Scoreboord brings clarity to volleyball tournaments

Ben Waller didn’t set out to launch a tech company. He was just trying to watch his daughter play volleyball.

Waller’s wife, a lifelong volleyball player, passed on her love of the sport to their daughter, who now plays in a competitive club team. At a tournament held at the Milwaukee Sting Volleyball Center in 2023, Waller found himself unable to see the traditional flip scoreboard from where he stood. That moment of frustration sparked a bigger idea.

“There has to be a better way,” he thought.

As he considered the limitations of the typical tournament experience—poor visibility, unpredictable match timing, and confused parents—he began envisioning a platform that could solve all of those problems.

The result is Scoreboord, a digital solution designed to bring real-time match information to anyone with a smartphone. Tournament organizers assign a QR code to each event, which spectators can scan to get instant access to scores for every match, on every court, without needing to crowd around a single display.

Waller partnered with Best Buy Business to acquire and install the hardware needed to operate Scoreboord in a full arena setting. The platform is currently running a pilot program at the Milwaukee Sting Volleyball Center, a well-known facility in the club volleyball community.

The timing couldn’t be better. Volleyball participation is on the rise at every level. USA Volleyball reported over 408,000 junior members for the 2022–23 season, while more than 564,000 students played high school volleyball during the 2023–24 school year. Despite the sport’s popularity, volleyball matches can be hard to track, especially in large tournament environments where games aren’t timed and schedules shift throughout the day.

With Scoreboord, Waller aims to eliminate the uncertainty and make the sport more accessible for fans, players, and organizers alike.

Waller is now focused on expanding Scoreboord’s reach and refining the platform through continued testing. As volleyball participation continues to grow, he sees opportunities to bring more clarity and convenience to courts across the country. For more information on this emerging platform, connect with ScorebOOrd here.