As I’ve gotten older and had kids of my own, it’s impossible not to think about how expensive certain things have become versus what they used to cost not so long ago. The cost of housing, cars and eating out is much more expensive in our post Covid world.
One of the main reasons for being a parent is to provide your children with a better life. This line of thinking works itself into aspects of city planning, where new and safer playgrounds are built, providing a stimulating environment for our children. This is certainly not a bad thing; however, when does better become too far out of reach for a majority of parents?
Youth sports are a great example. When I was a child, recreation leagues provided most of the equipment needed to participate. Baseball or softball proves this point. As long as you had a glove on your hand and cleats on your feet, the rest would be provided. Bats, helmets and uniforms were available for use as part of the participation cost. This is far from being true today.
My 8 year old daughter decided she wanted to play softball last year. I was surprised to learn that I was required to purchase the following: glove, field mask, aluminum bat, helmet and full uniform (multiple shirts and pants). The all in cost to participate was well over $400! Keep in mind, she’s “trying out” softball to see if she likes it. In the end, she liked it but wanted to focus on soccer full time. That’s a whole other story.
Moving from a recreation league to a club team in soccer is not only time consuming, it’s quite expensive. The cost to play on the team can run thousands of dollars per year. This is on top of the uniforms or “kit” you’re required to purchase. Although we’re not quite there yet, out of town travel and hotel rooms will begin to play a factor in our overall budget. Regional teams may travel across multiple states while national teams will travel to games throughout the United States. As you can imagine, it starts to get pretty expensive rather quickly.
Although I had friends who played soccer and baseball in high school, some were even good enough to get scholarships, I rarely remember any of them playing on a national team. They did travel across the state of South Carolina and sometimes regionally for a large event, but the number of people I knew who did this were few and far between. Nowadays, it seems like the norm.
The middle school my daughter will attend has a turf field and stands large enough to fill hundreds of people on both sides. The park a few miles from my house has multiple turf fields for soccer and flag football and beautifully manicured bermudagrass outfields used for baseball. I’m not complaining of course, but do the kids really care? Is this the reason why an entry fee for a sport is now hundreds of dollars instead of being moderately affordable for those who want to try it out?
I don’t know the answer. What I do know is, sports are big business. The hijacking of college athletics by corporations is having a trickle down effect on high school, middle school and lower level sports. This is making it less affordable to pick and choose the sports you want to play. It’s gotten to the point where it’s more cost effective to choose early and steer your child toward one sport rather than trying two or three as they grow older.
Nicer fields and venues are certainly better than playing in dirt fields and run down stadiums, but we can’t ignore the cost of progress. Big business is impacting youth sports and making it harder for many families to absorb the trickle down costs of new equipment and entry fees.
This is an unfortunate reality that shows no signs of changing anytime soon.
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