ST INS CARES-All Star Athletic Foundation-Making Youth Sports Affordable

Youth sports can shape a kid’s confidence for life, but the price tag is getting out of hand. I’m joined by Marissa Battle of All-Star Athletics Foundation, a Southwest Florida nonprofit built to help families keep their kids in the game when tuition, uniforms, equipment, camps, and travel start to feel impossible. If you’ve ever wondered how families afford all-star cheerleading or the football camp and recruiting grind, this conversation gets real fast.

Marissa shares how the foundation started, why it operates beyond a single school or gym, and what makes their model different: athletes fundraise into their own tracked accounts, and parents can use those funds for the costs that actually show up throughout a season. We talk about what’s allowed, what takes planning, and why transparency matters when money is raised in the community for kids.

We also dig into the fundraisers that work best, from major partnerships like running concession stands and ice cream carts at Hertz Arena to community efforts like “canning” meet-and-greets, bake sales, car washes, quarter auctions, popcorn and cookie fundraisers, Super Bowl squares, and a big color run. Marissa explains how sponsorships help too, especially when local businesses want to support a specific athlete or sport.

If you believe talent should not be priced out, listen, share this with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find it. Want to help right now? Donate at allstarathleticsfoundation.org and hit subscribe for more stories of local impact.

All-Star Athletics Foundation
Marissa Battle
(239) 245-3198
allstarathleticsfoundation@gmail.com
allstarathleticsfoundation.org

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Transcript

Welcome And Community Mission

Intro/Close 0:00

Welcome to the State Insurance USA Cares Podcast, where we celebrate the heart of our community. Each episode, we highlight local charities and nonprofits who are bringing hope, health, and healing to those who need it most. Get ready to be inspired by the amazing stories of people making a difference. Because together, we care.

Gail Langner 0:19

Well, hello,

Meeting Marissa And The Problem

Gail Langner 0:20

it's Gail Langner with State Insurance Care, a division of State Insurance USA. And today I'm so honored to have Marissa Battle here. She's with the All-Star Athletics Foundation. And Marissa, thanks so much for joining uh joining us today. I really appreciate it.

Marissa Battle 0:36

Thanks for having me.

Gail Langner 0:38

So when I was on your website when I was originally studying, hmm, I think this might be a good nonprofit to donate to. It said, we really believe that kids should be kids. And that of course includes sports, and sports are expensive. And I know I was a hockey mom.

Marissa Battle 0:53

So wow.

Gail Langner 0:54

Oh yeah. I know how expensive that is. So how did this come about? How

How All-Star Athletics Foundation Began

Gail Langner 0:59

did how did um All-Star Athletics start?

Marissa Battle 1:02

Oh, okay. So we don't have all day. Um, but I have personally six kids. We my husband and I together have eight. Um, six of them are mine, and they all do some sort of sport or involved in some sort of arts. Um, I think one of the most expensive sports that my children decided to do was all-star cheerleading. And um, some years ago, they were at a gym and I was the booster club president, and that gym wound up closing after COVID. Um, so we went to a new gym and we were there for about a year, and I was paying everything out of pocket, but I also had sons that were doing football in school. They were starting to go to camps, doing the recruiting process and whatnot. Um, and after about a year, the new gym manager was like, I'm looking for someone to take over parts of the, you know, fundraising for the gym because they didn't really have anything coming back from COVID. And I was like, I'll do it. I know what I'm doing. So uh that's how it started. And then um, about a year later, I think I had maybe two years worth of tuition banked for my daughter at the gym. And I kind of was like, Man, I wish I could take this money and use some of it for my boys for their camps, sure, for the recruiting visits. Like it would be great if I could. And that little seed was planted in my brain, and about eight months later, Also Athletics Foundation was born. So now

Individual Fundraising Accounts For Athletes

Marissa Battle 2:24

what we do from you, yeah. So we um so what we do now is we've been around since 2022, and every child that's in the foundation. Um, if you know how booster clubs work, they just support the organization or the school that they're with. So our kids come from everywhere. We have cheerleaders at Top Gun, we have football players at Lehigh, at Dunbar, um, we have soccer players at DME Sports. Um, so our kids come from everywhere. They get to fundraise and they get their own little bank and they get ledgers every month so that their parents see how much they fundraise, and then their parents can pull from that money for whatever they want, whether it's equipment, camps, tuitions, more uniform stuff, doesn't matter. Whatever they want. Um, and they can even use it for like travel expenses as long as they're going to a competition or a camp. Um, so it it really helps.

Gail Langner 3:20

It really helps. That is a great concept, Miss. Did did I mean, how did you figure that out? That sounds pretty complex, actually.

Marissa Battle 3:27

Well, like I said, it took about eight months. Um, I did a lot of research because I wasn't sure if it was something that was legal, but it is, as long as we don't identify ourselves as a booster club, as long as we're not just donating to one organization or one school. Um, the kids can all have their own account. How do they find you? How do the kids find you? Well, right now it's word of mouth. Um, we do have the website, we are on Facebook. Um we I did a podcast with another cheer organization a couple of years ago. They also had me come in and speak last summer at one of their clinics. Um, so basically, people just find us word of mouth. When we first started, I only had maybe 12 families. Now we have over 60 families with multiple kids and multiple sports doing multiple things.

Gail Langner 4:13

That is incredible. Totally incredible. Now, when we did the check presentation, when we did we did the just so our listeners know, we we gave them the the the money online, but then we did the fake big check, you know, put on Facebook thing. Um, the kids that you brought, they're some were like one one had graduated, right?

Marissa Battle 4:34

Right. So Lee was one of our originals. Um, that was actually my son, Tommy. Is that your son? That was super ancient. I take full credit for that.

Gail Langner 4:45

Absolutely.

Marissa Battle 4:47

Um, yeah, he actually graduated. He was obviously one of our first athletes. He went to Lehigh Senior High School. Um, and he's over at Kaiser University in West Palm Beach on a football scholarship now. Um, but yeah, he came. He's home for well, he's home for the summer. He goes back on the 26th of this month. So he came, put on the shirt, took a picture.

Gail Langner 5:06

Oh, that was so sweet, really. And then one did cheer, right?

Marissa Battle 5:10

Uh yes. So my daughter cheered.

Gail Langner 5:12

I know what that's like.

Marissa Battle 5:14

All-star cheerleading is so expensive.

Gail Langner 5:16

It really is.

Marissa Battle 5:17

So Layla, who came with us, she she did cheer. She did all-star cheer at Top Gun. She's between sports now. And then the other little girl that came with us, she does all-star cheerleading at um top gun as well. And she plays basketball.

Gail Langner 5:30

Okay. All right. What

Biggest Needs And How Families Join

Gail Langner 5:32

would be your biggest need? I mean, would it uh cash, obviously, but would you like to reach more families? Would it that even be attainable? Would that be too much if you had if you had more kids that you needed to do?

Marissa Battle 5:44

No, we we're always taking kids in. So um, we have a meeting next month. Um, it will post it on our Facebook page. Usually we do them at Blaze Pizza so we can do their story tonight.

Gail Langner 5:55

They're really nice, very nice people.

Marissa Battle 5:58

So nice at the one up around 41 and they let us use their back patio. It's great. Um, so shout out to them to April over there, amazing. Um so we'll probably have our meeting next month, but we're always taking kids in. We do so many different fundraisers. That's that's what we do. So we find fundraisers for these kids to do. So whether they're standing, you know, in front of publics asking for donations, doing bake sales car washes, we have a contract with Hertz Arena. So we run concession stands with them, um ice cream parts upstairs in the suites. We're gearing up to do a huge color run. We've done quarter auctions, and then we do things like, you know, the the popcorn fundraisers and the cookie fundraisers and super bowl squares. I mean, we do multiple different fundraisers every single month for the kids. So we're always taking kids in.

Gail Langner 6:43

The more the merrier. Do you know when we are we are a big sponsor at Hertz Arena? Um, and for the Everblades, and we there a a dad and a son came through selling tickets or something. Would that have been you? Do you think?

Marissa Battle 6:58

Um the the hockey tickets, that's through that's through the Everblades.

Gail Langner 7:03

The the work, I don't I can't remember what they were selling. They were maybe doing a raffle, maybe they were candy. I don't know.

Marissa Battle 7:10

None of those kids are my kids. Um, not yet. I think I'm getting one next month. She called me yesterday. Um but yeah, that's they have a rec league out there for little kids. Okay. So and they come through during the hockey game selling 50-50 rock.

Gail Langner 7:24

That's what they were doing then, more than likely. Okay, all right.

Fundraisers That Bring In Real Money

Gail Langner 7:27

Well, give me an idea. Um give our listeners an idea. What kind of fundraisers do you do? What what are what are you what's your best, what's some of your best fundraisers you've done?

Marissa Battle 7:37

Well, our best fundraiser, I always tell our parents, is Hertz Arena. Um, I I can't give it the the Hoffman family, what they've done there to allow us to come in and fundraise. And it's not just us, it's other organizations um throughout the county. It's just amazing. Every year, I'm gonna say 60% of our our fundraising money comes from Hertz Arena. Um, Anna Marie over there, she does the food and beverage, and she's just awesome. Her and Colette are just amazing. Yeah. Um, so they let us come in, do the concession stands, do the ice cream carts upstairs, sometimes run some of the ice cream booths downstairs. Um, so that's our biggest one. And then you'll always see our kids around town. They do, we call them cannings, but they're more like meet and greets. Our kids will stand in front of like publics, dunk and donuts, things like that. They'll tell you all about what they're doing, they'll tell you about the foundation, their sport, and just ask for donations. So that's our second biggest one.

Gail Langner 8:34

That's great. And so people are generous.

Marissa Battle 8:37

Yes, they're very generous. Yeah, and they go everywhere. They're in Cape Coral, Fort Myers, Babcock Ranch. Our kids are our kids are all over.

Gail Langner 8:44

Do you do you coordinate that personally, or do you have like a committee that you're gonna do?

Marissa Battle 8:48

I am blessed to have a fundraising committee now. When I first started, it was just myself and one other person, Liz. She did all the fundraisers. Um, and now Liz has three people that help her. Um, so there's four moms total. So I'm very blessed. The only one that I still coordinate is Herz Arena. Um, my kids are uh my youngest is 16. Um, so it's really hard to get her to go do a bake sale with a cute little six-year-old. Nobody wants to donate, so it's not being old anymore. No, it's like go get a job.

Gail Langner 9:22

So having them come to your house for Halloween. No, no.

Marissa Battle 9:25

Right.

Gail Langner 9:25

So I think your costume's cute, but no, you're not gonna be anymore.

Marissa Battle 9:29

The only one I still coordinate is her terena, but the other moms they coordinate. I have Bailey, Madison, Vanessa, Liz, they all coordinate all the other fundraisers. So I'm very blessed that that they put up with me.

Gail Langner 9:39

Oh, that is great. Well, I'm going to go ahead and close here, but um, Marissa, I what I want you to do right now, please. I know the listeners that are that are going to be um paying attention to this podcast are going to want to know how to reach you and what to do. Could you give us your and any any information to be able to contact you to to donate?

How To Donate And Sponsor Athletes

Marissa Battle 10:00

Sure. So yeah, because our kids are always looking for sponsors and we'll put them on the back of shirts. We put them on our um on our website. They get little plaques if they're businesses, little plaques to hang in their um offices. So they can always call me at my cell phone. It's 239-245-3198, or they can email us at allstar athletics foundation at gmail.com.

Gail Langner 10:22

Okay. Would you repeat the the email one more time?

Marissa Battle 10:26

Allstar athletics foundation at gmail.com.

Gail Langner 10:30

Okay. And I'm assuming your website website is All Star Athletics Foundation. If they want to go donate online.

Marissa Battle 10:37

Yep, it's allstar athletics foundation.org. On the front page, there's a donate now button.

Gail Langner 10:44

This big, right?

Marissa Battle 10:45

It's is takes up half the page.

Gail Langner 10:47

Okay, all right, good. Oh gosh. Well, Marissa, thanks so much. Is there anything else you'd really like to get through to the general public before before we go? Anything that you would like anybody to know?

Marissa Battle 10:59

I mean, obviously, I think our children are amazing. Um, and one of the biggest reasons why this is very near and dear to me is because I had six kids who all went through um sports and I didn't have a resource like this. It was, you know, I have parents who have to go get second jobs just so that their kid can, you know, cheer or play football or go to a camp or actually have to, you know, they have to say no, or they're at the goodwill looking for cleats. Um you know, and and and I have kids who are like, well, you know, I have to go to work here, I have to do that, you know, it's any any dollar amount that people want to fundraise or donate to these kids, it it is used a hundred percent. Um, and if you, you know, maybe you don't want to give a general donation. Maybe you're like, well, I just want to sponsor an athlete in the sport that I did, basketball. I promise you, I have a basketball player, I have a hockey player, I have a football player, I have a kid in that sport who would love your donation.

Gail Langner 11:56

Okay, wonderful. Well, Marissa Battle, thank you so much for all you're doing for the youth in this area. And it is just a you're just a godsend. So thank you. And thanks for being on the podcast today. I appreciate it.

Intro/Close 12:09

Thank

Final Thanks And Community Links

Intro/Close 12:10

you so much. Thank you for joining us on State Insurance USA Care. We hope today's story uplifted and inspired you. If you'd like to support or learn more about the incredible work happening in your community, visit StateInsuranceUSA.com or call 239-567-9992. You can also visit cabowabojim.com. Until next time, be sure to let your sun shine and keep sharing good and positive vibes wherever the waves take you.