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Across the U.S. there are approximately 22 million kids playing youth sports outside of schools. Within this segment, there are a group of youth athletes participating on club teams, which is synonymous with travel, club, select or competitive teams in some parts of the country. These organizations vary in size from under 50 to over 1,000 youths per organization ranging in age from 6-18 years.
There are millions of families across the U.S. committed to getting their children the best coaching within the most competitive environment possible in hopes of earning a college scholarship. The fees associated with club sports can range from around $500 to upwards of $10,000 per year when factoring in registration, private coaching lessons, tournament fees, equipment, camps and travel. The club sports industry in the U.S. consists of eleven (11) organized sports for boys and girls all of which experience similar administrative and business related issues.
Club sports organizations are often owned and operated by former college or semi-professional athletes who are excellent coaches and mentors to the youth athletes. However, the owners of these club sports organizations lack the desire or business acumen to efficiently run certain operational aspects including player registration, ongoing administrative items, payment and collections, travel logistics, etc.
51% of the youth sports clubs are taking cash and check as their primary form of payment. In addition, 64% are either managing the payments process themselves or have recruited a volunteer to assist. These factors are contributing to an industry average 10-12% in uncollected funds. Youth sports clubs are hemorrhaging cash and wasting time chasing parents for payments – we find this to be unacceptable.
