Paul Variano: Welcome in. This is The Coach's Board, the playbook for modern youth sports, I'm Paul Variano. Every episode we sit down with someone who actually runs this game. My guest today spent 25 years producing the biggest properties in sports television, the NBA on TNT, multiple Olympic Games, the NFL, HBO Sports. There are four Emmy Awards on that shelf from that run. Then she went on inside one of the biggest banks in the world and ran brand video at JP Morgan Chase. Her company ships game day fuel to the programs those kids play in, and for every kid a program buys, they donate one. She is the founder and CEO of FuelBoxx, Gayle Jones. Welcome to The Coach's Board.

Gayle Jones: Hi, Paul. Thank you for having me.

Paul Variano: Thank you for coming on. We are incredibly grateful for you being one of our very first guests on the podcast for the FACEOFF. Let's get right to it. What triggered each move? What's been the similarities, the differences between each one, and what really has led you to where you are now with what you're doing with FuelBoxx?

Gayle Jones: I am a natural storyteller, by trade. I didn't get any of those jobs because I was a huge sports fan at the time. I am now, but at the time I didn't. I got that initial job because I wrote an essay about my favorite Olympic moment. Instead of it being about an actual, play or run or swim or something, it was about Muhammad Ali's courage when he had the torch, especially given how he was always such a rough and tough and strong man and how he carried that torch when he had Parkinson's a display of courage that touched me. So that's how I got into it all. That first job was the Nagano Olympics and then I went into, the NBA on TNT and TBS. The real love at that time was just storytelling, telling the stories of really great athletes, which we got a lot, I had a lot of opportunity to do. And then, when you get in that sports arena, learn a lot very quickly, it's very fast moving, it's very exciting. I stayed there. My dream job was Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. Got on that show, told amazing stories because you have time with those longer formats to really unpack the stories. It's been, nothing that I could have ever dreamed of as far as a career. It's been, bigger than anything that I could have dreamed of. And then the bank situation is really interesting. I was pregnant with my second child, doing some freelance work for the NFL at the time, traveling a ton. And my husband said, You gotta get off the road. Between him having my daughter, me being pregnant with my second kid, and being gone every week for NFL games, he's like, I can't be a single dad. And I jokingly said, Find me a job where you work. And he said,

Paul Variano: Mm-hmm.

Gayle Jones: I work in finances. there's no job here for you in finance. To be stubborn, I was like, I'm gonna look and I looked and I found a job in marketing as a brand storyteller and that was amazing because, JP Morgan Chase, you got to tell a lot of stories, a lot of lines of business, a lot of opportunity to tell stories. What was most exciting for me is they had a sports and entertainment department. The opportunity to partner with them and continue to tell stories around some of those sports properties that they own was great. I did that for a couple years and then my husband got an opportunity out here in LA and we were moving. I went in to quit and they said, you don't have to quit you can work from LA So I worked from LA for a couple years and then I got approached to work at a studio. And I say, When in Rome, I'm in LA now,

Paul Variano: Yeah.

Gayle Jones: You know, I gotta take the chance. It was also during the time where there was all the writers and director layoffs and the industry was just sort of imploding. Our studio did the same thing, we went under. At the time that all this was happening and our studio went under. My daughter was also going through a change with her club, she was on the top elite level of her club and she got cut from that and got put on the regional league. Nothing hurts worse than something with your kids, My daughter has played soccer since she was five. It's the only thing she's ever loved. She's never loved anything as much as soccer and It was bigger than, my studio going under, I knew instinctually it was because she was growing she had a growing body, we weren't paying attention to what she was eating, we weren't feeding her the right things. I just flippantly said, I'm gonna start a company called FuelBoxx where we provide, nutrition for athletes, but we also teach them, we educate them on how to fuel for their performance. And their recovery. That's how FuelBoxx was born, out of my own need to help my daughter through a rough time. My daughter and lots of youth athletes, to teach them how to fuel.

Paul Variano: I love that story from so many different fronts, Gayle And I think how people start companies, founders, which is a big part of, the audience here at The Coach's Board, It's out of, passion, motivation you're not really looking for a business case, you're looking to solve an issue, a challenge. and Then once you go through that you end up finding, a greater value proposition to a marketplace. I think that's an incredible story, an incredible career as well. working at a bank the variety of industry experience, it's a well rounded, corporate career and now as a founder I what it's been like since founding FuelBoxx. What have been, some of the challenges some of the success stories,

Gayle Jones: It has been a faith walk. I say that honestly because I've had to operate totally different from when I was a television producer, I've had to unlearn The perfection of television producing, a live television producer, you have to have everything perfect because you get one shot, you have to have the graphics built, you have to have the stories research, everybody knows their role, and you get one shot and it has to be perfect, that perfectionist. Is the furthest thing you will find from entrepreneurship because it's the opposite. You have to go live before you're ready, And that happened to me, you can't wait until everything is perfect as a founder, you have to get out in the market and then you have to let the market teach you. what it needs. And that happened to me really quickly because I started as direct to consumer. And I realized that acquiring one family at a time was going to be a hurdle for me. You spent a lot of marketing dollars on acquiring one family. I had to quickly pivot, I had to start to think about how to go to organizations and clubs and schools, The market was showing me that although, I wanted to go out live with direct to consumer and I wanted it to be perfect, there was something bigger happening. I had to switch to B2B and understand that my real audience was the athletic directors. The organizations, the schools, meeting the kids exactly where they were. What we do now is we sell through to those organizations. We stand up a digital storefront for every school. School branded, school logo, and the athletic directors can then share that digital storefront with their parent population, and the parents can opt into our product. And buy them it's a great opportunity because when you're direct to consumer, you acquire one family at a time. when you're going through an organization you get multiple families. It's been a better way to reach these athletes. To reach these programs. And a little bit about the product. The product is a pre-game kit and a recovery. The pregame, it's really simple. That's one of the things FuelBoxx is really founded on simple, real food, because when you think sports nutrition, you think of protein shakes and supplement and adult type of things. But we're talking about a kid. So real simple nutrition, In the pre-game pack, it's an energy bar, it is, easily clean, easily digestible carbs, pretzels that help with sodium, applesauce, that they can digest easier, vitamins from dried fruits, those type of things that give them quick energy and always, always, always hydration. Hydration before. After all the time, and our recovery is the same thing. The only thing is it includes a protein element, so that when they're done within thirty to sixty minutes of an activity, they can rebuild the muscle with a little bit of protein, with the combination of protein and carbs, because they need to refill those carb stores as well. it's been an evolution, going from sports to building a product, having to reverse the instincts of how I operate, and understanding that there's no perfectionists in founding a business. I'm learning that I have to, follow my instincts and, I'm even learning that sometimes those Instincts may not be right all the time, but when I make those mistakes, that's when I learn, you know. It's been quite the journey.

Paul Variano: Follow your instincts, learn from your mistakes, and you're not always ready. I think those three pieces of advice, are to any founder, even outside youth sports is incredibly relevant, to myself as

Gayle Jones: Yeah.

Paul Variano: Thinking through my own experience and in starting this podcast, I I feel like I'm not ready to ship something, I still have to do it because I feel like I need to just do it. I get that feedback, I get that critique, I edit and improve for the next one. I follow my gut from that, and it's not always right. I think that's what's humbling about starting a business. Think about the people who have done it and have done it successfully. It's a lot of hard work and kudos to you for what you've built so far. I took a look at the product online. I coach youth ice hockey and I think about tournaments that we go to on weekends where there's multiple games throughout a given day and I sent out a note to my team that I coach about the importance of hydrating and having the right nutrients, protein in between between games and then after the game to make sure they can recover for the next day. What's that engagement been like with the athletic director population as it relates to something like a food and beverage product? Usually they're thinking through uniforms, cost of ice or turf or the only food and beverage they're thinking about is how much Gatorade powder do we need for this year?

Gayle Jones: That is what drew me to this endeavor in the first place, because we have an increasingly professionalized youth sports world right now, We're moving our kids through this where they have professional trainers and facilities and travel and the most expensive clubs and uniforms, everything but nutrition. No one was thinking about nutrition for the youth growing body, it's easy to have these conversations with athletic directors because they're not thinking about nutrition, it's the last thing people care about when it really should be the most important thing. but the problem what I saw is the reason it's not being addressed is because it's another thing for them. That's where FuelBoxx has made it easy because we stand up a digital storefront where all they have to do is share the link with their parent population and then the parent can make a decision of whether they want it for their child or not. They can opt in or opt out. So making it easy for that athletic director to provide his family with an option, They don't need another thing. They don't need to become a retailer. They don't need to manage inventory. They have enough on their plate. But having an option, so their kids aren't on the sideline eating Doritos or Gatorade The feedback has been really great. there's a lot of places and clubs out there that don't offer anything. So it's been really great.

Paul Variano: I can understand the desire and the white space in the marketplace. When I think about what this is, what you just described, I think about Uncrustables for the NFL's athletes, this go to snack or hydration pack I think it is something that's gonna be constant and needed more often. In terms of the snacks and the chips, even the orange slices, that was the more healthier option that we used to do in the 90s and the 2000s.

Gayle Jones: Yeah.

Paul Variano: There's just so much more that technology in food and beverage it's allowed us to people like yourself put out some really interesting products and kits. What does the rest of the nutritional products landscape look like right now? you mentioned there's so much growth and need for it, I mentioned the orange slices, you mentioned the Doritos. What has it been, before and where do you think it's heading now?

Gayle Jones: Everything is increasingly professionalized for youth sports. They're just beginning to pay attention to nutrition. I looked out around and I couldn't find a lot of people doing anything around nutrition. I found a few youth hydration companies where they have bottles of hydration. I found one company that sells gummies for pre-game fuel. But in terms of real food and that education piece, I haven't found any. I haven't found any others. I think it is an area where, the industry has to do a lot of growing, because we have to do better by our youth.

Paul Variano: When you mention youth, is there difference between let's say what a six year old or a seven year old what their hydration kit looks like as opposed to maybe an like a sixteen year old, what are they getting, between the two groups?

Gayle Jones: What good looks like really changes as kids grow. An eight-year-old doesn't need to eat like a high school varsity athlete. They're smaller, their practices are shorter, and their fueling needs are different, we have to acknowledge that. At that age, it can be pretty simple. And I'm talking about eat a normal meal the night before. Eat a normal meal before your game, stay hydrated. Have something that's small and easily digestible carb right before your game. But by 16 or 17, my daughter's age, that equation changes. they're bigger. Their training can be much more intense. They may have practiced five or six days a week, strength training, games, tournaments, and they're still growing, now we need to pay much more attention to what the kid is eating, we need to pay much more attention to the carbohydrates. Are they getting enough before their activity? enough fluids, enough protein and carbs afterwards to recover, you know. And I honestly I think this is where parents struggle. We hear sports nutrition again and parents panic. They think of protein shakes and supplements and all this professional athlete stuff, but kids need just simple, good nutrition. It's much more simpler than what parents are thinking, it's about what they eat, it's around the timing, it's about how much they need based on their age and activity, and that's really a big part of why I started FuelBoxx and what I'm looking to solve, parents shouldn't need a degree in sports nutrition to know how to fuel their kids and that's what they feel, right now.

Paul Variano: I completely agree in that. You mentioned a lot of different stakeholders there. parents, kids. We talked about athletic directors previously. Who's responsible when it comes to the nutrition for athletes? There's so many different aspects of it. They spend some of their time at home, they spend some of their time at school, they're spending their time on the field, Who's responsible? Is there shared responsibility? Is it mostly the athlete?

Gayle Jones: The old phrase it takes a village has never been more true, everybody plays a part in it. If you are a club director, you can ask yourself, do we actually have a fueling plan in place for our athletes? Or are we leaving it everything to our families to figure out on their own? you're a coach, you have to start talking about fueling as part of athlete's preparation, you talk about sleep and training and how an athlete shows up, we should also be talking about what they put in their body, the day before, during, and the day after. a if you're a parent, you have to look at what your child is eating around their sports schedule that week, Look, but look without judgment, Notice what they eat before practice, what are they eating afterwards? Notice if you're picking them up. What are you showing up with? What are you handing them? Are you stopping at a gas station? Notice these things, this is all the insights that led to FuelBoxx. we're trying to help parents and athletes and coaches make the right choice and make it easier for them.

Paul Variano: that's such great advice. It takes a village, at the end of the day it probably does come down to the athlete it's their body, their choice. All those stakeholders, including, parents like yourself, coaches like myself, we create the environment that they operate in and those reminders, those good habits, it's part of it. When you think about youth sports, ninety-nine percent of the time it's about the life skills that they learn and knowing how to do it at a young age. Hopefully it will take you for the rest of your life into a long and fulfilled life. Gayle, really appreciate everything that you've shared so far. We are coming up to the end, unfortunately. It's a Monday morning, some athletic director, a coach, a parent, they're listening to this podcast, What piece of advice would you give to somebody in the youth sports space as they're either building out a product, a service, or thinking about the health and nutrition of their young athlete?

Gayle Jones: The first thing I would say is It is such a worthy cause. What could be more important than, paying attention to what we fuel our kids with? it matters on so many levels, even beyond sports, My daughter is the superstar athlete in our family. but my son is an athlete too. But more importantly, my son has ADHD and he decided to give up sugar for Lent and he gave it up all the way. And he said, Mom, I feel so much better in my body, So my advice would be to stick with it because it's worthy and it will change the future of our kids. Continue to fight for real food, real ingredients, things that will make our kids healthier mind and body, because, there are things that are real that are good for kids, look for options that are natural and natural sugars and, make sure, that they understand, hydration is so important. It helps a mental clarity, and to keep building because it's gonna take more than one company out here to change this environment, If we can all work together and be able to change this and grow some healthier, children, into young adults, that would be great. I say all these things to you as I say them to myself to keep going, to stay consistent because that's that's important.

Paul Variano: I think those are wise words from a great founder like yourself, Gayle, and also a wonderful mom so rapid fire before we close out here, five questions. Best food city you've ever gotten sent for a game.

Gayle Jones: I have to say New York.

Paul Variano: You got a flavor of everything in the Big Apple, so I don't blame ya. a broadcast

Gayle Jones: Yeah.

Paul Variano: you put on your tombstone.

Gayle Jones: Real Sports. It was my favorite.

Paul Variano: That's a good one. The concession stand item that should be illegal.

Gayle Jones: Fake cheese with nachos.

Paul Variano: I know what you're talking about with that.

Gayle Jones: Yeah. That bright yellow cheese that they put all over the chips. Or even just the straight sugar snow cones.

Paul Variano: And then what's actually in your bag on a shoot day?

Gayle Jones: a bar, a little recorder, a notebook, and just always water. Some kind of hydration

Paul Variano: Then our last one here Emmys on the shelf or in a box in the garage?

Gayle Jones: Emmys on the shelf, above the TV, but on days when I have a lot going on and I need a reminder of what a fifty-two-year-old woman is capable of, I have them right beside me.

Paul Variano: Gayle Jones, thank you for coming on The Coach's Board, the CEO and founder of FuelBoxx. Thank you again.

Gayle Jones: Thank you.