About Wish I Had Known™
Empowering Parents. Elevating Athletes. Strengthening Families.
Wish I Had Known™ equips parents of student-athletes with the knowledge, resources, relationships, and practical tools they need to navigate the athletic journey with greater confidence.
Why We Exist
Created to change the journey for sports families.
Raising a student-athlete can be an incredible journey, but it can also be overwhelming. Between the financial commitment, demanding schedules, recruiting decisions, academic expectations, injuries, changing opportunities, and questions about what comes after sports, families are often forced to make important decisions without the information or support they need.
Wish I Had Known was created to change that.
Founded by longtime youth sports advocate and business leader Denise Meridith, Wish I Had Known equips parents of student-athletes with the knowledge, resources, relationships, and practical tools they need to navigate the athletic journey with greater confidence.
We believe parents should be more than spectators on the sidelines. They should be informed, prepared, and empowered partners in helping their children succeed.
Meet The Founder
Denise Meridith.
A longtime youth sports advocate and business leader, Denise Meridith founded Wish I Had Known after seeing too many families navigate the student-athlete journey without the information, support, or community they deserved.
Her mission is simple: make sure parents are informed, prepared, and empowered partners in helping their children succeed — on the field, in the classroom, and long after their playing days are over.
Through educational programs, expert-led conversations, workshops, resources, community, and the Wish I Had Known Sports Parents' Mastermind, we connect families with experienced athletes, coaches, academics, sports professionals, physicians, business leaders, and parents who understand the challenges of today's youth and collegiate sports landscape.
Our approach goes beyond athletic performance. We help families think about the complete journey — financial planning, scholarships and NIL opportunities, athlete branding, mental and physical wellness, career preparation, entrepreneurship, risk management, and life beyond sports.
The goal is simple: help parents reduce the time, money, and stress associated with raising a student-athlete while helping their children build a foundation for success on the field, in the classroom, and long after their playing days are over.
Because every sports parent eventually learns something they wish they had known sooner.
We're here to make sure the next family doesn't have to learn it the hard way.
