Rockbeach Training launches

For immediate release · October 20, 2026 · Sports media

Make the Call Before You Make the Call: Rockbeach Training Launches AI Sales and Manager Training for Sports Ticket Teams

New ticket sales representatives practice live calls with 175+ AI fans before they ever call a real one, and new managers get a training track of their own, with every answer graded.

UNION, KY — Rockbeach Training launched today at RockbeachTraining.com, giving sports ticket offices a place for new sales representatives (reps) to practice live phone calls with 175+ AI customers who respond in real voices, in real time, before they ever call a real fan. Every answer is graded, with the reason why, so reps walk into their first real call with the confidence of having already made it.

The first year is where ticket offices lose people. A study published in the journal Sport, Business and Management found that one in four entry-level ticket salespeople left within their first year.*

For sports organizations, setup takes minutes. A team enters its own website, and Rockbeach builds a preview of its sales manual in about three minutes; with a paid plan, the full manual and course follow, so reps train on their own seats, prices, and policies — not a generic script. Managers see every rep’s progress in one back office.

Reps train across 17 modules and 4,400+ practice call situations inside Rockbeach University, a fictional athletic department with its own stadium, arena, ticket office, CRM, and ticketing system.

Across years of fan research, founder Anthony F. Di Fino has seen the same result: fans ranked a sales representative’s ability to resolve their issue as the most important thing about them, and ranked reps worst at it. Most training teaches product. Rockbeach trains the moment that decides whether a fan renews.

“Make the call before you make the call,” said Di Fino, a former Deputy Athletic Director and Chief Revenue Officer in the Big 12 Conference. “In this business, every new rep learns on real fans, because there’s nowhere else to practice. That’s the most expensive call in sports: a poorly trained intern or rep losing a fan. Now there’s somewhere else to practice.”

How it works

• Talk to AI fans: live practice calls with customers who push back, in real voices, in real time, using tap-to-talk on your phone or browser.
• Get graded on every answer: every grade comes with reasons and immediate feedback.
• Earn certification: a credential employers can verify online.

The Rockbeach ecosystem

• For the individual. RockbeachTraining.com is built for students and individuals who want to get noticed, and trained. The Individual plan is $19.99 a month, or $199.99 a year.
• For the professor. Professors are always free. They send one join link to their class; students pay $4.50 a week for the term the professor sets. Professors arrange the modules and set the pace, and we do the grading.
• For the employer. A sales manual and training course built from the organization’s own season, seats, and prices, built to cut onboarding time. Managers read every answer and can overrule any written grade.
• For a new manager. A track that develops the manager as a leader and technical advisor, from pricing, to “managing up,” to desk-side coaching.

By the numbers

• Under 5 minutes to a preview of your custom sales manual, built from your own website.
• 17 modules in every course.
• 175+ AI customers who respond in real voices, in real time.
• 4,400+ practice call situations.
• Every answer graded, with the reason why.
• $0 to start: a free assessment, no credit card needed.

Pricing

• Sports organizations: $5,000 a year, including five seats, after a free assessment trial (a founding price for organizations that sign before Jan. 1, 2027; $9,000 a year after that).
• Individuals: $19.99 a month or $199.99 a year.
• Faculty: free.

A free practice call needs no sign-up, and the baseline assessment is free for both individuals and sports organizations. No credit card needed.

* Pierce, Wanless, Popp, Sattler and Shreffler, “Attrition in entry-level ticket sales positions: a survival analysis,” Sport, Business and Management, Vol. 13, No. 3 (2023), pp. 289–305. Analysis of 1,122 entry-level ticket salespeople listed in team media guides, 2015–2019.

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For immediate release · October 20, 2026 · Education media

Rockbeach Training Launches Free AI Sales Simulator for Sport Management Faculty

Sales practice built for the sport management classroom. Students practice live calls with 175+ AI customers, get every answer graded, and earn a certification, while professors set the pace for free.

UNION, KY — Ask anyone who started in sports ticket sales about their first week, and you will hear the same story: a headset, a call list, and a fan who didn’t care that it was their first day. Most sport management students meet that moment for the first time on the job.

Rockbeach Training, launching today at RockbeachTraining.com, lets them meet it in the classroom.

Employers see the gap too. In the National Association of Colleges and Employers’ Job Outlook 2025, 96% of employers rated communication skills important for new hires, but only 53.5% rated new graduates proficient.

Students train inside Rockbeach University, a complete fictional athletic department with its own stadium, arena, ticket office, CRM, and ticketing system. They read short modules, then pick up the phone: 4,400+ practice situations with 175+ AI customers, each with a history, a mood, and objections, who respond in real voices, in real time. Every answer is graded with reasons and immediate feedback, so students learn why a call worked, not just whether it did.

It is built to sit alongside a course the way a textbook or simulator does, and faculty accounts are free. A professor creates a class, sets the length of the semester, chooses whether modules open week by week or ahead of time, arranges the plan, and sends students one link.

The approach comes from the field. Across years of fan research in his career, founder Anthony F. Di Fino found that fans ranked a sales representative’s ability to resolve their issue as the most important thing about them, and ranked reps worst at it. Rockbeach teaches students to solve the fan’s problem, not just recite the product.

“I hired a lot of first-year reps. The best ones practiced their soft skills with a focus,” said Di Fino, a former Deputy Athletic Director and Chief Revenue Officer in the Big 12 Conference, with more than 20 years in revenue positions. “Students deserve those reps before the job starts, with a coach that explains every grade.”

How it works

• Read: 17 short modules, from the first call to the last.
• Practice: live AI phone calls that push back, in real voices, in real time, using tap-to-talk on your phone or browser.
• Prove it: every answer graded with reasons and immediate feedback, and a certification employers can verify online.

The Rockbeach ecosystem

• For the individual. RockbeachTraining.com is built for students and individuals who want to get noticed, and trained. The Individual plan is $19.99 a month, or $199.99 a year.
• For the professor. Professors are always free. They send one join link to their class; students pay $4.50 a week for the term the professor sets. Professors arrange the modules and set the pace, and we do the grading.
• For the employer. A sales manual and training course built from the organization’s own season, seats, and prices, built to cut onboarding time. Managers read every answer and can overrule any written grade.
• For a new manager. A track that develops the manager as a leader and technical advisor, from pricing, to “managing up,” to desk-side coaching.

By the numbers

• $0 for faculty, always.
• 1 link to enroll a whole class.
• 17 modules from the first call to the last.
• 175+ AI customers who respond in real voices, in real time.
• 4,400+ practice situations.
• $4.50 a week for students, for the term the professor sets.

Pricing

• Faculty: free.
• Students: $4.50 per week of the term (a 14-week term is $63).
• Individuals outside a class: $19.99 a month or $199.99 a year.

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For immediate release · October 20, 2026 · Local news

Northern Kentucky Startup Launches AI Sales Training to Help Students Break Into Sports Jobs

Rockbeach Training lets students and recent graduates practice the phone calls behind one of sports’ most common first jobs, with every answer graded, before they ever apply.

UNION, KY — A Boone County startup wants the next wave of sports business hires to show up on day one already knowing how to make the call.

Rockbeach Training, launching today at RockbeachTraining.com from Union-based Rockbeach, LLC, lets students, recent graduates and career changers practice live sales calls with 175+ AI customers who respond in real voices, in real time. Every answer is graded with the reason why, and those who finish earn a certification employers can verify online.

Ticket and sponsorship sales is one of the most common ways into a sports career, and one of the hardest first jobs to prepare for. Most new hires make their first real call to a real fan. Rockbeach moves that first call into practice: 17 modules and 4,400+ practice situations inside Rockbeach University, a fictional athletic department with its own stadium, ticket office, CRM and ticketing system.

It’s a costly first call. A study published in the journal Sport, Business and Management found that one in four entry-level ticket salespeople left within their first year.* Employers see the gap too. In the National Association of Colleges and Employers’ Job Outlook 2025, 96% of employers rated communication skills important for new hires, but only 53.5% rated new graduates proficient.

Founder Anthony F. Di Fino spent more than 20 years in college athletics revenue, including years at Syracuse, most recently as Deputy Athletic Director and Chief Revenue Officer at the University of Cincinnati in the Big 12 Conference.

“I hired a lot of first-year reps. The best ones practiced their soft skills with a focus,” said Di Fino. “Students deserve those reps before the job starts, with a coach that explains every grade.”

How it works

• Practice: live AI phone calls using tap-to-talk on your phone or browser.
• Get graded: every answer comes with reasons and immediate feedback.
• Prove it: a certification employers can verify online.

The Rockbeach ecosystem

• For the individual. RockbeachTraining.com is built for students and individuals who want to get noticed, and trained. The Individual plan is $19.99 a month, or $199.99 a year.
• For the professor. Professors are always free. They send one join link to their class; students pay $4.50 a week for the term the professor sets. Professors arrange the modules and set the pace, and we do the grading.
• For the employer. A sales manual and training course built from the organization’s own season, seats, and prices, built to cut onboarding time. Managers read every answer and can overrule any written grade.
• For a new manager. A track that develops the manager as a leader and technical advisor, from pricing, to “managing up,” to desk-side coaching.

By the numbers

• 175+ AI customers who respond in real voices, in real time.
• 4,400+ practice call situations.
• 17 modules from the first call to the last.
• Every answer graded, with the reason why.
• $0 to start: a free practice call and a free baseline assessment.

Pricing

• A free practice call, no sign-up.
• A free baseline assessment, no credit card.
• Individuals: $19.99 a month or $199.99 a year.
• Professors: free. Students in a class pay $4.50 a week.

* Pierce, Wanless, Popp, Sattler and Shreffler, “Attrition in entry-level ticket sales positions: a survival analysis,” Sport, Business and Management, Vol. 13, No. 3 (2023), pp. 289–305. Analysis of 1,122 entry-level ticket salespeople listed in team media guides, 2015–2019.

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