You know what I love? Going to my kids’ sporting events. It almost feels like something is missing when a weekend rolls around without a game or a tournament.
I enjoy watching my kids give their all while learning the value of hard work, competition, sportsmanship and teamwork. These are all valuable tools that will help them later in life.
I also enjoy the friendships forged with other team member families. Watching your kids grow up together over years of shared experiences creates friendships that can last a lifetime.
It’s all good.
But, you know what I hate? Paying for all of it.
It seems as if the cost of all of these sports activities has completely spiraled out of control. Team fees, league fees, tournament fees, private coaching fees, equipment…
When did my kids’ sports start costing me more than my car?
Been There, Played That
With three active kids, it feels like my kids have been involved in nearly every sport at some point. Not just the basic sports of basketball, football, volleyball, and baseball. Oh, no. My kids have also been in, at varying times and for varying durations: gymnastics, tennis, diving, soccer, karate and track and field.
Unfortunately, though, sometimes the heart wants what the heart wants. If your kids’ hearts are in a sport that isn’t offered at your school, well, good luck to you. Your options are parks & recreation programs or, increasingly, “competitive youth sports” programs. These are highly competitive “elite club”, or simply “club”, programs. Often these are run by professional coaches and not affiliated with any school. And they can be pricey.
Not to go all “get off my lawn” here, but I grew up playing parks and rec sports. Then I played for my school. So did all my friends. Some went on to play college-level sports. A handful even earned sports scholarships. Costs were relatively cheap, around $50 for registration – maybe $100 for football if you wanted good pads.
That was then. Then was cheap. You could play all the sports, and if you sucked, no harm no foul.
This is now. Now is expensive. Kids are specializing in one sport, and if you suck, too bad – your family may still have to cut corners to pay for it.
Schools? Parks and Rec?
School and parks and recreation athletics remain cost effective alternatives, but come with limitations.
Schools have limited offerings and team sizes. If your child wants archery, or isn’t good enough to make the cut on the school team of choice, then you are out of luck. The school coach is also often a crap-shoot.
I once had a football coach who got the team lost going to our first game of the year. I quit shortly thereafter.
Parks and recreation leagues generally take all comers, and offer a wide selection of activities. However, the teams are often parent-coached, and the level of competition is often very uneven. Parents are left to play coach-roulette and hope that yours actually knows something about the game and how to coach kids.
If your child is above-average skill-wise, chances are they could wither on the bad-team vine. Be it less skilled teammates, less skilled coaches or lack of practice and/or dedication, sometimes good kids just
Been There, Paid That
For some parents, school teams or parks & recreation program just don’t cut it. In these cases, parents are left to look into private teams or clubs. And, wow, does that add up.
Gymnastics in our area run $400-$500 per month before leotards and competition costs. And medical bills. Our daughter’s gym often looked like an infirmary.
Basketball club teams can run as much as $3,000 each year. At least you get three seasons each year.
Volleyball club teams vary more, but can be $4,000 to $7,000 each year.
Baseball club teams can be in the range of $1,500 to $2,000 each year. And that’s before dropping $250 or more each for a couple different bats each season. Baseball is the value winner here.
Some parents opt for more one-on-one coaching in addition to regular team practices. If you want to add these private lessons, or “privates”, that’s another $50-$100 per hour on top of what you already pay.
And these costs are all before travel costs for non-local tournaments. Those can easily add another couple thousand to the annual tab, depending on your sports.
At some point, you have to wonder…
How do families pay for these costs? How much is too much and is there a tipping point for most families?
So, It’s Not Just Me
By and large, we parents love our kids to play sports. We are all-in.
We love our kids to play club sports so much, that many families are willing to sacrifice family financial goals in order to cover costs.
TD Ameritrade recently conducted a survey looking at the rising trend of elite youth sports programs and the financial commitment that parents are willing to make for their kids. Among the findings:
- Nearly 40% of respondents spend more than $500 per month on youth sports per child
- Roughly 20% (one out of five) spend over $1,000
- Almost 60% had some concern that paying for
sports could impact their retirement savings
- 23% – almost 1 out of 4 people – cutback on retirement/investing savings to fund sports
- 17% said they would delay retirement in order to pay
- Entertainment (53%) and vacations (40%) were the most likely places parents saved to pay for sports
- College savings were impacted, as 11% cut back on college savings in order to cover sports cost
- Over 50% said, given another chance, they would have found a better balance between savings and spending, not racked up as much debt or spent less on athletics
Admittedly, this is just one survey. It’s also possible this particular survey may not represent the vast majority of parents. However, it still shows the lengths to which some parents will go for their kids.
The dollar commitment may change from family to family and region to region. But, relatively speaking, the conclusion is the same…
Parents these days are more and more willing to do whatever it takes for our kids to participate in advanced sports programs, at whatever cost.