I rarely send messages like this, and I apologize for its length. But this may be the most important email I’ve ever written to the coaches and athletic directors who make high school sports so special.
It isn’t about advertising.
It isn’t about subscriptions.
It isn’t about VYPE.
It’s about making sure every deserving student-athlete has the opportunity to be recognized.
Unfortunately, that’s something we simply cannot accomplish without your help.
For more than three decades, VYPE’s passion has been promoting high school athletics and recognizing the incredible young men and women who represent their schools and communities. Today, our editorial team shares that same passion, but there is one reality we cannot overcome on our own:
We cannot recognize your student-athletes without your help.
That is why I’m personally asking for your partnership.
Our Mission
Every student-athlete has a story worth telling.
Some are all-state performers. Others quietly excel in the classroom, volunteer in their communities, mentor younger athletes, overcome adversity, or simply represent their schools with outstanding character.
Those stories deserve to be told just as much as final scores and championships.
That belief is the foundation of VYPE.
Today, VYPE is the most widely viewed high school sports media platform across our coverage areas. Every day, parents, grandparents, alumni, local businesses, college coaches and fans visit our websites, magazines and social media platforms to celebrate local student-athletes.
Our mission is simple—but ambitious:
Recognize every school in our coverage areas and as many student-athletes as possible.
To my knowledge, no other high school sports media organization has made that commitment. While many outlets naturally focus on the biggest games, rankings, or larger schools, VYPE is committed to making sure every community has an opportunity to see its student-athletes recognized.
Why We Send the Sport Questionnaires
Throughout the year, our editors send one questionnaire to each head coach for every sport.
This is not a request for game recaps, weekly statistics, schedules, rosters, press releases, etc.
In fact, we intentionally don’t ask coaches to spend valuable time doing those things.
Instead, we’re asking for one simple favor.
Please identify eight to ten student-athletes from your program who deserve to be recognized.
That’s it.
Eight to ten names, along with a few notes about each athlete, provides enough outstanding content for us to feature your program throughout the entire school year.
Those nominations become player profiles, leadership stories, academic features, community service spotlights, recruiting stories and other positive editorial content celebrating your athletes and your school.
One questionnaire can create months, if not a years worth, of meaningful recognition.
We Also Need Your Help Connecting With Your Athletes
After you nominate your athletes, our editors often contact them with a brief questionnaire or interview request.
Those conversations allow us to tell authentic stories that go far beyond athletic accomplishments.
A simple reminder from a coach encouraging athletes to respond dramatically increases the number and quality of stories we can produce.
Without that communication, many deserving student-athletes simply miss the opportunity to have their stories told.
The Difference Your Participation Makes
In South Central Kansas and North Central Kansas, coaches and athletic directors have embraced this process.
The results have been extraordinary.
Thousands of student-athletes have been recognized, creating a positive culture that celebrates schools, athletes, coaches and communities throughout the region.
In Southeast Kansas, Southwest Missouri and many of our statewide coverage areas, participation has been much lower.
It isn’t because there are fewer deserving student-athletes.
It’s because we simply don’t know who they are.
When questionnaires go unanswered, outstanding young people miss opportunities to be recognized—not because they weren’t deserving, but because we were never introduced to them.
We don’t want that to happen at any school.
The Reach of VYPE
Every story we publish reaches far beyond your school’s walls.
Collectively, VYPE’s Kansas and Missouri websites, school and district platforms, Facebook pages and X accounts generate well over 10 million digital impressions each year, reaching hundreds of thousands of parents, students, alumni, coaches, local businesses and high school sports fans. Every athlete profile, feature story and social media post becomes another opportunity for a student-athlete to be celebrated—not only within their school, but throughout their entire community.
Historically, VYPE campaigns generate social media exposure equal to approximately 3–4% of total website impressions, with Facebook accounting for roughly 85% of those social impressions and X contributing the remaining 15%. Actual results vary based on the number of featured stories, seasonal content and paid social promotion.
What makes VYPE different is that we don’t simply publish stories and hope people find them. We actively invest our own marketing dollars to promote athlete stories through Facebook’s paid boosting platform, dramatically expanding the audience that sees each feature. That means your student-athletes’ accomplishments often reach far beyond your school’s followers, extending to parents, alumni, local businesses and communities throughout the region. To our knowledge, no other high school sports media organization consistently invests its own advertising budget to expand the reach of student-athlete recognition in this way.
Across our coverage areas, VYPE produces and distributes more positive high school sports content than all other media outlets combined. Every athlete profile, feature story, magazine article and social media post creates another opportunity for a young person to be recognized for the things they accomplish both on and off the field.
That recognition is possible because local businesses invest in VYPE and believe these stories matter. Their sponsorships allow us to continue shining a positive light on schools and student-athletes while also investing in the promotion of those stories to reach the largest audience possible.
Simply put, no other high school sports media organization in Kansas or Missouri shares our commitment to recognizing every school, celebrating as many student-athletes as possible, and investing real dollars to ensure their stories reach the widest possible audience.
We Need You
Our editors can write the stories.
Our designers can produce the magazines.
Our digital platforms can deliver millions of impressions.
But only you can introduce us to the student-athletes whose stories deserve to be told.
Your 8 to ten nominations may become memories that athletes and their families will treasure for the rest of their lives.
So today, I’m simply asking for your partnership.
Please take a few minutes to complete your sport questionnaire when it arrives. Encourage your nominated athletes to respond to our editors. Together, we can ensure your school receives the recognition it deserves.
Our commitment will never change.
Recognize every school. Recognize as many student-athletes as possible. Tell the positive stories happening every day in high school athletics.
Thank you for everything you do for your student-athletes, your school and your community.
Together, we can make sure their stories are told.
Sincerely,
Michael Cooper
