By Josh Williams
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — ZogSports, a co-ed sports club in New York City with a social conscience, will celebrate a milestone this month: it will hit the $1 million mark in charity donations.
The eight-year-old organization donates 5 percent of team entry fees, which range from $700 to $2,000, towards charities chosen by the league’s members. Beneficiaries of ZogSports to date include Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City, the American Cancer Society and St. Jude’s Children's Hospital.
Robert Herzog, 41, Zog's founder and CEO, estimates that as many as 80,000 competitors a year are active in the after-work league’s mix of intramural sports and old-fashioned backyard games.
Most of the leagues are co-ed and the 11 sports, which include Wiffle ball and dodgeball along with more traditional sports like rugby and football, offer a variety of levels of play — as well as plenty of time to socialize, and even spark a romance.
"There are about 40 marriages that we actually know about," said Herzog, who met his own wife while playing sports.
"We do not bill ourselves as a dating service," he added.
Herzog, a former operations manager for Marsh and McLennan, said his career path changed after 9/11, when he watched a plane slam into the insurance company’s office on the 96th floor of the World Trade Center.
"I went on vacation shortly after 9/11, he said, "and I decided to focus on the good things in my life instead of the bad."
For New Yorkers like Greer Raggio, 27, a data analyst at Columbia Medical Center, Herzog’s decision to found ZogSports proved inspired.
"It's difficult to find time to do sports in the city and they make it really convenient, said Raggio, who plays in the Wiffle Ball league. "At the end all the teams come together for a happy hour and share some drinks together without any animosity. It’s fun."
And that’s precisely the reaction Herzog was looking for.
“This is exactly the need I thought existed, and this is why I am so excited about providing a service for busy young professionals, so they can get out and have fun."
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