all academic basketball

What all academic basketball does

All-Academic Basketball organizes basketball showcase and recruitment exposure events for high school student-athletes (grades 9-12) seeking visibility to college coaches at academically selective institutions. Founded in 2006 at Brandeis University as the first academic-focused basketball exposure circuit in the United States, the company relocated its flagship event to Babson College in 2022, where it now hosts 400+ athletes and 200+ college and prep school coaches across separate boys and girls showcase weekends. The company operates as a wholly-owned brand under 3 Step Sports LLC, headquartered in Woburn, Massachusetts, and leverages the PlayerFirst Technology platform for registration, single-login authentication, and QR-code waiver processing across 150+ youth sport organizations. Its core product set consists of the AAB @ Babson Showcase, the broader AAB Exposure circuit, a mailing list subscription, and digital waiver services, with Film Breakout Sessions added in 2025.

The business is monetized through one-time event registration fees priced at $395+ (girls) and $495+ (boys) per participant, with tiered package upgrades available. Distribution is direct-to-consumer through the company's website and PlayerFirst registration flow, with event-driven demand generation supported by Facebook, Instagram, X, mailing list capture, and an official travel partner (Team Travel Source) handling hotel logistics. Customer segments include high school student-athletes as the primary buyer, their parents as influencers, college and prep school coaches as institutional demand-side participants, and elite prep schools as a secondary segment. Named attending institutions span Amherst, MIT, Johns Hopkins, Williams, Babson, Bowdoin, Tufts, Brandeis, and the Phillips Exeter/Andover prep schools, indicating concentrated demand from the highly selective academic tier of NCAA Division III and Ivy League recruitment.

Name

all academic basketball

Legal name

3 Step Sports LLC

Website

https://allacademicbasketball.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2006

Operating status

Operating

Short description

All-Academic Basketball organizes basketball showcase and recruitment exposure events at Babson College for high school student-athletes seeking visibility to college coaches at academically selective institutions. Operates as a subsidiary of 3 Step Sports LLC.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Woburn

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Revenue model

1. Event Registration Fees: Student-athletes pay registration fees to participate in showcase events. Fees vary by event and package selected, ranging from $395-$495+ per participant.
2. Package Upgrades: Tiered pricing with packages offering additional services beyond base event registration.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Insufficient source-backed data to describe the core offering. No resolvable source IDs were present in the supplied input; therefore no factual description can be emitted without violating source attribution rules.

Product overview

All-Academic Basketball operates as a premier academic exposure service for student-athletes, consisting of the core AAB Exposure platform and flagship AAB @ Babson Showcase events. The company offers separate boys and girls showcase events at Babson College featuring college coach attendance, game videotaping, and leadership seminars. Additional services include an educational advantage program with SAT/ACT preparation and recruitment guidance, supplemented by mailing list subscriptions and digital waiver processing through the PlayerFirst platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• 44 student-athletes placed in Ivy League over 7 seasons by Senior Lecturer John Carroll
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.

• 3 Step Sports LLCcoreOthersParent company of All-Academic Basketball. Provides corporate infrastructure, registration platform, and organizational support. All-Academic Basketball operates as a brand under 3 Step Sports LLC.
• PlayerFirst TechnologycoreTechnology or IntegrationTechnology platform providing single login access to 150+ youth sport organizations. Powers registration, waiver processing, and account management for All-Academic Basketball events.
• Team Travel SourcesupportingChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorOfficial travel partner providing hotel reservations with locked-in rates for AAB event attendees. Handles room blocks and coordinates accommodations during high-demand periods (e.g., FIFA World Cup in Massachusetts).
• Babson CollegecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPrimary event venue since 2022. Host location for the All-Academic Showcase featuring world-class athletic facilities. Crown jewel location of the AAB circuit.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Regional players

• Beasts of the East: Northeast-based high school basketball showcase and tournament operator; comparable in format to AAB but focused regionally rather than on the academic-recruitment niche.

Direct peers

• Hoop Group: Long-running basketball showcase and event operator running camps, tournaments and exposure events for high school players — directly comparable event-based, athlete-exposure business to AAB.
• Zero Gravity Basketball: Sibling brand under 3 Step Sports LLC running basketball tournaments and events; operates the same event-driven exposure model as AAB for a broader (non-academic-only) audience.
• NY2LA Sports: Independent basketball showcase and media company running exposure events and producing athlete content; directly comparable as an athlete-exposure and event-recruiting business.
• Phenom Hoops: Basketball event organizer and scouting media platform covering high school players and tournaments; competes with AAB for athlete and coach attention at showcase events.
• Prep Hoops: Basketball scouting media and showcase event operator for high school athletes; directly comparable as an exposure-and-media business targeting recruited student-athletes.

Broad incumbents

• AAU (Amateur Athletic Union): Largest national amateur athletic organization governing youth basketball, with member clubs and tournament circuits; overlaps with AAB's youth basketball exposure category but at much greater scale.
• NCSA (Next College Student Athlete): Leading college athletic recruiting platform serving athletes across multiple sports; competes for the same recruitment-process pain points AAB addresses, but via a software/media model rather than events.
• Under Armour Association: National grassroots basketball circuit and showcase series run by Under Armour; competes with AAB for elite high school basketball talent at marquee events.
• Adidas Gauntlet: Grassroots basketball tournament and showcase series operated by Adidas for elite high school prospects; competes with AAB's showcase-and-exposure value proposition at the national level.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/AllAcademicBB
• Facebookfacebook.com/allacademicbb
• Instagraminstagram.com/allacademicbb

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about all academic basketball