Youth sports has become a high-stakes industry, but most parents are still expected to figure it out on instinct. Alex Hocevar, co-founder of Supporter, argues that the industry has left parents to fend for themselves in moments that show up in mindset, equipment, nutrition, safe sport, recruiting, and the emotional reality of raising a young athlete.
TAMPA BAY, Fla., July 2, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Families spent an average of $1,016 on a child's primary sport in 2024, up 46% since 2019. At the same time, U.S. high school sports participation reached a record 8,266,244 students in 2023–24. Yet despite all the money, scale, and intensity surrounding youth sports, the system still leaves the most consistent adult in a young athlete's life largely on their own: the parent. On this episode of Disruption Interruption, host Karla Jo Helms (KJ) speaks with Alex Hocevar, co-founder of Supporter, about why youth sports has built entire systems around athletes and coaches while overlooking parents, and why that gap is now hurting families, kids, and the broader sports ecosystem. As Hocevar puts it, "There's a balance between saying nothing and saying too much, and every sports parent has experienced that."
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