What Is True Athlete?
True Athlete is an online community website for kids that has a goal of bringing out the best aspects of human nature through sports, education and the Internet. The site will have loads of awesome fun multi-player games but the essence of the site will be education, unity and empowering the children to know each of them can make a difference.
Who Is True Athlete?
It starts with our key personnel. All members of the True Athlete inner core are athletes. We aren't famous athletes; we are like 99% of kids who get something other than a career from playing sports. Youth sport and the Internet offer many things other than pro contracts and unbridled video game killing. We at True Athlete see sport as a tool to bring out the best aspects of human nature and the Internet as a tool that breaks down all social, physical and economic barriers creating a global playground and ultimately removing all separation.
Tim Krass
With 25 years of experience in sales and marketing specializing in the distribution of broadcast television stations, broadcast networks, cable networks, VOD and broadband services, Krass found True Athlete along with Chris Ciko.
Most recently, Tim was the Executive Vice President, Affiliate Relations at Univision Television Group, where he managed the cable and broadcast affiliate relationships for Univision, Telefutura and Galavision, adding an incremental $35 million in annual revenues.
Tim has also been the Senior Vice President of Affiliate Sales and Marketing for Intertainer, Inc., an online broadband, VOD and e-commerce start-up, as well as the Senior Vice President, Affiliate Sales and Marketing at FOX/Liberty Networks, where he established FOX Sports Net as a national network, launched FOX Sports World (now the FOX Soccer Channel) and FOX Sports Detroit. He began his programming career launching regional sports networks Prime Ticket and FOX Sports Net West 2.
Krass holds a B.A. in Business Administration from Georgetown University and an M.A. in Sports Management from The Ohio State University.
Melanie Hall
A pioneer in online programming, an acclaimed author, and most recently, as President and Chief Operating Officer of quarterlife, the ground-breaking Internet series and social marketing website, Melanie Hall defined and executed the core branding, programming, marketing and distribution strategies responsible for over 14M views of the quarterlife show-while orchestrating all developmental aspects of the website.
Prior to her role at quarterlife, Hall served as Vice President of Marketing and Research at Demand Media, where she managed marketing and analysis for the company's portfolio of over 70 sites. Hall has also served as the Director of Marketing for North America at Sulake's massively multi-player online game (MMOG), Habbo.com.
Previously, as co-founder, President and Chief Creative Officer of iJane, a non-profit production company, Hall managed the company, and created, wrote, and produced the award winning animated Face the Issue public service announcement (PSA) campaign.
Hall also wrote and produced The Spot, the first original live-action episodic series to be broadcast online. Additionally, she is a longtime activist for raising awareness of mental health issues facing young adults. Hall is the co-author of "Behind Happy Faces: Taking Charge of Your Mental Health," and is currently pursuing post-graduate work in media psychology.
Chris Ciko
While educated with both a law degree and a masters degree in law from New York University School of Law, Chris has devoted much of his career to teaching. He started as a private tennis instructor teaching both adults and teens.
His first teaching position was in art. This led to a position as Physical Education teacher grades pre-kindergarten through sixth. He has also taught 3rd grade, 5th grade and 6th grade general studies.
Chris has earned a living as a writer having sold three screenplays and written two books.
He is also a dedicated volunteer having volunteered over 15,000 hours to help children.
- Teaching tennis instructor (12 years)
- Gym teacher preschool - sixth grade (10 years)
- Art instructor first through fifth grades (6 years)
- Third, fifth, & sixth grade general studies (1 year)
Chris lead the development of True Athlete's first mobile app called Penalty Kicks. It is a simple yet challenging soccer game for kids that focuses on the shootout at the end of a game when it's down to just you and the goalie in Penalty Kicks. Check out YouTube for a video trailer of the game. Or go to Apple's App Store and download Penalty Kicks (Soccer) to your iphone.
