About UpperSports

Many years ago, the co-founder of UpperSports, Dale Traber, faced a dilemma. At a critical time in his daughter’s basketball career, she began to lack the confidence and ability which once signatured her past effort and style of play. So Dale took it upon himself to try to find something to help her regain her confidence.

Dale’s daughter loves playing basketball. In fact, in many ways, her life revolves around basketball. She began playing in grade 8 and excelled almost immediately. By grade 10 she was starting point guard – a position she continued to play through grade 12. During this time, she received fairly extensive video coaching from university level coaches.

The highschool basketball season officially begins in December - the same time universities begin recruiting players. However, in grade 12, Dale’s daughter’s confidence waned and her game dropped off. Dale believed that if she could just get some one-on-one time with one of her university coaches, she could regain her confidence and reach her past level of performance. Unfortunately, the coaches were busy with their teams and couldn’t afford to take the time to watch her play.

Since time was of the essence, Dale recorded his daughter’s games with his video camera and produced a DVD of each one. He drove the DVD’s to the university for a coach to view on his TV and record his comments on Dale’s dictaphone. The next day Dale would drive back to the university to pick up his dictaphone and DVD’s. This routine carried on for several games.

At home, his daughter was able to view her performance while listening to the coach’s analysis and comments. Something truly magical quickly began to take place. Following one particular game tape, and listening to her coach on the dictaphone, Dale remembers his daughter saying “Dad, I know what I need to do!”

There was an immediate spike in her performance. Her percentage of completed shots doubled and her on-court confidence was clearly restored. The turnaround took less time than Dale could have ever imagined.

Realizing the substantial effort it had taken him, as well as the phenomenal benefits of video coaching, Dale set out to simplify the process and provide this service to all athletes. He drafted a one-page business plan and emailed his good friend Marv Peters. Dale recalls, “I timed how long Marv would take to reply. Within eight minutes, Marv was on the phone, loving the idea, and we planned how we were going to create and launch UpperSports.”

The rest is history. And yes, Dale’s daughter has a basketball scholarship and is happily playing university basketball!

The video coaches who helped her along the way are Jay Duke and Tyler Coston.

If you want to email Dale or Marv directly, you can at Dale@UpperSports.com & Marv@UpperSports.com.

UpperSports Media Inc
115 First Street
Sumas, WA, 98295