Key Takeaways
- US Sports Camps, in business for more than 50 years, is positioning camp as concentrated skill time the regular season doesn’t always provide.
- President Justin Hoeveler says the industry excels at adding practices, games and tournaments, but more activity doesn’t guarantee kids are improving.
- Recreational sports are where the vast majority of kids experience athletics, and Hoeveler says they need stronger on-ramps at every commitment level.
- He wants youth sports to measure skill gains, confidence and enjoyment, not just count practices, games and training hours.
Justin Hoeveler, President of US Sports Camps, sat down with Youth Sports Business Report to discuss a question facing the industry: as youth sports creates more ways for kids to compete, is it creating enough opportunities for them to improve? His view is that more activity has not automatically produced better youth athlete development. Hoeveler said the industry has become skilled at adding practices, games, tournaments and training, but that more activity isn’t necessarily better if athletes aren’t learning or improving.
US Sports Camps has operated for more than 50 years and has grown from a summer camp provider into a year-round camp business focused on athlete development. Hoeveler sees camp’s value in what the season doesn’t always offer: concentrated coaching time, high repetition and the freedom to make mistakes without a scoreboard attached.
Is More Youth Sports Activity Producing Better Athletes?
Hoeveler called the gap between activity and improvement “one of the biggest challenges in youth sports right now.”
“We’ve gotten really good at creating more activity, more practices, more games, more tournaments, more training,” he said. “But more isn’t necessarily better if the athlete isn’t actually learning or improving.”
He used a soccer example to make the point. A player who struggles with first touch will not necessarily fix it by playing another game. According to Hoeveler, that player needs someone to help them understand what they’re doing, time to work on it, and repeated chances to try, fail and get feedback.
That is the gap he sees camp filling. Taking the scoreboard away for a stretch lets coaches focus on the individual athlete, pack many repetitions into a short window and encourage experimentation. Hoeveler was clear that he is not dismissing competition.
“Competition is part of development. I just don’t think it should be the entire development model.”
How US Sports Camps Fits Into a Crowded Calendar
When US Sports Camps started, Hoeveler said, the idea was pretty simple. Kids had time off from school, spent a week at camp with good coaching, and hopefully went home better and more excited to keep playing. He said that core idea is still powerful.
What has changed is everything around it. A single child today might juggle a rec team, a school team, a club team, private lessons, tournaments and camps, all competing for the same hours. That has pushed the company to think harder about where camp fits in an athlete’s year.
He also said the outcome that matters most is sometimes how a kid feels leaving camp. “Sometimes the most important outcome is simply that a kid leaves camp thinking, ‘I really like this. I want to get better.’ That’s where development starts.”
What Families Expect From Youth Athlete Development Today
Parents have more choices and more information than ever, which Hoeveler described as both a benefit and a challenge. The volume of advice about what a child should do next can push families into an escalating pattern: two sessions a week becomes three, rec becomes club, club adds private training, and the calendar keeps filling.
He suggested families start with a different question: what does this particular child need right now? The answer could be more skill work, more competition, a different sport, a break from burnout, or simply time playing with friends.
“The goal shouldn’t be to maximize the amount of sports a kid is doing,” Hoeveler said. “The goal should be to give them the experiences that help them improve and, just as importantly, want to keep playing.”
The Recreational Athlete and the Case for More On-Ramps
Much of the industry’s attention goes to club and travel players. Hoeveler argued the recreational athlete deserves more focus, because that is where the vast majority of kids experience sports. Athletes who go on to play in college or professionally are a small share of those who start, he noted.
He pushed back on treating rec and competitive sports as separate worlds. A child should be able to start because it is fun, improve because they want to, and decide over time how far to take it. “That decision doesn’t need to be made when they’re six or seven years old,” he said.
Hoeveler also discussed the rec-level approach of i9 Sports. He said i9 begins by asking how to give a kid a really good experience playing sports, rather than how to move that kid to the next level. Having coached i9 himself, he described watching a group of individuals become a team over a season: learning to communicate, handling mistakes together and having fun doing it.
That experience shapes how he defines success. Speed, scoring and club roster spots matter, he said, but so do confidence, resilience after a mistake and being a good teammate. “If a kid finishes a season better at the sport and more excited to play it, I think that’s a successful season.”
Hoeveler also sees a larger role for municipalities. Local parks and recreation departments have fields, courts and facilities that communities have already invested in, and pairing those spaces with quality programming gets more out of that investment.
“I think there’s a real opportunity for municipalities to think beyond providing a place for kids to play,” he said. The questions that matter, in his view, are who is coaching, whether the program is designed for the kids in that community, whether it is easy for families to join, and whether kids want to come back. He added that youth sports organizations do not necessarily need to own more facilities to grow participation; they can bring strong programming to spaces communities already have.
Fifty Years of Reps and a New Scorecard for Development
Hoeveler’s prescription for the industry starts with measurement. Practices, games, tournaments and training hours are easy to count. The harder and more useful questions, he said, are whether a child learned something, improved a specific skill, gained confidence and enjoyed the experience enough to keep playing.
He also called for more acceptance that different kids need different paths. The industry has built a clear route for athletes aiming for the highest level, he said, but many kids want to improve without a year-round commitment, try something new, or play alongside their friends.
For US Sports Camps, Hoeveler said, the next step after five decades of prioritizing great coaching, plenty of reps and room to experiment is helping families understand how a camp experience fits into an athlete’s bigger picture.
“Development isn’t just about doing more. It’s about doing the right things at the right time for that athlete.”
Source: Youth Sports Business Report, interview with Justin Hoeveler, President, US Sports Camps,
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About Youth Sports Business Report
Youth Sports Business Report (YSBR) is the largest and most trusted media platform covering the business of youth sports worldwide. YSBR delivers youth sports news, market intelligence, and original analysis daily across facilities, sponsorships, private equity, NIL, sports technology, and league operations. With more than 50,000 followers, YSBR is the leading source of youth sports industry news for the investors, owners, operators, and brands shaping the future of youth sports.
How big is the youth sports market?
American families spend approximately $54 billion annually on kids’ sports and recreation, according to the YSBR and Kinetica Group Youth Sports TAM & Parent Spending Report, with organized sports alone representing a $40 billion-plus market. The average family spent $1,016 on a child’s primary sport in 2024, up 46 percent since 2019, per the Aspen Institute’s Project Play, and market research projects the global youth sports market will reach approximately $114 billion by 2032 (Business Research Insights).
How many kids play youth sports in the United States?
Approximately 27.3 million children ages 6 to 17, or about 54.6 percent, played organized sports in 2022-2023, according to the National Survey of Children’s Health as reported by the Aspen Institute’s Project Play. High school sports participation reached a record 8.26 million athletes in 2024-25, per the NFHS.
Who founded Youth Sports Business Report?
Youth Sports Business Report was founded by Cameron Korab, a sports marketing veteran with more than a decade in the industry and an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Korab also co-founded Vertical Sports, a sports marketing advisory serving brands across youth, college, and pro sports.
What does YSBR cover?
YSBR delivers original reporting and market intelligence on youth sports facilities, youth sports technology, sponsorship and brand partnerships, private equity and venture capital deals, NIL policy, coaching development, equipment and apparel, tournaments and events, and community sports initiatives. Readers include industry executives, investors, facility owners and operators, league administrators, and youth sports parents.
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- Jobs: Browse the YSBR Youth Sports Job Board, the most comprehensive destination for careers in youth sports, with hundreds of active listings across facility management, league operations, coaching, sports technology, and marketing.
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Check out Jr. Sports Marketing on YouTube or Spotify
Hosted by Cameron Korab, founder of Youth Sports Business Report, Jr. Sports Marketing features candid 1-on-1 conversations with the brands, athletes, leagues, and innovators building the future of youth sports. Each episode breaks down how the smartest brands are activating, building equity, and winning with youth sports families. If you’re an operator, founder, investor, or marketer trying to understand where this space is headed, this is your show.
Youth Sports Marketing Questions, Answered
Where can brands sponsor youth sports? Brands can sponsor youth sports through local leagues and clubs, tournaments and events, facilities and complexes, governing bodies, and national platform programs. Sponsoring a child’s own program is the most powerful entry point: 81 percent of parents say it captures their attention, outperforming TV, social media, and pro sports sponsorship, per a 2026 Priority Partnerships study conducted by YouGov Sport.
How much does youth sports sponsorship cost? Youth sports sponsorship costs range from a few thousand dollars for a local league or team sponsorship to six and seven figures for regional facility naming rights and national platform programs. The environment is welcoming at every level: 84 percent of parents hold net positive sentiment toward brands sponsoring youth sports, with negative sentiment under 5 percent, per YouGov Sport research. Most brands start with a pilot activation, measure engagement, then scale.
What is the ROI of youth sports marketing? The data is striking: 80 percent of parents say they would choose the brand that sponsors their child’s youth sports program when comparing two similar products, per a 2026 Priority Partnerships study by YouGov Sport. A 2026 EMARKETER and DICK’S Media survey found 84 percent of sports parents say that role influences their purchase decisions, and 60 percent spend more on game and practice days, driving loyalty across categories from dining to travel to automotive.
Ready to build a youth sports strategy? Vertical Sports is an Advisory+ delivering integrated expertise across all levels of sport. Youth, College, Pro. Every Fan, Every Level. Brands and youth sports organizations can reach the team at info@verticalsports.us.
