Buddyup.com uses the internet to bring people together instead of just connecting them electronically. What better way to meet new and interesting people with common interests then through sports and activities? In addition to easily finding a partner for a sport or activity, buddyup.com makes it extremely easy to then schedule an activity.

Currently, buddyup.com supports over 20 common sports and activities including alpine skiing, backpacking, cross-country skiing, frisbee, golf, hiking, ice skating, inline skating, mountain biking, paddle tennis (popular in Chicago), racquetball, road biking, rock climbing, running, sailing, scuba diving, snorkeling, snowboarding, squash, swimming, tennis, walking, weight lifting, and windsurfing. These sports and activities were chosen because of their popularity in general or among the staff. There are no team sports like soccer offered yet because of the added complexity in organizing a team. We hope to offer team sports in the future.

Here's how it works.... Once logged-on, members can view their personal home page. The personal home page lists 1. pending activities, 2. scheduled activities, 3. messages, and 4. evaluations to complete. The pending activites section lists invitations for sports sent or received by the member. Once a pending activity is accepted, it becomes a scheduled activity. The scheduled activity lists the buddy's username, time, date, place and other specifics. The messages box lists all messages received from the buddyup.com administrator or other users. The internal messaging protects privacy while allowing communication among members beyond the invitation process. After a scheduled activity is completed, the optional evaluation provides anonymous ratings of 1 to 3 stars on skill and reliability. Once 3 separate ratings are received, the average rating is displayed in the member's profile.

The search feature allows a registered user to search by sport, availability, skill, and distance. A list is produced of up to 50 buddyup.com members in the user's home region meeting the search criteria. A click on the username produces the buddy's profile. A click within the profile sets up an invitation.

We have restricted members to targeted areas so we can focus our effort and resources. That way members in the targeted regions have a concentration of potential buddies with similar interests. Eventually, buddyup will be offered in the top 100 U.S. metropolitan areas and who knows, maybe even internationally. If you currently live in or around a U.S. city that is not available, please pre-register and we will notify you when we offer buddyup's services in your area.

If you have suggestions on how to improve our site, areas to cover, activities to add or any other aspect of our service, please send us an email.