What age can you start getting sponsors at?

Question

Basically what the question says. What age can you start getting sponsors/endorsements at? Detailed answers are very much appreciated and will most likely receive best answer.

Answer 1

Well, depends. You can get it as young as 8 or 9 actually. There is no actual age minimum, but generally sponsors start anywhere from 8-12 yrs of age.

Sponsorship can be one where they supply your racquets and racquetbag (though no money is attached), or one of endorsement where they supply you with equipment/clothes/etc... and you get paid as well provided there is a legal binding contract with the party.

Typically sponsorships starts in the juniors tournaments where equipment companies like Prince, Yonex, Babolat, and Head have company "scouts" who go to the tournaments and offer free equipment to the player. I was offered around 10 or 11 for free racquets, shoes, and strings. Actually, it is not an unremarkable thing to have a sponsorship for free equipment if you are ranked in your section.

I would respectfully disagree on some of the assumptions of the previous answer.

1. Being wealthy has nothing to do with sponsorship. In fact, if you are sponsored, it is more of a sign of your skill level. Sponsors do not like to give free equipment to players who aren't ranked, for example. Some of my opponents are ridiculously wealthy and are sponsored because they are...good players.

2 and 3. As long as you aren't accepting money or "extra benefits" from your sponsor, then you can play college athletics. You can play professional tournaments as an amateur and still maintain your eligibility for college as long as you don't accept the money (you can accept money for expenses though). My sponsorship did not interfere with my acceptance into collegiate athletics. The only thing I am unsure about is if you have a sponsorship that is unrelated to tennis. For example, you can be sponsored by Met-rx and receive free bars. That is legal and doesn't interfere with your collegiate eligibility. But say, Panasonic decides they want to give you free cameras yearly because you are a good tennis player. In this case, cameras don't help you play better tennis, and I believe this type of deal would make you ineligible. Your safest bet to be eligible for collegiate athletics and receive sponsorships would be sponsorships for things directly related to tennis (i.e. clothing, bars, racquets, strings).

Answer 2

you need to be very careful. I assume from your question you're young (as still in school). I'm making the following assumptions:

1. your family is not wealthy (asking about help)

2. you will want to go to college

3. be very careful-if you take money/stuff worth money it can disqualify you from competing at the collegant level, which could lose you your scolarship

4. if you want to bypass college and go straight into professional, then all you have to do is play soo much better than your opponents in school competition that the people you are asking about will approach you.

Answer 3

well it depends on how good you are, it is possible to be sponsored b4 u reach 18, they will just talk to your parents, so if you keep on practicing whatever sport you are taking you are improving your chances