A lot of really great people look into owning a youth sports business out of a love for kids and a desire to work with them directly. I admire these people because I believe directly impacting kids is one of the best things we can do as adults. However, starting a youth sports business out of a desire to work directly with kids may be a huge mistake.
Call me a crass capitalist if you like, but the first point of owning a business is to make money. The impact we have on the kids and the community has to be secondary, because if it doesn’t make money it won’t be around. Secondly, the business needs to meet your own needs and lifestyle. As a business owner making money means you are out marketing, promoting, and managing your business for growth, and not working directly with the kids. I have been running my business for six years. In that time, thousands of kids have played in my leagues on hundreds, if not thousands, of teams yet I have NEVER coached one of those teams and I have NEVER instructed a clinic. If I had set out to work directly with the kids in my community I would be very unhappy right now, but that isn’t what I set out to do. I wanted to build a successful business that would allow me to help others directly impact the kids and provide a great service for our communities. Our business has done that. Standing at one of our events and watching the kids play and have a great time and watching others working with them gives me a lot of satisfaction.
So, ask yourself what you really want. If it is that direct interaction then I would challenge you to look into volunteering or into working within another program as opposed to buying a youth sports business. If, on the other hand, you want to build something sustainable and you love the challenge of growing a successful business, then pitch right in as I can tell you the rewards are awesome.
