Our Mission
EverybodyPlays was built to provide every student with the tools to live a healthy childhood by guaranteeing the opportunity to play a sport. All of our athletes receive funding to play their sport in exchange for serving in their community - cultivating a generation of students with outstanding character.
The Unequal Playing Field
We believe that the greatest driver of youth development stems from the lessons learned while playing a sport. Due to the often costly sports participation fees, young athletes can be impaired from this major childhood experience.
See underlying data on cost pressures across income classes.
The rising cost of playing sports is increasingly leading impoverished and even middle-class families to hang up their cleats.
Trending costs of youth sports
Organized athletics are increasingly becoming "pay-to-play" sports, the costs of which are rising to be prohibitively expensive for many households. The supporting chart endorses this claim by bucketing monthly spending of US families on youth sports.
Our Solution
We utilize an array of athletic funding solutions to ensure our athletes can suit up to play. In exchange for volunteering a set number of hours at one of our partner volunteer sites in their community, an EverybodyPlays athlete will have expenses covered, including registration or seasonal fees, up to a predetermined seasonal amount.
Enabling Youth Opportunity
Our model alleviates cost pressures on financially-insecure families, guaranteeing a foundation for young athletes of all backgrounds to build the core skills and worldly character that increases the likelihood of successful future outcomes.
Health
Sports participation plays a critical role in physical and mental health. We prioritize sports for adolescents because it is the dominant means of youth exercise and significantly decreases the likelihood of obesity.
Education
Fundamental life skills such as teamwork, responsibility, leadership, competition, and confidence are learned while participating in youth sports, which teaches kids the triumphs of winning and the value of losing.
Women Empowerment
Out of a survey of 400 female corporate executives, 94% played a sport while growing up. We believe in the critical role of sports in adolescent females and seek to decrease the current gap in gender representation.
Time
Time spent on the field is time spent on positive personal development. In addition to the lessons learned from dedicating time to a single endeavor, sports participation also keeps kids safe and away from harmful activities.
Character
Integrity and one’s commitment to their community are paramount to citizenship. By serving and volunteering in their community, our athletes develop not only as student athletes but also as well-rounded individuals off the field.
Racial Equality
Black and Hispanic communities participate in organized sports at lower rates than average and are more likely to drop out. We are hyper-focused on improving access and decreasing attrition for underrepresented communities.
These values are our pillars as an organization. Be sure to also explore the key benefits we believe youth sports instills in all young athletes.
Trust in us to accomplish the mission
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In partnership with our chapter directors, we currently take a centralized approach to review every athlete’s funding case. As part of the review process, we prioritize athlete cases that best align with our core values mentioned above. In doing so, we hope to continue enabling as many athletes as possible with the tools to succeed in life.
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Our generous donors deserve complete transparency in our mission to level the playing field; meanwhile, our hard-working athletes deserve an integrity-backed team to guide their journey. We champion this philosophy, and if there are any details you'd prefer to see that we are legally allowed to disclose, please be sure to send us a message.
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If you thoughtfully decide to contribute to our cause, we assure you that 100% of your donation will help cover the fees and expenses of a young athlete we have approved for a funding case. We are fortunate to have private donors keeping us afloat regarding operational and other overhead costs.
Formerly incorporated as Young Athletes for Charity in 2015.
Founding Team
We are passionate about creating a bridge for all young athletes to run across in order to achieve greatness in their life. Sports served as a central part of our upbringing, teaching us core drivers such as disciple and leadership. We are relentless in our commitment to enabling this opportunity for all of our world’s children.
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FounderMarty has taken the skills developed and lessons learned from his youth participation (and coaching experience) in baseball, soccer, and lacrosse to build and scale worldwide organizations. He aspires to similarly champion the EverybodyPlays mission and grow it into a global force for good.
Marty is a former CPA and graduate of the University of Colorado at Boulder. He has also received an MBA from Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management.
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FounderThe opportunity to play at the highest levels of soccer equipped Joe with a skill set to take on the world in a way that he otherwise could not. Overseeing our operations, Joe can apply these ever-growing skills to give back to the communities that gave so much to him, with the goal of globally eradicating all barriers of entry for youth sports participation.
Joe has earned a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Finance from Boston College, where he also played Division 1 soccer.
