When I think back to my own youth sports memories, the nostalgia hits pretty hard. Its like watching a Ken Burns documentary in my head. I can see baseball diamonds located on town squares, hand me down uniforms that mostly fit, and the feel of the dented white metal bat that we all used because it was clearly luckier than all the other ones.

While those memories are undoubtedly sweet, I also recognize that today’s youth sports bear very little resemblance to my own experience. Yes, the rules of the game are largely unchanged, but everything else is unrecognizable. Nowhere is this more true than expense. That dented metal bat we all shared has been replaced by a $400 lightweight thunder stick made of space age materials.

Well, that’s the price of progress, as a lot of people have pointed out. And it’s part of the reason why youth sports have transformed from something run by the town’s Park and rec department into a industry estimated at $40 billion - $80 billion annually.

There is, of course, an unintended consequence of this growth. At a time when we need more kids playing sports for all the mental and physical benefits, fewer and fewer kids are actually doing so. And a major reason why is the expense. A lot of families just can’t absorb the cost of that $400 bat.

It’s a real problem. Fortunately, it’s a problem that Christy Keswick, co-Founder and President of Good Sports is working on.

Founded in 2003 by Keswick and her friend Melissa Harper, Good Sports is a nonprofit that distributes sports equipment and gear to people and organizations that need it the most. Since its founding, Keswick and Good Sports delivered over $126 million worth of brand-new sports equipment to more than 10 million children. For her work, Keswick has been recognized as an SBJ Game Changer and the Youth Sports Business Reports’ inaugural Person of the Year.

In our conversation, Christy and I talk about the founding of Good Sports and it’s growth from an “out of the garage operation” and into something more akin to a major logistics company. We dive into the growth of the youth sports industry, the role of private equity, how brands are engaging with Good Sports, and how she plans to continue growing the company to keep pace with an insatiable need.

ABOUT THIS PODCAST

The Sports Business Conversations podcast is a production of ADC Partners, a sports marketing agency that specializes in creating, managing, and evaluating effective partnerships between brands and sports. All rights reserved.

YOUR HOST

Dave Almy brings over 30 years of sports marketing and sports business experience to his role as host of the "1-on-1: Sports Business Conversations" podcast. Dave is the co-Founder of ADC Partners.

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Mentioned in this episode:

Good Sports

00:02

Christy Keswick

Hey, this is Christy Keswick, co founder and president of GoodSports. And this is the Sports Business Conversations podcast from ADC Partners.

00:25

Dave Almy

Hey, this is Dave Almy of ADC Partners. And when I think back to my own youth sports memories, the nostalgia hits pretty hard. It's kind of like watching a Ken Burns documentary in my head. I mean, I can see the baseball diamonds located on town squares, hand me down uniforms that mostly fit, and most of all, the feel of that dented white metal bat that my teammates and I all used because it was clearly luckier than all the other ones. And while those memories are undoubtedly sweet, I also recognize that today's youth sports bear very little resemblance to my own experience. Yeah, the rules of the game are largely unchanged, but pretty much everything else is unrecognizable. And nowhere is this more true than expense.

01:09

Dave Almy

That dented metal bat that we all shared has been replaced by a $400 lightweight thunderstick made of space age materials. Well, that's the price of progress, as a lot of people have pointed out. And it's part of the reason why you sports have transformed from something run by the town's park and rec department into an industry estimated at, I don't know, anywhere from $40 billion to $80 billion annually. There is, of course, an unintended consequence to this growth. At a time when we need more kids playing sports for all the mental and physical benefits, fewer and fewer kids are actually doing so. And a major reason why is that expense right. A lot of families just can't absorb the cost of that $400 bat. It's a real problem. Fortunately, it's a problem that Christy Keswick, co founder and CEO of Goodsports, is working on.

01:57

Dave Almy

02:46

Dave Almy

So thanks for listening in my conversation with Christy Keswick, co founder and CEO of Good Sports. Hope you enjoy. Christy, you were a management consultant straight out of college or you went to Georgetown and you got right into the business of solving problems for businesses of all kinds. At what point did youth sports sort of become part of that role? I'm assuming you played sports as a kid, but at what point did you start to take a look at it like, oh, here's this opportunity to do something different.

03:20

Christy Keswick

Yeah, well, you're right, I did play sports as a kid. I was a three sport athlete and in high school. But beyond that, triple threat. Keswick, which is a little bit of a, you know, unknown these days.

03:35

Dave Almy

Yes. A little archaic.

03:36

Christy Keswick

Yeah, it is, but it was a different time certainly. And you know, but I played youth sports growing up. It was, you know, my childhood was very much like on a field, on a court, spending after school doing those things. It was just part of, you know, how I grew up and, you know, who I was and also became just a sports fan because I was so integrated into sports. Went to Georgetown, did not play Division 1 athletics there.

04:05

Dave Almy

I had a similar experience at Division 3,.

04:09

Christy Keswick

But it was still something that was core to my being. But had an opportunity to get into management consulting after graduation and honestly loved it. Loved sort of the approach to the problem solving, the curiosity component that it takes to be a consultant. Loved so much of that, but also didn't love other parts of management consulting. Sort of, you know, sort of the traveling five days a week, but also just not feeling super fulfilled by what the problems were I was solving. So had this incredible opportunity where I met one of you know, my best friends and future co founder Melissa Har, at that first job. And we shared a lot of things, you know, sort of our love for what were doing, but also this desire to do something a little bit greater.

05:00

Dave Almy

I mean, you guys shared an office, right? I mean, you guys.

05:02

Christy Keswick

We did.

05:03

Dave Almy

When you say you shared everything. I mean, I'm like, you know, hand me that pencil type stuff inside the office.

05:08

Christy Keswick

And yeah, first job out of college, first day, you know, got assigned to share an office. And we, while were working on different projects, we very much, I think had a very similar approach to the work. I think both sort of excelled on the strategic thinking and really loved the problem solving components of it, but also grew up playing. Both of us grew up playing sports. I think there was a desire there from very early on to take those business skills Hone them further and do something that felt both passionate and maybe transformative.

05:44

Dave Almy

Did you think about it and talk about it in terms of what can we create? Or was it more like, hey, here's an opportunity. We should go pursue that? Like, what was the sort of genesis for the both of you?

05:58

Christy Keswick

I think early on it was more generic. It was like, we should do something.

06:02

Dave Almy

We should do something.

06:03

Christy Keswick

We should do something. We should create something together. Let's see what that is. We were, I mean, were, you know, 22 years old when were having these conversations.

06:11

Dave Almy

Oh, there's nothing more confident in the world than a 22.

06:13

Christy Keswick

Absolutely.

06:14

Dave Almy

We're gonna change the world.

06:15

Christy Keswick

Here we go. Absolutely. And I think, you know, both of us went on beyond that. We actually worked at different consulting firms after that, but we always came back to that conversation. And then, you know, fast forward.

06:27

Dave Almy

So the seed was really planted.

06:28

Christy Keswick

The seed was planted, and I think that, like, that opened the universe to bring us. To bring us, you know, having more and more conversations and ultimately an opportunity to found good sports.

06:40

Dave Almy

Can you talk about that process of the transition? Was it something that you were out talking to different people and saying, hey, what about this idea? Or what are you trying to. Or was it something that, like, we talked about earlier, Was it more organic? Like, you kind of fell into it? I know, like, a lot of people who start off just thinking one thing, and the next thing they go is like, oh, I ended up here. How'd that happen? And, you know, 20 years come upon.

07:04

Christy Keswick

Yeah, I mean, I, I, I think it, you know, it's a. Frankly, it was a little bit of both. So we ended up just chatting with a bunch of people about sort of this idea of, like, doing something that felt more, you know, and at the time, I don't even know that we knew it would be a nonprofit, you know, but it was more, what can we do? How can we hone these skills? What does this next piece look like for us? And that led us to some conversations with people that were having some similar thoughts and similar ideas, and that is, you know, that ultimately led to more and more conversations with these folks who became our founding board, by the way.

07:38

Christy Keswick

And, you know, it was like there was this seed floating out there about, you know, youth sports and sort of some changes that were happening there, but also the equipment piece of it, like, what are people doing with used equipment? That also triggered some of the conversation and some of the early ideas around good sports. I mean, ultimately, we didn't end up, going down, you know, in a used equipment path. But I will say it kind of opened our thoughts to what is going on with this? And is equipment a barrier to play? And that is, you know, ultimately. And then our, you know, our management consulting brains couldn't do anything other than write a business plan because we, we had to.

08:20

Dave Almy

Yeah, you go with what you know.

08:21

Christy Keswick

I know. I wish I still had that business plan. I wish I could go back.

08:25

Dave Almy

You would, I don't know, you would, like, you would kind of open it with one eye like. I know. God.

08:29

Christy Keswick

Yeah. Well, I hope it's, I hope it's expanded since then.

08:33

Dave Almy

So it started with the idea of, hey, how can we repurpose used gear to lower the cost of entry for kids who want to play sports?

08:45

Christy Keswick

I, you know, I think it started a little bit as like, what can I, you know, more like a personal problem, like, what can I do with this equipment? I have this equipment to get a.

08:54

Dave Almy

Garage full of smelly gear, get it out of here.

08:56

Christy Keswick

But that got us thinking, like, what is, you know, we know what youth sports look like when were growing up, but what are some of the current things going on? And, you know, are there kids that could use that? And so I think we quickly translated that to that conversation and doing more research on that. And honestly, we're quite stunned at what we found.

09:14

Dave Almy

So. Talk about being stunned at what you found. What were some of the things that blew your hair back a little bit when you started to dive further into youth sports?

09:26

Christy Keswick

Yeah, like I said, were in our early 20s when we started this, so youth sports wasn't that far away from the life that we, you know, that we had. But we both grew up like, you know, youth sports was very accessible. Right. It was in your town, it was local, it was low cost. It was, you know, you kind of showed up maybe with some cleats, but everything else was provided for you.

09:47

Dave Almy

All the catchers gear and all that stuff.

09:49

Christy Keswick

Yeah. So it was to us, like, you know, it was not. We didn't, we didn't see the barriers really, but what we quit. And then, and then fast forward, you're in a sports town like Boston, and there's such a love of sports and there's so much energy around sports. And you kind of almost think, like, is it possible that some kids don't have access to sports here? But the data was definitely showing a decrease in participation in youth sports. And it was pretty quiet, I would say Publicly at that point, I think, you know, we did the digging and were quite surprised, but I wouldn't say it's taught me. It was nowhere near the conversations that are happening today. Brands were not involved. It was.

10:36

Christy Keswick

It was really an education for us, and then an education that we then had to share with potential funders because I don't think it was nearly as obvious as it is.

10:46

Dave Almy

So this is kind of origin story and how it got. But. So let's talk about where good sports finds itself today. So for people who are unfamiliar with good sports and its mission, what's the. For lack of a better term, I'll go back to your management consulting days. What's your elevator pitch in terms of the. What the company, what the nonprofit is and the problem it is trying to solve?

11:09

Christy Keswick

So, I mean, we. We've become a national nonprofit. We started locally, but fundamentally, our mission has not changed. We are. We are looking to break down barriers to access to youth sports so that all kids in high need, communities included, can have the opportunity to play. The reason we think that's important is that youth sports in general, access to sports and team play and individual play, has been shown over and over again to have lifelong benefits, you know, across physical, social, emotional, academic. And we don't want a cost barrier to be the reason that some kids don't get those lifelong benefits. And that's fundamentally why we exist. The way we go about it is we focus very much on a singular barrier that is one of the biggest in youth sports, which is the cost of equipment.

11:59

Christy Keswick

And our approach is pretty unique in that the way we decided to approach it is not doing that used equipment component, but really going at the industry. So would the sporting goods industry support the work we're doing by donating their excess equipment to good sports? Who then can then match up that equipment to organizations that we know in a high need community?

12:23

Dave Almy

And when you say excess equipment, is this, like, past model years type of stuff that they're moving out? Is it excess inventory that just doesn't get sold or. And sort of along those lines.

12:32

Christy Keswick

Yeah. And again, that was the initial. And we've expanded even with some of those partners beyond excess. And we can talk a little bit about that, but really it can come in a variety of different ways, which is. Yeah, I mean, you know, you've got kind of three different components of the sporting goods industry. You've got apparel, you've got footwear, and we've got what we call hardware goods. Apparel and footwear tend to Be very fashion oriented, very cyclical in terms of like the next season needs to go into the retail outlets, go online. So we see a lot of the access happen in that capacity, which is that this is last year's color, this is last year's design and their success.

13:07

Dave Almy

You can't be caught wearing last year's color. For a fashion forward guy like me, you know, you can't do that. Yeah. You know, I get it though.

13:15

Christy Keswick

Hard goods is a little bit different in that it can stay on the shelves a little bit longer. Typically, you don't see that kind of change over in a hard good to be as frequent. That being said, there is that there are changes in technology, There are technology changes in design. I mean, even we've seen a couple examples, you know, of something that's very timely right now. But from the last World cup that, you know, a brand needed to move out of their retail store. All of the soccer balls that were branded with the last year's World Cup. And so we ended up with thousands of soccer balls that were you $200 soccer balls that were amazing. And the logo was like, yay big. But our kids are more than happy to take them. Right. You know, we see things like license changes.

14:04

Christy Keswick

So, you know, when Wilson took over the NBA license, you know, Spalding could no longer sell.

14:11

Dave Almy

You found yourself a lot of Spalding basketballs.

14:14

Christy Keswick

That's right. So things like that do happen on the hard good side. And then, you know, sometimes they just make too much of something or, you know, there is some technology changes or there's some requirement changes. There is movement. There's always, you know, this is a huge $85 billion industry. So no one is going to get the supply chain perfect. And so that's part of what we're there to be with as a partner.

14:41

Dave Almy

I want to dive into that point right there. Because you just talked about the supply side. Like, there's, there's excess supply. Let's talk about the demand side too, because I think like you said in your initial research in Boston, you were kind of surprised. Like, well, you know, what do you mean? There's kids who might not have access to the equipment they need to play. So as you think about the market today and the scale of the market today, can you encapsulate that? Like, what's the. When you have, okay, there's a supply. What's the demand look like for all that supply?

15:14

Christy Keswick

Way more than we have.

15:16

Dave Almy

Yeah,.

15:18

Christy Keswick

Yeah. So we've seen a major Shift in youth sports. And it has gotten increasingly expensive to play youth sports. And it's not just the equipment side of it, is actually quite a few different things that make up that expense. But we have seen a lot of things that factor into youth sports programming really suffering and having to either shut down, having to charge more to play, having to have wait lists, having to, you know, do a lot of different things in order to run a successful program, leaving a lot of kids on the sidelines, which is our major concern. And so as an organization, you know, we started here in the Boston area, but we've expanded our work nationally and have been doing it nationally for a long time because simply the demand is great.

16:13

Christy Keswick

And because we do all sports and we do a wide variety of ages, we see the demand in a lot of different areas. So somewhat sacred, I would say is sort of like, you know, the T balls of the world are typically happening pretty recreationally and pretty low cost. But the more, the older the kids get, the more risk they are at dropping out of sports. And it is, you know, there is social reasons for that. We do see a drop off from between 10 and 12. We do see girls dropping at a sports of twice rite of boys. But a lot of it has to do with the change in the ecosystem of youth sports and how it has become more professionalized and more costly to participate.

16:55

Christy Keswick

And that is having a major impact on the recreational, low cost programming that we talked about in the past, which is sort of how we, most of us started and youth sports.

17:06

Dave Almy

Yeah. So look, I'm going back to my own experience. Right. And it was, you know, sports, through school and sports, the community, like the little leagues you played for your town. And that was kind of it. To say that is almost a Norman Rockwellian look at how sports was compared today. And I think anybody who's listening, who's a travel parent or travel sports parent kind of just shakes their head ruefully to a certain degree because that is not how it is today. There has been a professionalization of youth sports. And is that from your standpoint, Christy, is that just what catalyzed that change? Because it's changed a lot fairly quickly. What was a catalyst that produced this change?

17:53

Dave Almy

Was there one or was it a variety of factors based on your experience and research that you look back on and I see you kind of smiling a little bit. I feel like there's something you want to say. Yeah, okay. Yeah.

18:05

Christy Keswick

No, I mean, listen, I think, I don't know that there's One thing, but what I do think is that we have almost super sized youth sports here in America. And when I was growing up, there were a few club programs and a few travel programs, but they were pretty elite athletes that were plucked from what you would call kind of your typical programming.

18:33

Dave Almy

Yet not the Dave Alamis of the world.

18:35

Christy Keswick

Well, I think that's right, but that's what I think you're not supposed to say that.

18:39

Dave Almy

You're supposed to say, that's right, not the Dave Alamis. That's ridiculous.

18:43

Christy Keswick

Yeah, I. Listen, I think it'd be really hard for me to be a three sport athlete in high school these days, but I think there was a recognition at some point by businesses and just the ecosystem that more might better and parents might pay for that and kids might be interested in that. So instead of playing soccer, you know, in the fall, you know, you could play soccer all year round if you really like soccer. And you know what, you don't actually have to be the best at it, but if you'll write a check, we'll create programming around that. And that is what sort of started, I think, this whole professionalization into youth sports is that frankly there's, there were, there's money to be made.

19:36

Christy Keswick

And I'm not saying that is a bat thing or that there's no place for that type of sport in the ecosystem. Our concern is it at the cost of the recreational and the low cost in the localized sports, making it only available to those who have money? And that is the transition we have started to see that is concerning to us there.

20:03

Dave Almy

I think this conversation always has to end up, particularly when you're talking about youth sports. Private equity has to enter the chat at some point because it does go back to the point and I've heard this made again and again, which is, hey, look, parents will do anything to support a kid's dream.

20:20

Christy Keswick

That's right.

20:21

Dave Almy

And I think it's fair to say that private equity has recognized that as people are going to go to extreme lengths to support this. That's why I think you mentioned the number earlier. Right. I've seen youth sports itself valued as an industry from anywhere from 40 billion to $80 billion. So as, I mean, if private equity is getting involved, they're going to find a way to make sure their investment is going to be monetized, whether that's through investing in the leagues themselves. And I think we've seen horror stories about ice rinks getting snapped up by single organizations and inflating the costs associated with that and all the apparel and technology that's going around youth sports. So how have you seen that specifically impact kids ability to participate? I mean private equity, yes, it brings investment, but the downside is that investment comes with hooks.

21:20

Christy Keswick

Yeah, well, you know, private equity didn't create the access problem. Do I think it's accelerating it? Probably, it probably will. And you know, I think private equity is a business. They saw a market, they, their job is to make money for their investors. So you know, I think that is not evil, that is their job.

21:54

Dave Almy

That's capitalism.

21:56

Christy Keswick

That's capitalism. And the challenge is that they see the market, but we see the kids. The market isn't serving. Right. So can both things be true? Can there be an ecosystem that has both pieces that can both see investment? That is what I think we have to try to figure out.

22:15

Dave Almy

So that's the challenge.

22:16

Christy Keswick

That's right.

22:17

Dave Almy

That's the challenge that you're looking at. Let's talk about the successes as you think about good sports where you started and good sports where you are right now. What, what gets you most excited about what you've been able to do and accomplish in supporting youth sports and making sure that access isn't an issue related to equipment.

22:37

Christy Keswick

You know, I think we have reached a scale where we are having infrastructure type and investments and success. And I think that we can have a seat at the table trying to solve and create a system that is more fair for more kids. So that gets me excited because I think that being at the table to help try to solve what is, you know, this problem that's being created when it, or accelerated, I should say is something that gets me excited. That's just sort of like fundamentally how we started this conversation about, you know, the whole problem solving and curiosity. But we can't do it alone. Nowhere near can we do it alone. I think the other thing that gets me excited is that if we have a seat at the table, we can bring our partners along as well.

23:28

Christy Keswick

So Good Sports has had the ability to bring in a lot of brand partners to support our work. A lot of big name organizations and companies that care about youth sports and we can help educate them on what is going on in the market and be a real thought partner in this and use their investments in good sports to try to help solve this problem. And so those are the things that really for me get me excited. And you know, we are a charity, but I think we are more infrastructure for this sports system, that ecosystem that needs that support and So I think those are the things that, you know, I feel like we can make a difference. Like we are never going to fight this private equity investment change.

24:15

Christy Keswick

Like, so what can we do to make sure that people who are making these kinds of investments and partners who care about youth sports also understand the other side of the spectrum, what is going on and why is important for all of these brands and anybody who cares about sports to have more kids playing rather than fewer. And that's the piece that we really, I think, can educate them on.

24:37

Dave Almy

Yeah, I don't think you're going to go up to anybody and say, is it good to have more kids or less kids.

24:41

Christy Keswick

Absolutely.

24:42

Dave Almy

Involved in sports. No, no. There's too many people who are going to check the less kids.

24:46

Christy Keswick

Boxers know that, they know that. That yes, there are going to be kids to buy an 800 bat, but they also need to have the kids that are buying a $50 bat and trying. And trying baseball for the first time.

25:04

Dave Almy

I am, I'm sort of picking up my jaw when I heard $800 bat. But that just shows you I'm a little removed from youth baseball at this point in time. It doesn't surprise me, but it still surprised me a little bit. Let's talk about brands for a second too, because you just had your third brand conference brand partnership Summit.

25:22

Christy Keswick

That's right.

25:23

Dave Almy

And brands have been an integral part of this as they look for ways. I think there's very few. There's so many brands who are looking for ways to be integrated into youth sports. They all recognize that there's such a great opportunity to connect with people and share messages about competition and health and all the things that go along with that. And good sports offers sort of a non fractured way to be able to do it, right?

25:45

Christy Keswick

That's right.

25:46

Dave Almy

Sometimes that can be overwhelming for partners to be able to look at the youth sports market and be like, oh my God, there's 650,000 organizations that we could potentially partner with. I'm curious, when you go to the summit and when you host the summit, what are some of the issues that brands are talking about related to youth sports and what learnings do you share with them?

26:04

Christy Keswick

Yeah, well, it's a great question. And there's a couple, I would say a couple different things. Like one, we have found brands, look, sports investment market, sports marketing, investment is just continues to grow and you see brands across all different aspects of products, consumer products, sports products, you name it, that are invested in sports. Right. It could be the World cup, it could be the super bowl, it could be the NFL, it could be the NBA. But regardless, you see tons of sports investment. And what over time has happened is that consumers expect marketing to also be tied to being good citizens. And so over time, we.

26:48

Christy Keswick

We have seen the funding that we've gotten from brands not just be from their foundation or from their community relations, but really truly marketing investment because there's different animal, and they're starting to see these two things much more closely aligned than they ever did. And so that gives us a real opportunity to frankly raise more money. Right? There's more money in marketing than there.

27:08

Dave Almy

Is whole different budget.

27:10

Christy Keswick

That's right. And so I think that's one opportunity that's brought a lot of brands our way. The other. The other thing is, how do they do that? Right. You're talking about a very decentralized youth sports infrastructure. They're not experts at it. They want to partner with an expert at it. And we do that. Right. We can educate them on what's going on in youth sports, but also how to reach these organizations and these kids. They want them to show up for an event. They want to make grant donations to good sports that then, you know, pass along to soccer programs or they might care about programs in certain geographies. Well, good sports can be their partner to do that. And we really are, you know, experts in that area.

27:50

Christy Keswick

And so I think that is truly been a way that we have helped educate them and bring them along and also meet their business goals. Right. Can they do both? Like, we understand that they need to do both. Can we be a partner that helps.

28:05

Dave Almy

Them do that and help them understand the market and how they should approach it in such a way that, you know, the word authenticity gets thrown around a lot, but it's appropriate here to how to do so in a meaningful and authentic way?

28:15

Christy Keswick

Yeah, that's right. And you know, we have been around for over 20 years. We've done this work for a long time. I think we're well respected in the area. So to partner with somebody like goodsports, I think gives them instant credibility in this space rather than trying to figure it out on their own, which, you know, it's. It's. We've been doing it a long time. It's taken a lot, a long time to become experts in this space.

28:36

Dave Almy

So when you think about the opportunities and challenges presented by youth sports now and how good sports wants to continue to support and invest in that market, where do you feel like your organization wants to improve? Like, how do you continue to do so in a means that is both effective and efficient, to have the maximum impact that you possibly can.

28:59

Christy Keswick

Yeah, that's a great question. So, you know, the number one challenge is there's more to do than we have the resources to do. Right.

29:08

Dave Almy

What an unusual nonprofit story.

29:10

Christy Keswick

Exactly. That being said, it's incredibly hard to scale a nonprofit. If you think.

29:16

Dave Almy

If you think about, well, you're infrastructure related too. I mean, you are dealing in hard goods. That's a. That's animal of its own. Right?

29:23

Christy Keswick

Yeah. 50,000 Square foot warehouse. Like we have a logistic.

29:26

Dave Almy

We are a logistics, just like every other nonprofit.

29:28

Christy Keswick

Yeah. So, you know, I think one of the things that, you know, we think about is how. How do we scale our business? Right. We've already scaled. We're already larger than most nonprofits in the country, which is. It's a hard thing to do, especially when you think about we don't have access to debt financing and PE money and all the things that most businesses rely on when they do need to scale. So it's very hard to scale, but we've done that. But how do we get it to the next level? And, you know, I think that comes down to being a really good marketer of our work, getting our word out about the work we do to the right people. So certainly that is brands.

30:11

Christy Keswick

There are brands out there that can really be transformative in helping us to expand the work we're doing to reach more kids. I also think it's people, right? It's. It's your. It's your local dad who values played sports growing up, sees how much value his kid is, you know, getting in the sport. And it's like, you know what? That's a charity. I could get behind all the way up to your philanthropist, your major philanthropists who care about this work. So there's that piece of it. It's very hard to market yourself as a nonprofit, too, because you're also not supposed to spend money on marketing.

30:47

Dave Almy

That's where. That's where podcasts like this one come in handy, become incredibly sweat equity.

30:54

Christy Keswick

But no, aligning ourselves with big brands that have audiences that are bigger than us, aligning ourselves with athletes that care about this work, that can help shout it from the rooftops. Those are all important things. But also on the program side of things, we are always refining how we are helping these programs. What have we learned that allows us to do things differently and have a greater impact? So over the years, we've changed our model a little bit to be More impactful. We have a group of programs that we commit to for a five year period and we track that progress and see how it does transform that community. We also have programs that we do more one off donations to.

31:33

Christy Keswick

So being creative and not just getting stuck in like, hey, this is what we did 20 years ago, but making sure that we're being strategic about how the world has changed and making sure we're adapting to it.

31:42

Dave Almy

Was there ever a consideration to move away from a non profit model and do some sort of different organizational structure that had a little bit more capability, flexibility for doing that? Or is it, or is non profit just deliver you what you need to at this point in time?

32:02

Christy Keswick

That is a great question. I mean, I wish there were there. I honestly do wish there was a bit of a hybrid. Not saying that we would never consider it. I think it's a little complicated once you've established yourself as a non profit. I love that question though. That's kind of got my, got me thinking a little bit. You know, I think there's a couple things you need. You need to have that nonprofit piece of it to have that credibility, to get brands to align with you, to get donors to give to you. But is there a component that, you know, our business could be a little bit more in control of its revenue? I could see that happening too. You know, I think there is potential for some flexibility there in the future.

32:47

Dave Almy

Yeah, there's no shortage of different ways to be able to explore this with where the next influx of revenue for good sports is going to come from.

32:57

Christy Keswick

That's right.

32:58

Dave Almy

Because as you look down the road, the need is not going to go away.

33:04

Christy Keswick

No, I think the need has changed. So we are seeing some good news. We are seeing sports participation in general starting to rise again. Which is, which is a good thing. If you were to cut that down by household income, you would not see as great a news on that front. But we are seeing, you know, we saw huge dip, we saw dipping before COVID huge dip during COVID and now we are at a place, we are actually back above pre Covid levels, which I think is, which is actually good news. So it's not all bat news. But I do think that there is a level of creativity that has to come to the space to make it more equalized across the board.

33:53

Dave Almy

Christy Keswick, she is the co founder and president of Good Sports. Christy, thanks for the time today to talk about good sports. Before I let you go though, I'm Going to put you in the lighting round.

34:03

Christy Keswick

Okay. Love it.

34:04

Dave Almy

Do you?

34:05

Christy Keswick

I don't know. We'll find out.

34:06

Dave Almy

I guess we're gonna find out in a couple seconds. I just got a bunch of questions for. All I want from you, Christie, is the first thing that pops into your head. Are you ready?

34:14

Christy Keswick

Yeah.

34:14

Dave Almy

All right, let's do this thing. You and I are both Boston Red Sox fans.

34:17

Christy Keswick

Yes.

34:18

Dave Almy

34:27

Christy Keswick

Well, you have a very impatient fan base here, so I'd say you're gonna have to do something quick.

34:37

Dave Almy

I'm assuming this part is not going to go on video. What you've missed there was the leaning in towards the screen. So Kennedy and Breslow. I'd be nervous. Okay.

34:46

Christy Keswick

Yeah. I'm not telling them anything they don't know.

34:49

Dave Almy

You got to make a change fast. Number two, you and your co founder were running partners for quite some time. Did it ever get competitive?

34:59

Christy Keswick

No. No. We both had a kind of a slightly different run. She got. I think she got competitive with herself. She ended up running a bunch of marathons. But for us it was like a very much like a decompression.

35:13

Dave Almy

Meditative.

35:14

Christy Keswick

Meditative, like energizing, like all the good things. Running outside. We. Our first job was in Harvard Square in Cambridge. So you. You know that area we used to run the river. And it was just. It was. It was all good stuff.

35:28

Dave Almy

It's all good stuff. Except for the running part. I've never quite figured that particular one out. As we've discussed, you went to Georgetown, which I'm assuming makes you a hoy. So I've got a two parter for you.

35:37

Christy Keswick

Okay.

35:39

Dave Almy

What is the name of the Hoyas bulldog mascot?

35:43

Christy Keswick

Jack.

35:43

Dave Almy

All right, so yeah, that was easy. And please sing the first few bars of the fight song.

35:50

Christy Keswick

Nope. You can't make me do that.

35:52

Dave Almy

This conversation cannot go. And you're not gonna sing for me, Kirsty?

35:56

Christy Keswick

No. And honestly, I don't know if I could remember it.

35:58

Dave Almy

Don't even know it. There goes old Georgetown. The flight song. No, it's not gonna happen.

36:03

Christy Keswick

All right.

36:04

Dave Almy

Another music related question. You were the inaugural Youth Sportsperson of the Year award recipient. Congratulations.

36:11

Christy Keswick

Thank you.

36:12

Dave Almy

What was your walk up music to get your award?

36:17

Christy Keswick

So it was all virtual. So there was no walk up song. What?

36:20

Dave Almy

All right, so what would have been your walk up song?

36:26

Christy Keswick

So I. I would say Ready for it by Taylor Swift.

36:32

Dave Almy

Swifties. You're everywhere.

36:33

Christy Keswick

Everywhere.

36:34

Dave Almy

Somewhere. My daughter is glowing.

36:37

Christy Keswick

Yes, love. Love her. Love her music. Love her creativity. Love her business drive. Love it all.

36:43

Dave Almy

Okay, last one. Give a shout out to a friend or mentor you would like to point out and recognize at this point in time.

36:51

Christy Keswick

So I probably would say shout out to my best friend Kelly, who went to Georgetown together. You know, I think when you start to, when you realize you've been doing something for so long, you always realize you've never done it alone. And so she's always been my not at work partner. To kind of get through all of life, including this, this journey, you.

37:12

Dave Almy

Gotta have those folks always there for you. Christy Keswick, thanks so much for the time.

37:16

Christy Keswick

Thank you. Appreciate it.