Youth Sports Organizers are working hard to facilitate opportunities for kids to play sports and ensuring the future of talented athletes. Most of them are giving their best to make sure that these athletes get what they deserve. However, they face many challenges along the way, some that are well within their control, and others are beyond.
- Quality Coaching and Coaching Support
- Right System
- Field availability and its usages
- Limited Resources
- Finding Sponsorship
- Insurance
- Decline in Participation
We will look at these common business challenges faced by the Youth Sports Organizers.
Quality Coaching and Coaching Support
Coaching consists of athlete training, the quality of the coaches, and their support system. For youth sports organizers, coaches are their public face. As coaches, their actions and experience have a remarkable influence on the players and parents. Therefore, most sports organizers seek a single person who has all the qualities of an excellent and well-trained coach. A good coach needs to know the sport and the athletes well enough to make good choices. But finding quality coaches is a challenge for them as most of them go for more professional clubs or look for opportunities in a more organized sector.
Retaining quality coaches also becomes a massive challenge, as many coaches call it quits, for various reasons, such as feeling unappreciated, players not turning up on time, or dealing with parents. Almost three-quarters of coaches are not paid for their role and do not receive any remuneration. One-third say lack of funding is a significant problem.
Right System
The performance of the youth sports business depends on the large volume of information. Therefore, it is vital to keep track of this information and use it effectively. However, the majority of the youth sports organizers are also working part-time and are at different places. Therefore, without the right system in place, it becomes difficult to keep track of this information. Therefore, it is essential to invest in setting up the right plan that works long-term and short-term.
Field availability and its usages
Many Youth Sports organizers face the daunting task of acquiring fields for the right time and date. Unfortunately, these fields are insufficiently used at times, which results in the wastage of resources and specific instances of over-bookings. A proper field reservation system will help solve this problem.
Limited Resources
The common concern of most youth sports organizers are the limited resources. With the limited resources, they have to perform well. Organizing a competitive and friendly tournament is resource-intensive. In many places, minimal funds are allocated to youth sports. Thus, organizers are forced to come with innovative ways to perform well with the limited budget.
Many parents prefer not to choose sports as a career precisely because of the lack of resources. Thus, the rich and the privileged can pursue the sport, put in their resources, and excel while it becomes difficult for those who cannot afford it.
Finding Sponsorship
One of the most prominent challenges faced by youth sports organizers is finding the right sponsorship and fundraising. Organizers need sponsors and fundraising to run the club and not charge so much from the kids in order for them to play. However, not all money is the same. There is a big difference between fee, sponsor, and fundraising. At the same time, player fees and fundraising can help ends meet. It is not enough for the youth sports clubs or leagues to sustain for the long term.
Youth sporting leagues have no commercial value. This is because they are not structured in a way that can attract sponsorship or partnerships. Many sports clubs or leagues do not have a well-planned business structure in place. Most of them who run these clubs or leagues have other jobs. Therefore, they are not fully committed to ensuring the success of clubs or leagues. Due to this, not many teams or leagues have the visibility required for generating income.
Insurance
Adequately insuring all parties involved in youth sports is not getting any easier. For many youth sports organizers, word insurance is a grey area of understanding. Not everyone wants to deal with it. As a result, insurance decisions often are left to administrators who have no background in the subject or passed down by default to parent volunteers. Moreover, it’s a daunting responsibility as many of those programs involve significantly more participants.
There are a good number of coverage options to choose from, such as the maximum medical limits that can go up to millions of dollars, accident medical coverage, deductibles that can range from $0 to $500 per claim, plans that either protect only players and coaches, etc. This is a huge challenge because of the costs involved. In some instances, these causes have to be passed on to individuals. Most program organizers will say we would love to provide higher limits of accident insurance, but the truth is it is financially not possible.
Decline in Participation
One of the biggest challenges is the decline in athlete participation. Participation rates are lower in every team sport, including football, basketball, and baseball. In baseball, participation is down roughly 20 percent. The alarming fact is that with age, the decrease in participation gets worse. There can be multiple reasons for the decline in participation in youth sports. But the primary cause of the decline in participation is cost.
There is always a cost associated with participating in anything, especially in youth sports. But today, the cost is beyond what most people can afford. Unfortunately, the youth sports model has now become pay-to-play. The biggest cost being general participation fees depending on the league and sport. Additional cost includes sporting equipment which will go up to thousands of dollars in some instances. The low income can also be the reason for the lack of time to play sports since many parents will work more to pay the bills, therefore, may not have the time to transport their child to sports.
These situations lead to the breakdown of cheaper youth sports options. The result of which is seen in the decreased participation of athletes as many cannot afford to participate any longer. As a result, better players leave the program, resources wear down, and the funding also dries up. This makes it extremely difficult for youth sports organizers to provide financial sustainability for their clubs or leagues.
