In this episode of the Achieve Podcast, host Jessie Warner sits down with Ricardo Valerdi, founder of Science of Sport (sciencesport.org), a nonprofit that brings math and science to life through sports for youth across the U.S.
With partnerships spanning professional sports teams, corporate sponsors, and school districts, Ricardo and his team use baseball, basketball, football, soccer, and more to turn box scores and on-field action into engaging STEM lessons that actually connect with students.
In this conversation, you’ll learn:
- How Science of Sport uses real sports data to teach statistics, physics, and numeracy
- Why Ricardo chose to build a nonprofit model instead of a traditional for-profit business
- The unique “three customers” they serve: students, teachers, and sponsors and how they create value for each
- How AI and machine learning connect to sports analytics and help students understand data-driven decision-making
- The challenge of reaching underfunded, underserved school districts and scaling impact across the country
- Practical advice for entrepreneurs on clearly defining the value you bring to each stakeholder you serve
Ricardo also shares why numeracy the ability to make decisions with data is just as critical as literacy, and how technology like markerless motion sensing and advanced sports analytics can inspire the next generation of engineers, scientists, and critical thinkers.