PRESS RELEASE: From AFL Star to Sports-Tech Founder: Andrew Raines Launches “SKILD” to Empower the Next Generation of Sports Coaching Businesses

MEDIA RELEASE
Tuesday 18th November 2025
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
HEADLINE: From AFL Star to Sports-Tech Founder: Andrew Raines Launches “SKILD” to Empower the Next Generation of Sports Coaching Businesses

Gold Coast, QLD – Former AFL player and coach Andrew Raines, has turned his passion for player development into a fast-growing tech startup, launching SKILD, a new platform designed to help private sports coaches spend more time developing athletes.

After a 12-year AFL career covering playing and coaching with the Richmond Tigers, Brisbane Lions, and the Gold Coast Suns, Raines founded his first venture; coaching marketplace One-on-OneCoaching.

Initially focused on providing talented young footballers access to personalised coaching, he discovered a larger problem across the sports coaching industry; while athletes were becoming more professional, the tools available to private coaches were not keeping up.

According to Andrew, it was this insight about the need to provide coaches with the right platform to allow them to grow and support talent that drove him to found SKILD.

“I saw great coaches starting their own businesses, but losing clients because they didn’t have the right software to support and scale their coaching business,”said Mr Raines.

“We built SKILD so they can focus on developing athletes – not juggling apps and admin.”

SKILD is part of a growing wave of Australian sports-tech innovation and for Raines, it’s about giving back to the game and community that shaped his career.

It offers private coaches an all-in-one business management system via a digital platform.

This then simplifies the business and client management requirements of the fast-growing, billion-dollar private coaching sector, covering sports like golf, tennis, cricket, basketball, soccer and much more.

They access this support via the skildapp.com site that already has interest from 100 coaching businesses at launch and is targeting 500 by the end of its first year; with demand being driven by coaching organisations requiring a business management platform built by coaches, for coaches.

It is part of a growing wave of Australian sports-tech innovation and for Andrew Raines, it’s about helping support the viable growth for more sports-focused business within Australia and across the world.

“Australia’s coaching community is one of the strongest in the world, but it’s been underserved by technology and SKILD solves this problem,” Mr Raines said.

“We’re building a tool that helps local coaches run their businesses like pros, giving them the ability to plan and deliver their programs more effectively. This in-turn allows them to focus on supporting the growth of the next wave of tennis players, golfers and football players alike.”

About SKILD

SKILD is a new Australian sports-tech platform founded by former AFL player Andrew Raines to
help coaches grow, manage and scale their businesses. Designed for coaches by coaches, SKILD centralises bookings, payments, coach feedback, and communication (incl. educational content and programs), saving time and allowing coaches to purely focus on developing the next wave of athletes.
📍 Gold Coast, QLD
🌐 Website: skildapp.com
📧 Media Contact: Andrew Raines, e [email protected] m +61 413 846 689

ENDS