Sports Made Easy — Great New Tennis App

Summary

Neil Partha Sorathi (CEO) and Chuck Picarillo (CTO) of Sports Made Easy (formerly My Game Solutions) present a platform designed to solve the tennis logistics problem: finding hitting partners, coaches, and certified stringers while traveling. The “Uber/Airbnb for tennis” framing is their own. Trent Bride is on the advisory board. Plans to integrate UTR for score reporting.

Guest Background

Neil Partha Sorathi: CEO of Sports Made Easy (formerly My Game Solutions). Has a son playing junior tennis and travels frequently — the platform was born from his personal frustration with finding hitting partners and coaching in unfamiliar cities. Chuck Picarillo: CTO, 30 years in healthcare technology before pivoting to tennis. Together they bring enterprise technology experience to a consumer tennis logistics problem. Trent Bride serves on the advisory board.

Key Findings

Core Function: Uber/Airbnb for Tennis

Sports Made Easy connects players who need hitting partners, coaches, or certified stringers in any location. The model: traveling players post their needs, local players and coaches respond. This addresses a real friction point in competitive junior tennis — families traveling to tournaments in unfamiliar cities cannot easily find quality hitting partners or racket service.

UTR Integration Planned

Plans are in place to integrate UTR for score reporting — meaning matches arranged through Sports Made Easy could generate UTR data, adding value to the competitive record of both players. This transforms a logistics platform into a development tool: match play plus official rating data in one environment.

Pricing Tiers

Free basic tier. Premium tier: $3.99/month. Premium Plus: $6.99/month. The tiered model reflects a standard freemium SaaS approach — broad access at the base level, feature unlocks at premium tiers.

Safety Protocol for Minors

Minors must have an 18+ adult with them when arranging connections through the platform. This is a non-negotiable safety design choice, not an optional setting. The protocol is relevant given the player safety concerns Lisa references (predatory coach arrest warning article on ParentingAces.com mentioned in the same episode).

Melanie Udan: Atlanta Area Subsidized Camp

Mentioned in context: Melanie Udan, a recently retired professional player in the Atlanta area, is running a subsidized summer camp through Sports Made Easy. This provides a local Atlanta connection and illustrates how the platform is being used to surface accessible programming (subsidized pricing) that would otherwise be invisible to families.

USRSA Certified Stringers Network

The platform also connects players to USRSA-certified stringers — racket stringing specialists with verified certification. In tournament contexts where rackets are strung repeatedly under pressure, knowing how to find a certified stringer in any city is practically valuable.

Founding Problem: Personal Experience

Neil’s origin story mirrors Lisa Stone’s for ParentingAces: he built the platform because he couldn’t find the solution he needed as a parent. This “scratch your own itch” founding dynamic produces products that address genuine user problems rather than assumed ones.

Actionable Advice

• Use platforms like Sports Made Easy when traveling for tournaments — local hitting partner infrastructure reduces practice disruption.
• Register with UTR-integrated platforms to ensure all competitive match play contributes to the rating record.
• Enforce 18+ adult supervision in all minor-involving logistics arranged through third-party platforms.
• When evaluating tennis apps and platforms, prioritize UTR integration as a quality signal — it indicates the platform understands the competitive development ecosystem.

INTENNSE Relevance

Sports Made Easy’s Uber/Airbnb model addresses the same logistics friction INTENNSE players face when traveling to away matches. The UTR integration plan is relevant to how INTENNSE reports match data — ensuring that INTENNSE competitive results contribute to the universal player record. The Atlanta connection (Melanie Udan) and the advisory board involvement of Trent Bride signal that Sports Made Easy is embedded in networks that overlap with INTENNSE’s ecosystem.

Notable Quotes

“We’re essentially Uber and Airbnb for tennis — connecting players who need hitting partners, coaches, or stringers wherever they are.”

“Melanie Udan is running a subsidized camp through the platform in the Atlanta area — that’s the kind of accessible programming we want to surface.”