Web Sighting (2)

All work, no play … you know how it goes. So do Glenn Somodi, Andrew Hopkins and Andrew Holland, a trio of Akron Internet developers who used their Web design skills and business acumen to launch what Holland calls a “sports matchmaking” service, www.gamesnake.com. “As you get older, it becomes harder to find people to play with,” Holland says. “It becomes really hard to find even one other person to play tennis with, let alone 21 other people to play soccer with. GameSnake matches players with pickup games in their area. More than 78,000 men and women of all ages have joined the free service with more than 3,600 of them from Northeast Ohio. “In areas where we have about 100 people playing a given sport within a 25-mile radius, it takes off,” Holland says. “It’s very easy for me to post a soccer game today — right now — and be able to play tonight.”

It’s the biggest innovation to hit the game since electronic scoring. Northeast Ohio-based USBC coaches Fred 
Borden, Jeri Edwards and Ron Hatfield recently rolled out their www.mybowlingcoach.com to help make you the envy of your league. “Right now, there is a new resurgence of activity and membership in bowling,” Hatfield says. The Web site, which Hatfield says is meant to supplement hands-on coaching, offers downloadable lessons via video, text and audio. “We do very clear and concise demonstrations, and we talk through the demonstrations to let people know what to be looking for and how this can apply to their game,” Hatfield says. “This is the first time [it] has ever been done.” And, with a $49.95 subscription fee and 156 bowling lessons in the site’s library, it’ll cost you less than a buck a week. Look at it this way, it’s cheaper than golf lessons.