One Arizona-based company is moving the needle on gender equity in the NIL era. Sports Sitters is an NIL opportunity exclusively for female student-athletes, and it pairs local families with DI athletes as babysitters.
Sports Sitters is an online platform that enlists qualified, female student-athletes to work as babysitters in their local communities. The platform is invite-only to maintain a pool of safe and dedicated hiring families. Student-athletes complete background checks and verification protocols before joining the roster of available babysitters.
According to The Daily Wildcat, Sports Sitters is currently available for communities surrounding Northern Arizona University, Arizona State University, Grand Canyon University and University of Arizona, and the app will be expanding this month to San Diego State University and University of California, San Diego.
“We built momentum by aligning with the right families early by sharing our invite-only platform with people who valued the energy, discipline, and inspiration a Division I athlete brings,” said founder Meaghan Franks. “When both sides experienced the upside of safely gaining access to each other, growth happened naturally and fast, mostly through word of mouth.”
Franks recognized the value in giving children strong female role models and knew that families who valued active lifestyles would connect with the student-athletes. Franks built the app with input from the female student-athletes she hoped would sign up for the opportunity, focusing on flexible schedules and closing the NIL pay gap. When babysitters from Sports Sitters arrive to a family’s house, they come willing to teach the children about their sport and get them active.
The student-athletes set their own schedules, build relationships with local families, and earn NIL income.
“A lot of families talk about how they want to push their kids and they want us to be a really good example for them, and they want their kids to be able to look up to us,” said Grand Canyon University soccer athlete and Sport Sitter Grace Bartlett.
