Brand deals and sponsorships: a guide for parents

Maybe a brand you’ve never heard of commented on your daughter’s surf clip. Maybe the local shop offered her a discount. Maybe you’re staring at a season of contest fees and wondering whether a sponsor could cover some of it. However you got here, you’re probably feeling two things at once: proud, and a little uneasy.

Both feelings are right. Sponsorship can be a great thing for a young athlete: free gear, a team to belong to, people who believe in her. It can also quietly turn something she loves into a job. This guide is here to help you get the good parts and avoid the bad ones.

If you only read one thing

• Most sponsorship for kids is free or discounted gear, not money. Cash comes late, if at all, even for very good athletes.
• Your kid’s love of the sport is the whole asset. Protect that first. Every other decision follows from it.
• You’re the gatekeeper. Read everything, be on every message, and never pay a company to “sponsor” your kid.
• Any money belongs to your kid. In California, the law says so: 15% of a minor’s earnings under a sports contract must go into a trust account in their name.

1. 1.She has to want it. Not tolerate it. Want it. And she can say no to any post, shoot or deal without having to explain herself.
2. 2.She can quit the sponsor without quitting the sport. Say this out loud, early, more than once.
3. 3.Check for fun. Is she still riding on days when nobody’s filming? If the camera is the reason she goes, notice that.
4. 4.The money is hers. Cash goes into an account in her name, never into the household budget. Keep a simple log of the gear she gets and what it’s worth.
5. 5.Don’t budget around the sponsor. The sport should be affordable without it.
6. 6.You hold the passwords and the inbox. Strangers can’t DM her directly, her location is never posted live, and she never posts swimwear or “lifestyle” body shots for a brand.
7. 7.Keep rest and variety. Pediatricians recommend at least a couple of days off a week, regular breaks from the main sport, and holding off on year-round, single-sport training until the mid-teens. A sponsor wanting year-round content doesn’t change that.
8. 8.Skip the ride-home review. Don’t break down her contest or her footage in the car. “I love watching you ride” is enough.
9. 9.Check in every season. Is it still fun? Is it still yours? Is there anything you want to stop?
10. 10.Keep an exit. Short agreements, the right to end them, and no permanent rights to her image.

1. ★

   Stage 4

   Rare

   Pro

   A real contract: a salary or retainer, a travel budget, contest bonuses, and in skate and snow, a signature board or shoe with royalties. Usually not before the late teens.

   You get

   Pay, travel, bonuses, maybe a pro model

   They expect

   Contests, filming, trips, social posts, appearances. Being the face of the brand

   Paperwork

   A multi-year contract with exclusivity and image rights. Get a lawyer

2. 3

   Stage 3

   Am team

   Officially on a brand’s amateur team. Product, plus sometimes paid contest fees and travel, a small monthly stipend, spots in team trips and videos, and bonuses for results or published photos.

   You get

   Product, and maybe travel, contest fees and a little cash

   They expect

   Contests, filming, team trips, posts, shop events

   Paperwork

   A contract, signed by a parent

3. 2

   Stage 2

   Flow

   A brand sends free product every so often, without officially putting your kid on the team. Flow is how brands try out young riders. It can stop at any time.

   You get

   Free product. No cash

   They expect

   Ride or wear it, tag the brand, post clips, rep it at contests

   Paperwork

   Usually none

4. 1

   Stage 1

   Where most kids start

   Shop sponsor

   Your local surf, skate, snow or bike shop gives a discount, some free gear, and sometimes covers a contest entry. Shops back young riders because they’re part of the community, and reps visit shops looking for kids.

   You get

   Discounts, some gear, maybe contest fees

   They expect

   Ride their stuff, wear the sticker and the shirt, hang out, enter local contests

   Paperwork

   None

How it differs by sport

The money, honestly

Nearly every sponsored kid is on product or discounts, not cash. Even at the very top, the numbers are sobering. In Pinkbike’s 2024 survey of junior and under-23 World Cup mountain bike racers, the best young riders in the world, almost a third earned no wage from the sport at all. Whitelines, the snowboard magazine, splits pros into “career pros” who earn a living and “lifestyle pros” whose travel budget just about covers a season.

1. 1.Keep riding and enter local contests. Skill comes first, and contests are where coaches, reps and shop owners see kids. Our Get Started guides explain how to start in each sport.
2. 2.Become regulars at your local shop. Buy your gear there, go to their events, get to know the staff. This is the single most common first sponsor.
3. 3.Film a little. A phone is fine. Short, clean clips of her best riding: more landings than crashes, no music needed. Keep the account private or parent-managed (more below).
4. 4.Make a one-page résumé. See the checklist below.
5. 5.Ask small. Ask the shop, or one brand you genuinely use, for stickers or a discount, not a contract.
6. 6.Follow through. Ride the gear, say thank you, tag them, send results and clips every so often. Brands keep kids who are easy and grateful to work with.
7. 7.Re-check every season. Still fun? Still hers? Then think about the next rung.

The one-page sponsor résumé

• Name, age, hometown, and your email and phone as the contact (never hers, for a minor)
• A short bio in her own words: how she started, what she loves about it
• Her events or disciplines, and the series she competes in
• A few highlight results, not every result
• Three photos: a headshot, one with her gear, one action shot
• A link to a short clip (30–60 seconds) and her social handles, if any
• One line on why this brand: what she’d do for them and why she already likes them
• Anything else that makes her her: grades, community work, coaching younger kids

Signs it’s real

• It comes from a named team manager or rep, from a company email address.
• It’s clear about what your kid gets and what they expect.
• Nobody asks you to pay for anything.
• They’re happy for a parent to be on every message, and happy for you to take your time.

Signs it’s not

• ”Become an ambassador!” with a discount code and a commission. That isn’t sponsorship. It’s unpaid sales work, and some versions make you buy a “starter kit.” A real sponsor gives product. It doesn’t sell it to you.
• ”It’s free, just pay shipping.” A common pitch from jewelry, sunglasses and swimwear brands. The “shipping” usually covers the real cost of the item.
• A check in the mail, with a request to buy gear from their “vendor.” The check bounces. This is a known fake-check scam.
• Content for exposure: posts or videos for nothing, often with broad rights to use her image in ads forever.
• Upfront fees to a “scout,” “agent” or sponsorship placement service. In California, talent agents must be licensed by the state.

In most states, a minor can cancel (“disaffirm”) a contract. Because of that, brands usually ask a parent to sign too, sometimes with a personal guarantee. That means you may be bound even if your kid isn’t. Read it as if it were your own contract, because it might be.

What to look for

• Who signs. You, your kid or both? Is there a personal guarantee from you?
• How long. One year is better than three for a growing kid. Does it renew automatically?
• Exclusivity. “Exclusive in shoes” is very different from “exclusive in all apparel.” Does it block her shop sponsor, her board shaper, or a bigger deal later?
• What she has to do. Number of posts, contests, filming days, trips and appearances. Is it realistic around school?
• What she gets. Product value, any cash, when it’s paid, bonuses, and who pays travel and contest fees.
• Image rights. Watch for “perpetual,” “worldwide” and “all media,” use in paid ads, use after the deal ends, and AI or edited uses of her image.
• Who owns the content you and she make.
• Approval. Do you get to see posts and ads before they run?
• Morals clause. What lets them end it? Can she end it if the brand embarrasses her?
• Ending it. With or without cause, the notice needed, and whether anything has to be returned or repaid.
• Travel and safety. Who supervises her on brand trips? Who covers injuries?

California’s Coogan law

California’s Family Code has a special chapter for minors’ contracts in entertainment and professional sports, and it explicitly covers a minor who agrees to render services “as a participant or player in a sport.” Since 2025 it also covers minors working as content creators. Two things matter:

• 15% of her gross earnings under a covered contract must be set aside by the brand in a Coogan trust account in her name, which she gets as an adult.
• A court can approve the contract. Once a judge approves it, she can’t cancel it later because of her age. That mostly protects the brand, but it also means a judge has reviewed whether the deal is fair to her.

Other states differ. New York has a similar system; most states have none. A handful of states, including California, Illinois, Minnesota and Utah, also have newer laws for kids featured in paid online content, mostly aimed at parents who earn money from content starring their child. Minnesota bars kids under 14 from paid content creation altogether. If any real money is involved, have a lawyer look at the deal.

Taxes

• It’s her income, even if the brand pays you. Federal tax law says money earned from a child’s services is the child’s income.
• Free gear can count too. Product received in exchange for promotion is generally taxable at its fair value, and prizes are income. Keep a simple log of what she gets and what it’s worth.
• $400 is the magic number. Anyone, at any age, with $400 or more in net self-employment income has to file and pay self-employment tax. Sponsorship income is usually self-employment income.
• No 1099 doesn’t mean no tax. Brands only send a 1099 form above a reporting threshold, but the income counts either way.
• The “kiddie tax” doesn’t apply. It covers investment income, not money she earns. A parent can file for her if she’s too young.

Where to keep her money

• A Coogan account (required in California for covered contracts).
• A custodial account (UTMA) in her name, which becomes hers as a young adult.
• A custodial Roth IRA. Because sponsorship is earned income, she can contribute up to what she earned that year, within the annual limit. Decades of growth, all hers.

Disclosing ads

The Federal Trade Commission requires anyone who posts about a brand they have a connection with to say so clearly, and free product counts. There’s no age exemption: a 12-year-old’s post about free gear needs a disclosure like anyone else’s. Put it in the post itself, in plain words like “Ad,” “Sponsored” or “Thanks to [brand] for the free board.” Use Instagram’s “Paid partnership” label as well, not instead. Vague tags like “#sp” or “#collab” don’t count.

Social media accounts

• Instagram, TikTok and YouTube all require users to be 13 or older. Under 13, any account is really yours: Instagram allows it only if the bio says it’s managed by a parent.
• Instagram and TikTok put teens into more private settings by default, with limits on who can message them. Leave those protections on.
• You hold the passwords. Turn off DMs from strangers. Never post location in real time.

School, college and the Olympics

• The Olympics don’t care. There’s no amateur rule. Sponsored athletes and pros compete in surfing, skateboarding, snowboarding and mountain biking.
• High school: California’s high school federation (CIF) allows name, image and likeness (NIL) deals as long as they don’t use school names, logos or uniforms. Surf, skate, snow and mountain bike leagues mostly sit outside CIF, so this matters mainly if she also plays a school sport.
• College: surfing, skateboarding, snowboarding and mountain biking aren’t NCAA sports, and NCAA athletes can now earn NIL money anyway. If she’s a skier, or might play another NCAA sport, check the NCAA’s rules on prize money and pro contracts before accepting either.

Women in action sports have been paid less and marketed differently for a long time. In Pinkbike’s 2025 survey of women World Cup mountain bikers, 87% said the sport has a gender pay gap, and about half earned $15,000 or less the year before. Surf brands spent decades picking women for how they looked rather than how they surfed. Women skaters had to organize to win equal contest prize money.

Things are better than they were. The World Surf League has paid women and men equal prize money since 2019. Some of the biggest stars in skating and snowboarding are young women. But the old patterns haven’t disappeared.

• Look at how a brand shows its women. Are they riding, or posing? Choose brands that show women doing the sport.
• Say no to shoots about looks. Any brief that’s about swimwear, “lifestyle” or appearance is a no for a minor.
• Expect smaller offers than boys get, and don’t read that as a judgment of her talent.
• Prefer brands with real girls’ programs: girls’ teams, women team managers, girls’ camps and clinics.
• Watch the comments and DMs even more closely. Girls’ accounts draw unwanted attention much faster.

• How do you get sponsored?, Surfline. Relationships, local shops and contests in surfing.
• Myth of the sponsored snowboarder, Whitelines. The reality check: who actually earns a living.
• How to get sponsored in snowboarding, Whitelines. The two routes in: contests or filming.
• 8 steps to an airtight sponsor-me video, TransWorld Skateboarding. The classic advice on sponsor-me clips.
• How to create a race résumé that gets you sponsored, FASST Co. A good one-page résumé template, written for moto and mountain bike racers.
• The price of being a B/C-grade pro surfer, Stab. Real numbers from a working pro.
• How young is too young?, Surfer Today. The law and ethics of very young surfers turning pro. Written with parents in mind.
• Trusts for child influencers, Kiplinger. How Coogan-style trusts and the new state laws work.
• New laws protecting child influencers, Davis+Gilbert. A law firm’s plain summary of the state laws.
• Disclosures 101 for social media influencers, Federal Trade Commission. Exactly how to label sponsored posts.