For this rising Coorado company, success is a sticky subjcct.

• Author: Schely, Stewart
• Position: SPORTSBIZ

IF YOU'VE COACHED YOUTH SPORTS, chances are you've had this problem: You hustle to the practice field, hit "Mute" on a chirping cell phone, unload a duffel bag full of equipment, greet your early-arrival players, and then realize: You don't have a clue what to do next.

Something similar happened to Greg Waldbaum. He's a father of two and a lacrosse enthusiast who hit the coaching wall when he realized he had little more to offer his son and his recreational lacrosse team. "I knew I was at my coaching capacity," he says.

Rather than feel resigned, Waldbaum was energized. The entrepreneurial founder of Denver-based Firehouse Animal Health Centers recognized lacrosse was riding a growth wave. He sensed there was something interesting brewing: a combination of rising popularity, a shortage of talented coaches and a highly fragmented marketplace. More players than ever were signing up to play in places like Colorado, Texas, California and Florida. Waldbaum realized lacrosse was going to need coaches. Lots of coaches.

Luckily, there was a good one right in Denver. Jamie Munro had just left the University of Denver, where he turned a little-known men's lacrosse program into a Division 1 powerhouse over 11 years, leading the Pioneers to two NCAA tourney berths. Munro conceived a business that would syndicate his coaching program--drills, terminology, practice plans, conditioning and more--into a national training platform that could scale right along with the sport. Waldbaum joined Munro's 3D Lacrosse as chief operating officer in 2009.

Four years later, the Denver-based company is making a major impact. Leveraging Munro's coaching techniques, 3D Lacrosse employs and trains coaches across the country with remarkable consistency and a winning track record. Case in point: Last July when a newly assembled team of 14-year-old boys from Colorado and California took the field at the ESPN/U.S. Lacrosse National Championship in Florida, none of the...