Cleveland Native Brings National Youth Sports Program Provider to the City’s Western Suburbs

The company’s owner, Chris Tipton, is a two-time Division III college football national champion who spent his post-graduate years working in business development for the Midwest’s largest professional sports teams before shifting his attention to youth athletics.

Jump Start Sports of Cleveland West will focus on children ages 3-and-up in Cleveland’s western suburbs with access to a variety of sports camps and programs starting with soccer and T-ball.

After his playing days as a wide receiver at the University of Mount Union, Tipton accumulated 30 years of professional sales experience working with teams in the MLB, NFL, and Arena Football League (AFL). When Tipton wasn’t working for some of the country’s most well-known sports franchises, he was spending time coaching his children in a variety of sports. This experience helped Tipton realize that his true passion was helping children discover their love for athletics, just as he once did.

Tipton’s realization led him to start working as an athletic director in a Cleveland primary school, where he obtained many of the necessary skills to start his own independent youth athletics provider.

“Sports are the universal teacher,” said Tipton. “The lessons that a child learns from being part of a team are some of the most important truths that last a lifetime. From learning about what it means to be responsible to learning about what it means to take care of the person next to you, sports are critical in youth development. I’m incredibly grateful that my parents once put me in a position to fall in love with a game that would later change my life for the better, and my goal is to help other children in Cleveland discover a similar passion.”

“Chris brings so much to Jump Start Sports and is representative of our franchise owners,” said Dave Rhodehamel, Franchise Development Officer of Jump Start Sports. “He grew up with organized sports and was fortunate enough to find success as a college athlete and work in pro sports. He also understands the importance of sports for all children and wants to provide as many as possible with the opportunity to participate.

He will utilize our Jump Start Sports curriculum to provide access for so many. Chris knows that It’s not the score, winning and losing that matter. Instead his, and our goal around the nation, is to give children the chance to be involved in organized activities to provide exercise while we teach skills, generate teamwork and do so in a really fun way.”