Appalachian State, Boston College, and UNC Asheville are amongst a growing number of college and universities joining Maryland, Vanderbilt, Texas A&M, and others in providing an essential, safe, and easy took for their athletes, coaches, and staff.
(Charlotte, NC July 22, 2021) – RealResponse (@RealResponseHQ), the award-winning leading safe and secure feedback, monitoring, and anonymous reporting platform for athletic teams and organizations, announced the addition of new colleges and universities to its fast-growing list, reaching the 100 partner milestone for the first time in the company’s short history. More than 50,000 athletes now have the ability to use RealResponse to share feedback. Athletes can securely report issues to coaches and administrators in real time for everything from mental health issues, social injustice concerns, COVID-19 policy infractions, misconduct, hazing, and sexual harassment. In addition, student-athletes can use the system to highlight successes and best practices which might go otherwise unnoticed. RealResponse’s work was recognized by the Charlotte Business Journal this month as one of the “Fifty Most Innovative Companies in the Region.”
“As we head towards a period of increased scrutiny and challenges for athletes in everything from the Olympics to the return to play in colleges, big and small, this fall, the pressure and challenges placed on athletes and coaches at all levels has never been greater. We are proud to work with a growing number of colleges, universities, and organizations to document, address and most importantly, head off issues within any size programs,” said 31-year-old David Chadwick, former Division I basketball player at Rice University and Valparaiso University, and the founder of RealResponse. “We started this because we saw, and heard, the need to help the athletes speak, and to help coaches and administrators address issues safely and securely, and the response continues to speak loudly. We are thrilled to eclipse 100 partner institutions and welcome our recent members and look forward to additional news, partnerships, and growth in the coming weeks.
Recent additions to the growing number of partners for RealResponse include: Boston College, Campbell University, Appalachian State University, Cal State Northridge, UNC Asheville, and Arkansas State University. They join a list of schools from the Major Five Conferences (Wake Forest, the University of Maryland, Ole Miss, TCU) as well as mid major schools (Army, Georgetown, Grand Canyon, and Liberty) and schools from Division II and III (Cal State Monterey Bay, Western New England, Bowdoin). RealResponse has also begun working actively outside the collegiate space with organizations like the NFLPA, National Governing Bodies like USA Gymnastics and others, and will be expanding with other partnerships in the coming months.
We are living in a very changing, dynamic time, for intercollegiate athletics and the world in general. Within our athletics department we challenge our coaches, staff, and even our student-athletes to question whether just because we have been doing something one way does not mean we need to keep doing it. Is there another better way? Or are we missing something? And that is where RealResponse came in. We wanted to give our student-athletes an easy to use and real time tool to provide us with critical information . We are now very confident that the anonymous aspect is going to allow us to gather more information. Instead of someone hesitating and trying to decide, ‘Should I go forward or not? They know they can send a message to us. And we now have some information that we did not know that can help us address concerns and issues.
— Janet Cone, Director of Athletics, UNC Asheville
For more on UNC Asheville’s partnership click here.
Three other athletic directors, two in the Big 12 Conference, the other in the ACC, also reaffirmed their growing support of RealResponse:
RealResponse is used extensively by our Leadership Team, especially our Sport Administrators. The Survey Platform streamlined how we collect feedback and measure our student-athlete experiences, both internally and benchmarked against national trends. The Real-Time Reporting has created an open and safe channel for our administration to stay responsive to student-athlete needs. Lastly, the Documentation Repository has allowed our team to centralize and manage important notes and communications in the daily execution of our departmental processes. It has truly become an essential part of our operations, and I would recommend RealResponse to any peer.
— Jamie Pollard, Director of Athletics, Iowa State University
RealResponse has been tremendous for Baylor University. Student-athletes can approach us anonymously and I can still communicate back, creating a safe environment while offering key resources such as Title IX, Equity, and Mental Health Services. Importantly, these conversations are automatically captured, and the documentation trail and timeline generated provide peace of mind to our department
— Dawn Rogers, Deputy Director of Athletics, Baylor University
Protecting the health and safety of our student-athletes and the integrity of the institution are paramount responsibilities for an Athletics Director. RealResponse is an invaluable tool to help identify student-athlete needs and concerns – and determine the right administrative response – before they escalate into a crisis.”
— John Currie, Director of Athletics, Wake Forest University
About RealResponse
Founded originally in 2015, and expanded in 2020, RealResponse is an online platform comprising three solutions: real-time reporting, surveys, and a document repository. We empower athletes to report concerns anonymously and in real time using any web-enabled device, and help leaders connect athletes with resources. Key personnel can securely store and track sensitive information in the platform’s documentation hub. Athletic organizations can also use our benchmarking tool to compare metrics to peer and national averages to identify areas of competitive advantage and vulnerability. For more information about RealResponse, visit realresponse.com.
Contact: Joe Favorito/917-566-8345, joefavorito2@gmail.com
