PHOENIX — Meaghan Franks wasn’t looking to disrupt the childcare industry. She was just paying attention.
As a donor to college athletic programs, Franks kept noticing something: the athletes her family spent time around had the kind of impact on kids that was hard to explain.
Her children became more active, more motivated, and more curious about sports and health.
Then she realized, she wanted more families to have access to that.
“I saw the way my children looked at athletes, and I saw how it was influencing their behavior, their choices of sport, the food they were putting into their body,” Franks told ABC15 Mornings Anchor Kaley O’Kelley. “And all of these things, coupled together, made me realize that this is something I have to share with other children.”
That conviction became Sport Sitters. It’s a mobile app that connects Arizona families with vetted NCAA Division I female athletes for childcare.
And the families using it say it’s unlike anything they’ve experienced before.
Sport Sitters is a technology platform built around one idea: that the people children spend time with help to shape who they become.
Through the app, parents in the Phoenix, Tucson, Flagstaff, and San Diego areas can browse and book local D1 female athletes for in-home childcare.
Athletes on the platform represent nearly every women’s sport in the NCAA: beach volleyball, court volleyball, gymnastics, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, track and field, water polo and more.
The Sport Sitters roster includes USA Team representatives, Olympic trial athletes, and team captains.
“The difference is that there’s plenty of regular babysitters out there,” Franks said. “This is an elevated experience. You have a community figure. You have someone on a roster. You have someone that’s traceable, trackable, and you can go to their game, see them in a team setting, root for them, cheer for them.”
Sport Sitters operates as a closed network.
Every family and every athlete must complete a full registration process and pass a comprehensive background check before gaining access to the platform.
Once approved, parents book through the app by selecting a date, time, and which children will be present. Requests are broadcast to available athletes nearby, and Franks says most are accepted within minutes.
“I actually had an athlete ask me if the app was broken the other day,” Franks said with a laugh, “because they’re getting accepted so quickly.”
After each session, both families and athletes leave verified ratings and reviews, a two-way accountability system designed to protect everyone involved.
Parents only pay for the time they’re actually away. Book the maximum window you might need, and the app prorates the charge to the exact minute once you’re home.
All bookings require a three-hour minimum and can run up to ten hours.
Ask Franks what sets her athletes apart, and she doesn’t hesitate.
“We took the sitting out of babysitting,” she said. “These are runners, water polo players, gymnasts. They’re not going to be locked to their phone.”
She says athletes who’ve been coached their entire lives bring something to a home environment that’s hard to replicate.
“They respect rules, boundaries and limitations because they’ve been coached their whole life,” Franks said. “When they come into your home, and you tell them this is the activity, this is the snack, this is the bedtime, they’re so great at honoring that.”
Valley mom Sarah Wolfswinkel said she felt the difference the first time she walked back through her front door.
“I got home, and they said, ‘we had so much fun,’” Wolfswinkel said. “Usually it’s like, ‘we survived, we missed you.’ But this was like a play date.”
The app’s model is made possible by NCAA Name, Image and Likeness rules, which allow college athletes to earn income through their personal brand.
For many D1 women on non-revenue sports teams, Sport Sitters offers something traditional NIL deals often don’t, and that is flexibility that works around unpredictable practice schedules, travel and season play.
For ASU water polo player Hannah McClaskey, the draw goes deeper than a paycheck.
“I had that growing up,” McClaskey told O’Kelley. “I had so many older college athletes that would mentor me and my two sisters, and I know how much of an impact it made on us. I just want to be able to give back in any way I can.”
McClaskey says the connections she’s built with families have surprised her, including families who now come to watch her compete.
“Watching them learn about something new has been super rewarding for me too,” she said.
“Everything that this platform does, I want it to go to the women on the app,” Franks said. “We rely heavily on parents being happy, kids being happy, and athletes being happy.”
Her goal isn’t to become the largest childcare platform in the country. It’s to bring something intentional and irreplaceable to families who understand what they’re getting.
“They’re not regular babysitters,” she said. “It’s about trust, teamwork and connection. Those are the same values that make great athletes and great sitters.”
Sport Sitters is available now on the Apple App Store and Google Play. Families in the Phoenix, Tucson, Flagstaff, and San Diego areas can learn more and download the app at sportsitters.pro.
