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Los Angeles, CA–Parents can easily get frustrated with having to purchase new sports equipment every year as their children grow in size and figure out which activities best suit them. Consumers spent a reported $64.8 million on sporting goods in 2015 with that number growing every year.
Clark Phillips III and his brother, Bryce Phillips, are two young entrepreneurs who have played sports since they were three years old. They believe they have the solution to saving families money with their Run-It-Back Sports auction website.
“You can turn your garage or gear or equipment into cash or merchandise,” Bryce, 13, tells Football Hotbed.
“We had an idea one day of having a business to make money on the side and we came up with the idea to sell sports merchandise,” Clark, 14, adds.
The brothers are guided by their father, Clark, who describes Run-It-Back as an internship for his sons. Both the younger Clark and Bryce are BOSS athletes, a program designed by former sports agent Everett Glenn to empower student athletes for careers beyond sports.
“We started putting pen to paper, laying out strategy and after a few months of research and development, we went live with the site,” the Clark Sr. says.
The concept is simple, people post their sports equipment on the site, wait for a buyer and once the item is purchased, they can either ship the goods to the new owner or leave it at a drop-off location. And collect the cash of course.
Clark, who is a freshman defensive back at St. John Bosco High School in Bellflower, California, says that he has learned a lot starting Run-It-Back Sports. He explains the patience it takes to get a business off the ground after about 18 months of planning.
“I’ve learned that sometimes it may take a while to get the business going, but as long as you keep on going and push through with it, and strive, then it’s eventually gonna end up working out soon,” he says.
The boys each had designated roles in helping get the word out about the new business. Bryce, who plays running back and defensive back for Cerritos Steelers, was assigned the creation of a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet with all the contact information of the local football league presidents. Clark is in charge of social media and is learning to utilize Facebook and Twitter to promote Run-It-Back.
To help the company get off the ground even more, the family started a GoFundMe campaign where they are seeking $15,000 for the infrastructure of the company. They are hoping to connect with the Los Angeles Rams and use the network of the BOSS program to get equipment donations. So far, they have felt great support from local 7-on-7 leagues.
“We’ve already talked to the owners of those organizations that have high school athletes where scouts are there and where media’s already there,” the father says. “They’re sponsored by Under Armour and Nike. The response has been really warm.”
Although Run-It-Back was started with the intention of selling football gear, the site sells any type of sports equipment. The Phillips boys focus on football themselves, but they also run track and have played basketball.
Bryce explains why this knowledge, experience and specificity make his family’s business separate from other auction sites such as the empire of eBay.
“A sports site has specifically what you need, football and different kind of sports gear,” he says. “eBay has everything, so sometimes it’ll be less of individual stuff.
Bryce is interested in pursuing engineering and Clark wants to be an athletic trainer when he is done with his own sports career. In the mean time, both boys are learning valuable lessons about responsibility, management and teamwork through their own company.
“They have big plans,” their father says of the future of Run-It-Back Sports.
by Victoria Hernandez, a Football Hotbed contributor
