How founder and CEO Ben Sherwood found his MOJO. And how you can, too
Ben Sherwood
| 5 min read
Ben Sherwood
Welcome to MOJO, the award-winning app aimed at making youth sports more fun for the whole family.
MOJO launched in February 2021 with our inaugural sport: soccer. Now, a year later, MOJO is proud to serve coaches and families who play one or more of the five major youth sports in the US — soccer, baseball, softball, basketball and flag football. We’ve partnered with the best of the best — Major League Baseball, the NBA, NFL Flag and FC Barcelona — to create practices and at-home games that are both fun and effective. And we’ve connected with hundreds of leagues and clubs across the country, as well as some 250,000 coaches, parents and kids, to make youth sports better with every season.
The app itself has evolved, too. We’ve grown from helping soccer coaches plan practice each week to rapidly becoming the home base for the entire team — coaches, assistant coaches and parents — for practice, at home and beyond.
And there’s much, much more to come.
The birth of MOJO
This business is personal for me. I’ve been around kids sports for a long time — coaching my boys and their teams on the West and East coasts. In that time, I’ve witnessed a lot of joy and a lot of tears — and I’m not even talking about the kids! I mean the adults on the sidelines.
And while I’ve seen a lot of dedicated volunteer coaches with experience, know-how and commitment, I’ve encountered even more who — to put it gently — needed some help. They didn’t really understand the sport. They had no idea what to do at practice. They lacked age-appropriate resources. And most of all, with their stressed-out lives, they needed help making everything easy — and more fun.
I know because I was one of those parents. In the parking lot right before practice, I scrambled to find ideas and drills for my teams. I scoured the web. I called friends for help.
Over the years, I hit my stride, coaching four different sports despite my lack of relevant athletic experience or deep knowledge. I learned how to connect with my young players — and how to have some fun along the way.
That is to say, I found my MOJO.
What is MOJO?
MOJO is an app, yes. But MOJO is much more than that. The word itself means magic. And at MOJO, we believe in the magic of youth sports to change lives for the better. We are committed to helping every family in youth sports find its MOJO.
Of course, we know coaching isn’t easy. Working with some of the world’s best storytellers, technologists, psychologists and sports experts, we’ve worked hard to solve the most common problems coaches face in a season of youth sports — like what to do at practice when you haven’t had any time to prepare. And we put the solution right there on your phone.
No matter your experience level, MOJO gives you the tools and tips to make you a better coach, with just a few taps. If you’re a novice, the app has everything you need to have a successful season — and not embarrass yourself in front of parents or kids. (Trust me — I know how it feels. I embarrassed myself plenty along the way.) If you’ve already got some coaching experience, we can help you take it to the next level.
By all accounts, it’s working. More than 85 percent of MOJO users say the MOJO app makes coaching fun, easy and stress-free.
And for parents, we’ve tried to take luck out of the equation. We believe every kid should have a well-prepared coach who understands the rules of the game and the kids themselves — and who really gets why we’re all doing this in the first place. And we want to help parents get in on the fun. That’s why we’ve developed hundreds of fun, engaging, age-appropriate games for kids and parents to play at home. It’s easier than ever to build skill and grow your game — together.
To be clear, MOJO is not in it for the Ws or the goal differentials or the Olympics in 2032. We are here to help remake youth sports into a place where all are welcome, where kids can learn and grow in a fun, positive way and where kids want to be — instead of dropping out by age 13. We want no less than to help kids become better athletes, parents become better coaches and families make memories to last a lifetime.