San Antonio Student Athletes Magazine Provides A Fresh Perspective To An American Staple
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San Antonio Student Athletes Magazine Provides A Fresh Perspective To An American Staple
Posted August 6, 2008
San Antonio — In a state where high school sports resemble a religion, consider San Antonio the Mecca for premiere athletes aspiring to reach the next level of sport superstardom. San Antonio Student Athletes Magazine — SAm — is poised to become the most comprehensive source of all-that-is prep school athletics in San Antonio.
Starting with the highly-anticipated football season, Sam’s premier issue will hit the stands in September - just in time to kick off the upcoming high school sports seasons. Can’t wait that long? Sam’s interactive website is already dishing up summer camp highlights, early predictions and rosters.
Even though the first issue hasn’t even rolled off the presses, the homegrown startup magazine is already providing a positive exposure platform for young athletes in the San Antonio community, according to its creators. With so much newspaper ink already dedicated to Division 4A and 5A prep school giants, Sam’s goal is to shine more light on the 1A-, 2A- and 3A-debut athletes who, despite their schools’ sizes, are competing toward the same goals. And in addition to traditional sports reporting, SAm will credit those who may never make a play or drain a game winning shot, but who are just as instrumental to their teams’ successes. Like a school band, for example, that tirelessly entertains and energizes both crowds and players alike. Or a cheerleading squads that leads students, athletes and spectators to victory night after night. SAm’s creators view such activities as sports in their own rights, and plan on featuring them accordingly. It’s all part of what makes SAm the most well-rounded high school sports magazine in San Antonio.
What’s more, SAm’s coverage doesn’t stop once the clock runs down. In addition to stats and highlights, each issue of SAm will feature standout coaches, compelling rivalries and expand on the stories behind the headlines. It will focus on human-interest stories that reach beyond the final buzzer, spotlighting the challenges our student athletes face on and off the gridiron. In short, SAm illustrates how players, coaches and community members achieve victory in the game of life.
SAm simultaneously seeks to position these young stars in a way that facilitates taking their talents to the next level. It also encourages their abilities beyond the high school gym or practice field, such as those of their academic and personal lives.
It’s Been A Long Time Coming
The two Texas men behind SAm founded the publication last spring after a year of strategic planning, market research, and conceptual design. That’s when owners Charlie Perrin and Joshua Pratt, who had envisioned SAm for some time, brought their diverse business backgrounds together and began preliminary talks. Though the two once played basketball together as boys in the same Portland, TX neighborhood in which they met, their lives had taken them to different regions of the country. That changed in May 2008 when investors committed the funding necessary to getting the magazine off the ground and Pratt moved his family from Idaho to Texas to devote his full-time attention to the project.
What may seem like a rapid collaboration is actually the culmination of years of experience, Pratt says. Combined, the two men bring a smorgasbord of knowledge to the magazine, on both the production/publication and business fronts. Perrin, a financial whiz kid who grew up in a business-minded family, has worked in the financial industry as an accountant at numerous accounting firms in Texas, served as the property manager for a large asset management company and has noteworthy experience in other business ventures. He also played college-level basketball, instructed at basketball camps and has participated in numerous charity events in the San Antonio community.
Pratt has eight years of experience in the design and publication industries. His resume includes work at a top Northwest design firm; the creative direction and lead designing duties at a high-end business and lifestyle magazine; newspapers; in-house marketing and design, and marketing and design direction for a property development company. He also brings his passion for sports and several years of experience instructing at basketball camps and coaching state-placing basketball teams at the varsity level.
The publication, owned by the dynamic duo’s company Thirteen Acre Media, LLC, plans to add additional staff once the first publication rolls out. For now, Perrin manages SAm’s operations, including business and financial decisions, logistics and even the occasional creative content direction. He will continue managing the business end of the publication as it progresses.
Pratt’s experiences have uniquely prepared him for the magazine’s creative director role, which means he molds the lose concept ideas into finished, tangible products each month. He also spearheads brainstorming sessions and creates unique angles for each story.
SAm’s current team also includes an editorial manager, a remotely-located web designer and an additional sales person.
A New Way to Do Business
Sports coverage is nothing new, especially when it comes to Texas high school sports. Pratt admits that SAm isn’t reinventing the wheel; that he and Perrin aren’t trying to accomplish anything that hasn’t already been done. “We’re just trying to do it the right way, for the kids in the community,” he said.
This includes carefully considering which businesses he and his partner approach for advertising within SAm. Aside from discussing the magazine and the potential opportunity for the advertisers, Pratt and Perrin take into consideration the business’s local involvement and evaluate how this will affect the magazine’s mission to serve the community.
The team at SAm strives to strictly maintain unbiased content within the magazine. Even though the first issue is only in its developmental stages, the owners are already receiving offers to sell editorial content, a move the company wants to shy away from.
“One of the driving forces behind our magazine is that we will never sell editorial,” said Perrin. Content will remain pure and untainted by the politics and other distractions that can become a part of a publication, he explained
In addition to high-quality publication standards, SAm’s goal is to provide its employees with an environment that is conducive to professional development. This is accomplished by providing every tool necessary for employees to work efficiently without interruptions.
“We want them to have everything they need to succeed at what they do,” Perrin said.
Reaching Out
SAm’s unique, high-tech media kit delivers a preview of the bold design and rich content that will deliver stats and highlights in a distinctively original package. The projected reach of its pages goes far beyond the high school scene, exposing the talent and accomplishments of prep school athletes to other young competitors, teachers and parents as well.
With strong financial backing, fresh design and business savvy approach, this San Antonio media company is sure to make a bold impression on the area’s athletic scene.
“Our overall goal is to be the only sports magazine in San Antonio,” Perrin said. “We want to be a magazine with a reputation for providing quality and unbiased content.”
