Why This Youth Athletes United Franchisee Continues to Reinvest in Multiple Concepts

??In 2021, multi-brand franchisor Youth Athletes United brought together five of the nation’s leading youth sports brands: JumpBunch, Soccer Stars, Amazing Athletes, TGA Premier Sports and Little Rookies. These acquisitions advanced the brand toward its mission to positively impact the lives of one million children each year. Now they present a unique opportunity for prospective multi-unit franchise owners — an opportunity that Jill Anderson, a JumpBunch franchisee in Columbus, Ohio, is taking advantage of.

Anderson launched her JumpBunch franchise in 2008. Now under the Youth Athletes United umbrella and with an array of franchise offerings available, she has added Amazing Athletes and Super Soccer Stars to her franchise portfolio, giving her a more robust program offering for her clients and a greater opportunity to grow her business.

“It's nice because now I have more that I can offer to each customer I work with,” said Anderson. “I already had a really good business with JumpBunch, but now I have three programs — three different, unique brands — to offer. Some customers only need one, but others want multiple, so I’m able to cross-sell to current clients. It just makes a lot of sense for my customers, and for my business.”

At one private school in Columbus, Anderson hosts JumpBunch classes on Mondays, Amazing Athletes programs on Tuesdays, Super Soccer Stars on Thursdays and a JumpBunch Superhero Boot Camp on Fridays, effectively doubling her business with that client.

Anderson chose Amazing Athletes and Super Soccer Stars because of how they complement her JumpBunch business. JumpBunch is a program for kids ages two to six that offers more than 70 activities. Its programming is focused on movement, having fun and being active, and with a focus on variety, kids experience something new every week. 

Before JumpBunch, Anderson was a program coordinator with the Columbus parks and recreation department. When she left to pursue the opportunity to start something of her own, it was primarily the non-competitive nature of the program that drew her to JumpBunch.

“Working in parks and recreation, I saw a lot of really competitive youth sports,” said Anderson. “I saw parents getting into fights, referees that got berated and coaches who were out to win at all costs. There were a lot of kids who got no joy out of it or had a bad experience, and I just knew that they needed something better from their sports experience. I loved the fact that JumpBunch was a truly instructional, non-competitive program that gave kids such a broad scope of different sports and fitness activities.”

Anderson was able to successfully launch her JumpBunch business in 2008 despite the economic recession by leveraging her connections in the parks and recreation department, along with what she calls “sticktoitiveness” — getting out in the community, knocking on doors and building a reputation through word of mouth. It’s the same approach that guided her business through COVID and fueled its post-pandemic resurgence in the summer of 2021.

“Last summer was off the charts in terms of enrollments, and it’s still going,” said Anderson. “One school that re-opened for JumpBunch just a few weeks ago — one where we had maybe 25 students signed up before — already has 53 kids signed up. Parents are really looking for programs like ours for the summer, and it's just been fantastic for us. I feel really good about the reputation we’ve built and the momentum we’ve got.”

Now Anderson is building upon that momentum by adding Amazing Athletes and Super Soccer Stars.

Amazing Athletes is the nation’s premier multi-sport education provider. It’s a year-round program that introduces kids to the fundamentals in 10 different sports, and its mission is to keep kids active with engaging content that teaches them about life skills, teamwork and nutrition. Super Soccer Stars is also one of the nation’s most popular youth educational soccer programs. Designed for children ages one to 16, it features soccer instruction in a fun, educational setting. Its crib-to-college programming introduces young athletes to the fundamentals of soccer with a unique, age-specific curriculum meant to improve soccer skills, build self-confidence, and develop socialization skills.

Both Amazing Athletes and Super Soccer Stars, like JumpBunch, are non-competitive programs. But since they feature true team sports offerings, adding the two brands makes Anderson’s program offering much more dynamic.

“A lot of our customers love JumpBunch,” she said. “But some really, really want team sports. Now that we have Amazing Athletes, we can provide that, and having Soccer Stars allows us to compete with some of the soccer programs here in the area. So now I feel like we can offer everything that customers, kids and parents want.”

In bringing all these youth-focused brands under one umbrella, Youth Athletes United’s goal was not only to make a positive impact on kids across the country but to also provide a dynamic franchise opportunity for entrepreneurs to make a positive impact in their communities by building stronger, healthier kids.

To learn more about franchising with Youth Athletes United, visit https://youthathletesunited.com/.