countries, and five continents, Van Zant said.
He said the website is open to anyone who wants to play sports and has equipment.
“Background doesn’t really matter,” he said. “The demographic is pretty big, both men and women, anyone who really wants to play.”
But the website is still in beta, he said. They plan to add more sports than hockey, more languages, and create a mobile app.
“Technology is allowing us to be more connected than ever, but I find people are more disconnected than ever at the same time,” he said. “People use technology to isolate themselves from each other, and what we’re trying to do is get people together and off the couch and in a healthy lifestyle.”
On a wider scale, Van Zant said he hopes the website breaks down racial, linguistic, socio-economic, and geographical barriers in recreational sports.
He said the company plans to donate a portion of their profits to charity.
