From a young age, Dave King had a knack for coaching and running sporting events. With this passion and the spirit of a true entrepreneur, King built a career in coaching youth athletes and organizing top-tier sporting events while running his company of 40+ years – Triple Crown Sports.

Over the years, King became exceptionally talented at developing youth athletes to the magnitude of success needed to play at the collegiate level. Yet, time and time again, King noted that he kept getting the same questions from families; “They would ask; ‘Where do I fit? How good am I, coach? What (college) camp should I go to?’”

In essence, families were turning to him as the Club coach to identify what college fit was best for their athlete. “Most of them would have no idea what their skill package converts to at the collegiate level,” said King.

King had experienced this same dilemma even with his own daughter, Kelly. A catcher on an 18A team, she had developed a skillset in calling excellent games with limited pitching on the roster. However, when it came time to decide whether to pursue a college softball career, she ultimately opted to hang up her cleats.

“I didn’t think I was good enough to play at one of the top divisions right away and was pretty certain I would ride the pine (sit the bench) for a few years,” reflected Kelly. “I loved the game, and I couldn’t handle the idea of not being able to contribute to my team right away.”

In hindsight, there were many D2 and JUCO teams where she would have flourished had she known where her skillsets aligned. With this, a clear need was identified: an evaluation system that could accurately rank an athlete’s skill sets to the collegiate division levels.

And thus, an idea was sparked. In 2020, King and his daughter Kelly (now grown and a parent of six), launched College Sports Evaluation with the mission of helping youth athletes find their college fit.

A family owned business, CSE has developed verified methods to evaluate softball and baseball athletes using sensor data technology and a college coach analysis. With data and analytics driving the output of every testing, participants receive a digital report that clearly outlines their results as compared to a college athlete following an evaluation. With this comes a clear understanding of developmental needs and a tangible tool for athletes to share with college coaches.

In efforts to provide this outlet to as many athletes as possible, CSE intends to expand into all sports.