Cost of sports

[TimK1]

I'm not sure about others on here but does anybody else have a problem with how much sports costs in general.

My son plays tennis. Not just playground stuff. It costs 935.00 dollars every seven weeks for him to be in the Jr. program. There are seven sessions a year. It also costs us 22.00 every week for him to play in a match. We spend 85 dollars twice a month for him to work with an instructor. All this and he has to be a member of the Tennis center at 29.00 dollars a month.

Let's take up golf here. I'm a avid golfer. I'm one of those guys who get zero enjoyment out of anything if I'm not decent or good at it. I practice my a** off. The reality is this, living in a winter state I get 5 good months and two iffy ones a year outside. My clubs I added up yesterday all total with bag are close to 2000. Then there's balls at 50 bucks a pop for a dozen. I have a club membership at a few grand a year. Thank god it comes with unlimited range balls. It's worse if you want to get into winter. If I practice five days a week and hit 150 balls a day five days a week that 750 balls per week at 10 bucks a shot. 75.00 dollars a week to maintain a good solid swing at the local indoor practice dome. So tack on another 300 per month for five months.

Like I said, I have a club membership but if you don't, most rounds here are 50 dollars and up. That's not even for a great course. If you want to play more than once a week what do you do? Especially here with a short season, it is a total money gouge.

This is only an example of me and one kid, I have two others also.

I just have such a problem with how much sports costs to try and be good at something. It's no wonder most kids who have less resources never play these games. I admire programs that try and help this but it's not enough. Especially golf. You need proper fitted equipment and you need to play and practice a ton of time to get better. There are some first tee programs here but there not enough. They meet once a week and hit balls for twenty minutes. Most kids don't touch a club until the next meeting.

If you have kids or play and practice a lot. How do you do it? Are there cheaper ways and still be able to stay good? How do others on here swing it.

 

[Hawkeye77]

Hard to answer since there are so many variables in terms of location, preferences and so on. Winter state here, short golf and short tennis seasons.

Tennis: One of my daughters is a good tennis player, but I doubt we spent $200 on tennis lessons from the time she was in 7th grade through high school graduation. My wife played with her, the tennis coach worked with girls who wanted extra work in the summer for nothing, an indoor tennis facility provided free access for the girls during the winter for a few hours every Sunday.

Golf: free junior program at a local course both our girls participated in starting at an early age. Fun thing. My wife volunteered on play days with "herding" and scoring (she's a teacher, had the time). They'd go out with us even when it was just riding along, and we always started from the hole backwards as they developed skills. When the oldest was in 8th grade it was clear she was getting good and absolutely loved the game and decided to play just golf after that and passed on any more softball, including HS. She participated in a local two week more intensive camp that summer - I think it cost $60, lol. She started taking lessons spring of her 9th grade year - probably spent $300 a year on those, if that. Pro loved working with her and never charged enough, IMO. She was a great player - now a little older, experiencing "life", lol, and rarely plays and gets frustrated as a result based on how she used to play, but still loves the game. We always maintained a husband-wife membership until the oldest was in 6th or 7th grade and playing more and switched to family (they were allowed to play free when they were little at our course but as the oldest developed an interest and before we got the family membership I'd buy her a $75 unlimited range pass). At that time I think it was around $2,000 and unlimited range access. Now with the girls gone (reminder to self to take check out to course this week for early bird discount) husband-wife is around $2400 including unlimited range and cart access - I think that's reasonable.

There are courses all around here I can pay for less than $50, but $50 on a weekend, if that is what you are paying? Great deal. You can play our course twilight in the summer for way less than $50 including a cart if you are so inclined. Same at another nice course in the evenings even on weekends if you go later in the day. There are some not far away that cost more than that, including cart, for 18 holes, but not unreasonable, IMO, and if you go on a weekday they have certain days with eat and play specials, etc.

You can sure make sports expensive, and I'm sure in some places they just plain are expensive, but I can't say its universal based on our experiences.

 

 

 

[TimK1]

That's why I made the post. I was curious if it was me.

The Tennis is expensive, it is a JR elite program run by two guys who played the pro circuit in the early 2000's. One was actually ranked in the top 500 for a while. So I'm sure this is part of it. I spend a ton on golf to maitain during the winter.

Summer I play at my club everyday and really need to money on a day to day. Just at dues time for the next year.

[altess27]

Nothing will compare to hockey. Ice time, gear, uniforms, apparel adds up to thousands of dollars every year and it's not getting any cheaper. I still play and was lucky enough to get a lot of free new gear from a good friend in the industry but skates, gloves, stick, helmet, elbow & shin pads would've cost me roughly $1,300 and I didn't even get the top of the line stuff. I will be able to use that gear for awhile but think about having a growing kid and having to replace those items and more every single year.

[TimK1]

Funny you mention hockey. I have three boys all still teenagers and hockey was one of the sports I just said no. I could not afford to have all three play at once. Only one of my kids plays anything now.

I just find it frustrating the overall cost of sports. Golf and Tennis are up there. These are the sports we are involved in. It's not just these two sports though.

[GHIN n Juice]

You guys should see what has happened to soccer. Now there are national youth leagues with regular, regional league games from Detroit to St. Louis, Omaha to Chicago, and beyond...for league games. My daughter made one of these teams at age 11 but we just couldn’t justify it. After the first year parents told us they were paying over $18,000 a year in travel and fees. That makes no sense to me since most of these parents are trying to get their kids college scholarships, but at $18k a year you’re just spending their college money on soccer.

[Chief Illiniwek]

Sports are out of control at these young ages. Every parent seems to think their kid is going pro and every team has to be a travel team. What happened to just playing other local kids?

[scomac2002]

Have to agree on the cost of hockey. We had two boys that both played rep and that was at $5000 a pop before you went past go. That didn't include equipment, and travel costs, hockey schools, dry land training, etc. OH and that was 15 years ago to boot!

It used to be a blue collar game, but I've read that the way costs have escalated it has become extremely exclusive. The only thing that I've run across that was even more expensive was high level competitive figure skating. My wife used to work with a lady whose entire yearly income was used to offset the costs of maintaining a nationally ranked amateur figure skater.

[Olson12]

Everything changed when the shift went from dads volunteering their time to help kids in the community to washed up pros/greedy parents turning sports into a business. I ran a club flag football team for 5 years and didn't make a single penny off kids, never turned away a kid who couldn't pay for uniforms or tournament fees and won multiple tournaments and state championships in the process. My son now plays baseball and I'm forced to put him on a club team that is for profit and it makes me sick! The coaches are paid and we pay these inflated dues every month to feed the monster. Once we make enough friends in baseball we'll be starting our own team without all the overhead and just get back to what it should be about. Kids learning sports and creating memories with each other.

[MtlJeff]

Soccer is out of control here too. To the point that I am not sure what to do with my daughter. They start waaaaay younger now and regional teams and tournaments start way younger too.

The cost of equipment is relatively small in soccer, but the cost of overnight tournaments and various indoor/outdoor leagues adds up very fast

People think soccer is this super accessible game, golf is way cheaper for a young kid to play at least here, plus you don't have to be borderline militant in their training at 6yrs old

Parents and programs have sucked the fun out of soccer here. My whole family played at very high levels, scholarships etc (my dad was also a qualified world cup referee) but I am not sure I want my daughter in it

[GHIN n Juice]

The big rise in costs and problems with youth soccer is ironically coming from the top at USA soccer. In reaction to the drastic drop in talent at the men’s national level they have tried to restructure the whole youth system and have actually made it worse. These national youth leagues and academy programs have made the game so rigid and structured that it has lost the free flowing nature necessary for greatness. American soccer, primarily on the men’s side, has no soul because they beat it out of the kids at such a young age. Hope Solo was right, soccer is a rich, white kids sport now, and it’s killing the game.

[MtlJeff]

It's funny, because i tell people here (i'm canadian) that like i mentioned, golf is actually a cheaper more accessible sport that puts less insane pressure on kids at a young age. And people look at me like i'm an alien. Soccer is supposed to be the "global" game but it's a real sh**show here. I guess anyone can play, but if you aren't "all in" at like 6....good luck

My nephew is 9 years old and just tried out for an elite team a year too late (the team started for 8 year olds and he wasnt ready the year before....he was frikkin 8 and hadn't decided what to do with his life yet, god forbid)....He was one of 190 kids trying out for 2 spots on the team that had opened up. HE IS 9 YEARS OLD.

My sister was the coach of a team for 8 year olds and received violent threats over playing time from parents. She resigned as coach eventually over stuff like this. She was recently stressing about putting one of her own daughters in a program that took time away from school so they get extra soccer practice. That daughter is 10

Soccer is insanity here. When i grew up i played on the Quebec provincial team and the National development team and i didn't even start playing intercity until i was 12

[mizuno player]

I'm in the hockey camp. Club dues $3500. Which is cheap for my area. Equipment. Makes golf clubs look like chump change if you have to buy senior level equipment.

Travel. Just our league play we go as far as 350 miles one way for a game. We usually play two but that's a hotel.

Then tournaments. We play six a year. If you're lucky or unlucky however you look at it to make Nationals like we did last year. East coast to west coast last year and this year, if we make it. That's another $3000 a pop.

Plus High School hockey.

I stopped adding up how much I spend. And my friends ask me why I quit the club and pretty.much stopped playing golf!!

All youth sports coats have gotten out of control. In the mid Atlantic region LaX is very expensive. Too much travel.

He goes to college next year. So, golf should resume for me. I'll miss it but glad I found many thousands a dollar a year extra!!

[TimK1]

I'll admit. I basically told my kids no. I knew early on that I was not going to be able to afford all that for three kids. When my son was six he did gymnastics. He was really good and they wanted him to be in there travel elite program. It was 300 a month just to start. That is without travel and tournament expenses. I told them if they wanted him so badly, then they would have to pay. Of course they didn't do that. Guess he wasn't as talented as they keep trying to feed my head.

I told them early on in life. It's gonna have to be School sports. It's all I can afford. Whatever there school had is what they did. Only my one son I let go into Tennis and it has affected are whole family budget to the point where I might have to take him out.

I see all the stories above. This bothers me a lot. It should not be this way. What happened to us as parents? I'm 56 and didn't grow up like this. My father would have laughed in my face if I asked him to spend this kind of money for anything on me. Yet I do it and by the looks of it so do many others.

I know or do I care if he makes anything out of the game but fun but it is costly to even have fun with a sport and try to get better at it.

[scomac2002]

WEll just because it starts out as a school sport doesn't mean that it's going to be less expensive. My wife's coworker has a son with aspirations of a professional football contract. She sold her house to fund his university education. He's on a scholarship, but not a full ride and it only kicks in if you are still on the team after the freshman year (This is in Canada). He didn't dress for a game this past season and he has a history of injury so I'm not exactly hopeful that the kid's actually going to get a shot. Very high stakes on a very long odds bet IMO, but people are going to do what people are going to do whether it makes sense or not.

I feel sorry for the mother as she's probably going to have to work until she's 70 and will probably never own a house again with all her equity gone on a roll of the dice with her youngest of three kids.

[TimK1]

Yep,

That's one thing I would not do is compromise my own future, not for anybody.

People are not realistic when it comes to sports. The people who make it basically dominate at every level. If your kids is not doing that it is likely he or she is not going to make it in pro anything. I remember watching Eric Lindros play hockey when he was nine. He was a man against boys, even at that age. He had nine goals by the second period and they had to take him out.

There are kids at my club ( 17, 18 ,19 ) years old shooting 62 on a regular basis and they barley think they have a chance. One is going over seas next year to try on the India tour. They can't even get sponsers?

[TimK1]

Then people think because little johnny is decent on his high school team, he is going to be a pro? Ah no, not close.

[MtlJeff]

I do want my daughter to have a chance to be good at sports, just because it does give you a lot of options. I dont want to be a crazy dad but I'd like to give her the chance. I got accepted into one of the best schools in Canada due to football , and my grades would not have been good enough (didn't attend tho) and was offered scholarships to the US. My sister attended a US college on a soccer scholarship. So my dad saved on that cost in the end.

But mostly it gets you some nice advantages in that regard. I'd love for my daughter to have the chance to go wherever she wants. Its actually a bit easier for her due to title 9 than it would be for a boy

 

[TimK1]

If they can get a scholarship then that's great. These stories of people mortgaging their house or some other crazy thing is stupid. 99 percent do not make it. You might as well play the lottery as a financial plan in life.

[scomac2002]

You might as well play the lottery as a financial plan in life.Many do. I wouldn't be surprised if that's the plan of the mother I mentioned above.

[Noles]

I think the notion of "people think their kid is gonna be a pro!" is overblown. I deal with a ton of very involved sports parents and I think it more compares to keeping up with the Joneses. People want to feel like they gave their child every advantage they could. They fear sitting out of a tournament or league because their kid may fall behind and the parents do not want to feel responsible for it. Combine that with predatory youth sports organizers and you get what we have today. People spending more than they can afford for what amounts to a hobby.

[TimK1]

Most guys and girls who are my age ( 56) will remember a time also when you played sports in the street, with the neighborhood kids. Not many of us played organized sports until we were older. I played Hockey for about four years on a team but that was it. It was not travel or elite or anything like that. The notion of travel teams was really still had not grown yet.

I see nobody playing sports anymore in the streets. Nobodies parents are home all day. No like when I was young, all the mothers on the street were home. They all knew us and we couldn't get away with nothing. For any kids now to want to play anything, they have to be in some kind of organzed thing. The parents feel guilty because they ignore little Jr all week. They are to busy working, trying to feed the family and keep a roof over there heads.

Parents now act mostly out of guilt. My parents had it made. I played sports all day in the summer and my parents never spent a penny. I walked to the golf course with garbage picked clubs and played all day for 5 dollars. That is how I learned.

[TimK1]

All the pickup we played is where you really got good at things. Even golf. No lessons, no 1000 dollar equipment or launch monitors or video we just figured it out and we got good at it. We never cared about smash factors and launch monitors and where are wrist was at the top or hips or anything.

It was all due to pickup. All state in Basketball without never once playing organized until High School. It was all playground pickup. We used to play tackle basketball right on the pavement of the court near are house.

It is sad the money grab and idiots all the parents turned into. Not to mention, most kids I see now are lazy as hell and pansies.

[Singapore Joe]

This is a very interesting discussion to read. I’ll be fifty this year but don’t have kids of my own. Just like everybody else, I remember how accessible sport was when I was a kid.

I was fairly decent in basket ball and even if going to tournaments and all, there was hardly any costs involved. Most parents - mine included - just wouldn’t have forked them. I’m not quite sure where the team got the $$ from but most likely many team officials were not paid and had a genuine interest in what’s good for the community.

Those friends and relatives of mine who have kids seem to have spent their whole life around the kids’ sports and other hobbies which dictate all their schedules. No activity is unplanned or unstructured. Now that the children are older the parents are finally starting to have time for other things as well.

I’ve been thinking it’s only time they are spending but apparently the hip pockets are hit hard, too. This is not in North America. I’ve been quite a nomad and have friends on many continents. The trend seems global.

[JDFish]

Everything is a speciality today it seems. There's no way, especially for kids, to just play or do something. Everything gets overblown and they have to go to the "next level" if they want to get better, which means travel, more lessons/professionals/practice/etc. And nearly everything seems to be exclusive and year-round. My girls played golf for a while and have been involved in competitive dance. When my older daughter graduated and high school and went to college she was able to minor in dance and get some scholarship money. My younger daughter is hoping to do something similar.

[Petethreeput]

The monetization of youth sports is, in my opinion, one of the greatest tragedies of modern society. It sounds hyperbolic, but think about it.

At 9 years old, parents are so invested financially they pass their competitiveness onto the children. At 9, the thought some of my teammates weren’t good, didn’t commit fully, or didn’t “understand” the game, never even occurred to me.

The social benefits of youth sports which all parents espouse are destroyed before a kid should even be thinking about being competitive.

I coached competitive soccer for 20 years. I used to tell my kids before every away game, “Forgive your parents bc their ridiculousness is directly tied to the distance we traveled and their expense.”

[Bob Cat]

@Noles
comment, “predatory youth sports organizers”, is REAL, people.
These “clubs” have no problem realing you in to pay big bucks for your kids to travel with the elite kids knowing full well they’ll be riding the pine while you and your child are treated as second hand citizens by the other kids, parents and organizers.

[TimK1]

Parents also have to be realistic though also. I knew my son was not very good at soccer. He thought he was but he was average. I told him if he wanted to ever do anything with it other than High School he would have to get dramatically better. He wasn't willing. He sat the bench in High School BB because he wasn't good. He played four minutes a game. He thought he was good but he wasn't. I had no issue telling him that. He wasn't willing to put in the work.

I wasn't gonna pay for anything more than what he was doing at that point. He showed me nothing as far as work ethic.

My middle son, worked his ass off nonstop playing tennis. He would go outside and hit against a brick wall in the middle of winter. I was willing to pay way more for him to try because he had the work ethic.

I hate the cost of sports, it is one of my biggest pet peeves in life. If my kids want anything extra with sports they better show me something besides the basic. That's where parents are not realistic.