BYU grad and business owner Hunter Goodall decided to give back this season by hosting a virtual reality boxing tournament where all the proceeds will go to Sub for Santa.
Goodall’s path to becoming a business owner started when he found himself in the grind of studying for the GMAT and preparing to apply to BYU’s MBA program. In the middle of all of the stress and preparation, he and his wife decided they wanted to approach learning business outside of school. Their alternative was taking a stab at becoming business owners and getting immediate hands-on experience.
After months of research and exploring different options, Goodall found a virtual reality business on Center Street in Provo called Virtual Experience. The owner at the time had several different business projects that he wanted to pursue instead, so he agreed to sell his virtual reality business to Goodall in March.
Goodall, appreciative of any business experience he could get, jumped on the opportunity and was surprised by how much he enjoyed virtual reality entertainment, especially because he is not an avid video game lover.
“Once you put on a headset, it’s pretty crazy how your brain turns it into reality. It’s wild,” Goodall said.
Goodall and his wife have always talked about being in a position to make a significant impact on a family in need. They have always felt blessed and because of that, they have wanted to give back. They originally wanted to personally seek out specific families for the holidays that weren’t going to have a Christmas and provide for them, however, they soon realized that doing it on their own was less feasible than they expected. This didn’t stop them and they continued searching for ways to make their dream a reality.
With the help of BYU student and current employee Travis Wangsgaard, their idea for the fundraiser was born. They decided to host a Fight for Good boxing tournament where all the proceeds would go to Sub for Santa this Christmas.
“We wanted to do something good for the community, and we wanted to do it right,” Wangsgaard said.
A $20 registration fee is required to participate in the tournament. Once registered, each participant is placed in a different group. Friends and families that want to sign up to fight against each other can do so and each person in the group will box each other at least once. The fighter with the best record moves on in the bracket to the next group, and the tournament winners will receive various awards.
Goodall and his coworkers have joined together with other local businesses on Center Street to help sponsor the prizes to ensure that all the registration fees go to Sub for Santa.
BYU student Kate Anderson said she tried out the virtual reality games for the first time and was surprised how much she enjoyed the whole virtual boxing experience. She said she is excited for the fundraiser.
“Playing virtual reality games has never been on my radar until now,” Anderson said. “I tried it for the first time, and it blew my mind. It was intense because the controllers calculate the velocity of your punches and do damage according to how hard you punch, so we had to expend real energy.”
Anderson and others are excited about the idea of the boxing tournament because it’s an opportunity to donate to a good cause while also having a good time with friends and family.
“If this works, then we will do more of it. If it doesn’t, we will try another way, because we want to give back and it’s the right thing to do,” Wangsgaard said.
Registration is open now and the boxing tournament will take place Dec 2-7.
