A hockey mom with no coding background built her son a live recruiting profile

Story Youth hockey is crowded. Talent alone isn’t enough. Exposure often depends on who you know, which tournaments you attend, and whether the right person happens to be watching. For many families, opportunity is limited by geography, time, and access. I refused to let access determine potential. While he trained on the ice, building discipline and competitive edge, I built his digital presence off the ice using AI as my creative and technical partner. The challenge wasn’t creating a website—it was turning scattered moments of effort, game clips, and growth into a coherent story that could travel further than we physically could. Using Claude and ChatGPT as thinking collaborators, I launched DanteCusanno.com as a living digital athlete profile—not overproduced, but intentional and authentic. Claude and ChatGPT as thinking collaborators, I launched DanteCusanno.com as a living digital athlete profile—not overproduced, but intentional and authentic. AI turned a non-developer parent into a builder, closing the technical gap. This project proves something bigger than youth sports: AI democratizes leverage, allowing everyday builders to create opportunities that once required teams, connections, or luck Dante grew as an athlete. I grew as a creator. together, we built something real. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Achievements - Built and launched a live athlete profile platform (DanteCusanno.com) to replace scattered recruiting emails, random links, and limited in-person exposure with one powerful digital presence. - Transformed raw game footage into a cohesive digital narrative — creating a “digital handshake” that allows coaches and organizations to understand Dante’s growth, character, and potential in minutes. - Designed and implemented a repeatable AI-powered content engine: - On-ice effort → Video capture → Edited highlights → Social storytelling → Website hub → Shareable recruiting link. - Completed a full month of iterative builds and refinements, treating the project like athletic training — constant feedback, small improvements, sharper positioning. - Shifted from “hoping to be seen” to intentionally building visibility. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Tools - Claude Code + Claude Desktop — primary vibe-coding partner for structure, layout decisions, debugging, and implementation logic. - ChatGPT (paired with Claude) — storytelling refinement, tone calibration, clarity enhancement, and narrative shaping. - VS Code — hands-on build and iteration environment. - CapCut — highlight editing and short-form content production for Instagram. - Netlify — deployment and hosting for fast iteration cycles. - Custom domain configuration — researched, secured, and configured to create a memorable, professional digital presence. _---------------------------------------------------- Methodology - Start with the problem, not the tech. The real problem was exposure: youth sports is crowded, and families spend enormous energy trying to get in front of the right eyes. We needed a single link that could carry Dante’s story when we weren’t physically at the rink. - Co-create the narrative. Dante stayed focused on being on the ice—training, competing, getting reps—while I handled the build. But we collaborated on what mattered most: what we want people to feel when they land on the page (authentic, hungry, coachable—not overproduced). - Vibe-coding loop (daily/weekly): - Capture game/practice footage - Edit clips in CapCut and share to Instagram - Use AI to translate “what we’re trying to show” into pages, sections, and copy - Implement changes via Claude Code in VS Code - Deploy updates on Netlify - Review together and refine the tone (“confident but not braggy; real but still sharp”) - Keep it human. We intentionally avoided pretending this was a million-dollar production. The point was: a young athlete and his mom building something real, showing initiative and growth—on and off the ice. ---------------------------------------------------------- Learnings - Vibe coding turns a parent into a builder. I didn’t need to be a traditional developer to ship a real website—AI closed the technical gap and let me focus on judgment, message, and impact. - Two-model collaboration is a cheat code. Using Claude and ChatGPT together improved output quality—technical clarity from one, stronger storytelling from the other. - Recruiting is attention economics. A single clean link beats ten messy messages. The website became a “digital handshake” that travels further than we can. - Authenticity performs. Coaches and decision-makers can smell overproduction. We learned how to present Dante with confidence while keeping it grounded and real. - Iteration wins. The site got better because we treated it like training: small improvements, repeated consistently for a month. ------------------------------------------ Relevant URLs - Website: https://dantecusanno.com - Instagram: @dantecusanno