Empowering Women's Sports @ Nova Hoops! (Web Development & Design Intern At The Verse)

Have you played sports? Have sports impacted your life? Do you want to improve access to sports for girls/women? The Verse and are partner, Nova Hoops are on a MISSION and needs web developers/designers.

🌌 Overview of The Verse: We Make Games That Heal
At The Verse, we harness the power of play and athletics to transform health, emotional resilience, and human connection. We are a global, multidisciplinary ecosystem of 50+ game developers, artists, neuroscientists, and builders fusing game design, behavioral science, and ritual into genre-defining digital therapeutics.

Our philosophy is grounded in a simple truth: games and play should make people healthier, happier, and more hopeful, including the people who build them. Beyond our core digital worlds, The Verse proudly partners with mission-driven community initiatives, like Nova Hoops, that use movement, sports, and real-world play as vital tools for life learning, health, and youth growth.

Help Nova Hoops scale their impact by redesigning and optimizing their web platform (front-end and back-end), making registration, community communication, and family resources seamless while supporting holistic youth development through sport.

🏀 About Our Partner: Nova Hoops
Founded by Amarachi Chidom in the East Bay, California, Nova Hoops is a girls' basketball nonprofit led entirely by women. At Nova, basketball is just the starting point:

• Holistic Development: Using sports to build confidence, leadership, healthy habits, and meaningful community connections.
• The Village Effect: Creating a supportive space where girls grow as people, parents connect, and families feel part of something bigger.
• Beyond the Court: Organizing community service, nutrition workshops, and mentorship from women with backgrounds in healthcare, education, and tech.

Key Responsibilities

• Front-End Redesign: Update and optimize the user interface at novashoops.com to reflect the vibrant, community-first mission of Nova Hoops.
• Back-End & Architecture: Improve backend systems to streamline program registration, family communication, and resource management.
• Collaborative Build: Work closely with Amara and community stakeholders to ensure digital tools make life easier for families, coaches, and young athletes.

Qualifications & Requirements

• Proficiency in front-end and back-end web development frameworks (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP/database integration or modern web stacks).
• A deep passion for mission-driven work, community building, and youth empowerment through sports and play.
• Strong communication skills and an eagerness to translate community needs into clean, functional digital solutions.

Why Join Us?

• Real-World Impact: Build digital tools that measurably improve human lives and support grassroots community movements like Nova Hoops.
• Radical Collaboration: Work alongside clinicians, community leaders, game developers, and transformative tech pioneers.
• Growth & Mentorship: Receive hands-on startup experience, career coaching, and strong institutional references.
• Culture of Flourishing: Experience a supportive, human-first environment that prioritizes your personal wellbeing.

📩 How to Apply
Ready to build the future of wellbeing and community play? Send your resume and a short note about why you want to build with Nova Hoops and The Verse to [email protected] (or reach out directly to Founder Ben Simon-Thomas at [email protected]).

🌐 Learn More: versebuilding.com | novashoops.com

Ben Simon-Thomas - Founder The Verse
Contact [email protected] for more info and/or with any questions! We are always interested in connecting with the right people

TheVerse team is 50+ entrepreneurs, artists, and game developers with experiences and expertise (MAs & PhDs) in gaming, world building, metaverses, build in the open, community development, health & wellbeing.

• Ben Simon-Thomas - Founder/CEO. Buddhist-leaning entrepreneur and ecosystem developer. Founded startups in the 3D space (SoundFit: 3D Scanning & ODMS: parts-on-demand), social commerce (GroupGain), worked in health-care startups and life style modification businesses (PMRI). MA in Buddhist psychology, degrees in Religious Philosophy and Language. https://www.linkedin.com/in/bensimonthomas/