By: Emma Robinson, Editor-in-Chief
Rising graduate student Sarah Borer spent her summer interning for a company that helps guide student athletes towards their ideal college. 2aDays is a website that allows college athletes to rate their coaches and facilities, as well as connects athletes to scholarships and blog posts intended to help athletes have a successful college experience.
“I think of 2aDays as a Rate My Professor for athletics, and I think a lot of people could use it to learn more about coaches, campuses and facilities to make their recruitment process easier,” Borer said.
Borer found the internship listing online, and applied after taking a sports management course at LIU.
The internship program was rotational; interns spent two weeks doing tasks for digital marketing, editorials, user experiences and public relations for the company.
Borer felt inspired during her time at 2aDays by the strong female leader behind the company: Keirsten Sires.
“I think we lack that sometimes in the world of business and sports, so being able to learn from [Sires] and see her drive as the CEO of a company that is very important for athletes was great … As a student athlete, I think [2aDays] would have helped me a lot during recruitment,” Borer said. “I also learned a lot from the other interns. We were always asked to give our feedback during the program.”
Sires came up with the idea for 2aDays in an entrepreneurship class at Skidmore college.
“We had to come up with an idea for a company to [develop throughout] the whole semester,” she said. “And at the end of the semester, we had to present our idea to business individuals who were alumni or in private equity.”
Sires’ inspiration for the concept of 2aDays was her recruitment for the tennis team, which she realized was not a fit for her. Rather than switching schools to continue tennis, Sires opted to be a walk-on for Skidmore’s soccer team the remainder of her time in school.
After her pitch, many of the individuals listening gave Sires a lot of positive feedback. Sires then graduated from Skidmore and decided to start her own business on the side while she worked a corporate job.
“I messed up a lot in the beginning. Like, a lot. Trusting people that I should have vetted more. For example, we hired a company to create our website and they ripped us off. I didn’t do too much research, I got a recommendation from one person and took them for their word … I think the biggest thing in the beginning is making a lot of mistakes and although it sounds cliche—but it’s true— just learning from them … It’s not easy [starting a business], you kind of feel like you don’t know what you’re doing. But if you can tell yourself you know what you’re doing, like faking it till you make it.
Sires emphasizes the importance of a strong team for the success of 2aDays.
“Having people you trust that also see your vision is also super important … Be fearless and trust your instincts as much as possible … You’re going to have a ton of people telling you no or different [conflicting] advice, so make sure you can back your instincts and opinion up and really make sure you do your research and have a board of advisors.”
2aDays is currently growing their variety of ratings for colleges. Originally, 2aDays was a website where athletes ranked head coaches for teams, but is now expanding to ratings for all athletic staff, campus visits and athletic facilities. Additionally, the site is currently uploading about five new blog articles a day.
“Our goal is to help our audience understand the intricacies and information that is less publicly known about recruiting and being a college athlete [in general],” Sires said. “There’s a lot of stuff that is entailed in that.”
During Borer’s time at LIU as a forward position on the soccer team, the university underwent a merger between the Brooklyn and Post campuses that impacted her college experience.
“When the merge first happened, I was really devastated. Only about seven of my teammates stayed [on the team] and went to Post,” she said. “We signed up to be in the city, not Long Island. At first, there were some tough times where [teammates on the merged teams] did not always agree on certain coaching styles and ways of playing. But over time, we have been able to work together as a team and be friendly.”
With difficulties such as the COVID-19 pandemic and expenses to visit prospective colleges in person, Sires aims for 2aDays to give athletes access to learn about the strengths and weaknesses of many colleges without the student having to visit.
For athletes in college, Sires advises to enjoy every second.
“It goes by really fast … [Once you graduate] and you realize you’re not going back for preseason or training, it hits you in a different way. So enjoy everything, even the really tough workouts or morning classes.”
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