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Parents do not want their kids to "fall behind" and many parents operate under the delusion that their children will get a college scholarship. Scholarships are pure fantasy. If parents took the money they spent on big time travel programs and all those weekends spent at a some converted cornfield and a Holiday Inn Express, they would be able to pay for a few years of college.
The other fact is that many of these programs are money making operations. Both my kids are decent at soccer, but they only played rec in the fall. However, they both have made their school teams despite not having played travel soccer. I refuse to have them play soccer beyond the fall season. All the travel soccer programs require spring participation in practice and games or you cannot play in the fall. It is silly, but it is a way to justify the fees. This is not unique to soccer as it happens in many youth sports programs. It also causes many kids to get sick of the sport and quit. My kids play lacrosse in the spring (it is not expensive). My oldest also played basketball, rec only and played varsity on his high school team.
Sports are great training for life. It is very similar to a job. The coach may or may not like you for no good reason. You learn how to work with a wide variety of teammates. The most talented teammate might continually forget the plays. You will not always be treated fairly. Sports can teach you how to operate within the framework of a team and how to sacrifice to make the team better. There will be failures, yet you learn to continue to move forward and you will learn the joy of competition and success.
Youth sports are a wonderful thing, but today's version can be over the top.
The time and money involved are why I am relieved that none of my children have ever shown much of interest in sports. That, and the relief of not having to be around some of the parents.
My 13-year old grandson is in a flag football league. He’s played for a few years and really enjoys it. It’s not super-competitive but they love playing with a football. In his locale, it’s a popular alternative to contact sports.
Eh. All my kids played travel sports, two in baseball and one in hockey. We never pushed it thinking college scholarship, in fact, we never pushed it at all. They liked it, they were good at it, and as long as they wanted to play, we paid. They had plenty of time for friends who weren't involved in sports, but they are still friends with teammates from the middle school years and beyond. We saw far worse behavior on the part of parents with rec teams than with travel teams. No parent would risk being banned from the stands in travel leagues. Maybe our experience was unusual, but the parents were supportive of all the team members.
Sports ARE expensive, and a lot of those costs seem arbitrary, I agree. Players don't need multiple uniforms, matching cleats, and cross-country trips to find teams to play against.
It's several things combining into a perfect storm. Fewer high schools mean fewer school teams so the opportunity to play gets a lot less. Then add in the possibility, however remote, of a scholarship. Many parents are hoping for that scholarship and you have to spend large bucks to play in that game, no pun intended.
Both our kids did sports. Between them they did softball, Little League, soccer, school soccer, swim team. Daughter really loved soccer so we did the travel team with her. Fortunately the local club was reasonably priced compared to some of the big clubs in the area. She loved playing and loved her teammates, but we also made the conscious decision that when college time came, she had to focus on her degree. She was actually recruited by a couple of colleges but said no, while several of her teammates did in fact get scholarships to play in college, so for their parents, there was a payoff for them.
When they were little one of the big reasons for putting them in organized sports was that was the only way they were going to get play time outside with their friends. You kind of get pulled along because all the other kids in the neighborhood are on a team, so your kids either play too or sit at home on the Xbox. And it grows from there.
Son did Little League (talk about parents getting over the top), school soccer, and swim team. He was never really competitive in swim, but loved it for the exercise.
US Lacrosse is a national organization that includes insurance coverage for athletes and coaches who are members. There are 450,000 members in the USA. The yearly fee is $30 for 14 and under and $35 for 15-18. 19 and over is $55 and this usually includes the coaches. Insurance is not a cost issue. https://www.uslacrosse.org/membership/insurance
Lacrosse
Average: $7,956
Maximum: $17,500
These lacrosse costs mentioned in the Time article from the Utah State survey must be for full year, high level travel to multiple tournaments and lots of indoor practice time and weekends spent in motels.
I am a coach for the local lacrosse program and our spring season costs $200 + the $30 USL membership. That includes 15-20 games (on our home field or within 15 miles), and 1-2 outdoor practices per week. Our program also includes entry into 2 local all day tournaments. The boys obviously spend more than the girls due to the equipment requirements, but there is abundant sharing of equipment as the kids grow. We also provide scholarships for families who cannot afford the fees and discounts for families with multiple children in the program.
US Lacrosse is a national organization that includes insurance coverage for athletes and coaches who are members. There are 450,000 members in the USA. The yearly fee is $30 for 14 and under and $35 for 15-18. 19 and over is $55 and this usually includes the coaches. Insurance is not a cost issue. https://www.uslacrosse.org/membership/insurance
Lacrosse
Average: $7,956
Maximum: $17,500
These lacrosse costs mentioned in the Time article from the Utah State survey must be for full year, high level travel to multiple tournaments and lots of indoor practice time and weekends spent in motels.
I am a coach for the local lacrosse program and our spring season costs $200 + the $30 USL membership. That includes 15-20 games (on our home field or within 15 miles), and 1-2 outdoor practices per week. Our program also includes entry into 2 local all day tournaments. The boys obviously spend more than the girls due to the equipment requirements, but there is abundant sharing of equipment as the kids grow. We also provide scholarships for families who cannot afford the fees and discounts for families with multiple children in the program.
Lacrosse is very affordable.
Until some "coach" decides to make it a source of income. This is true in many sports and other activities. There is nothing inherently wrong with it as long as those spending the money understand it's not "all for the kids."
I am glad to see club sports are thriving as I think competitive sports should be removed from public schools.
These kids that get college scholarships; are they letting athletics drive their majors? Here at the local high school, several students received athletic scholarships, most to NAIA colleges that are relatively unknown. I kind of think they let athletics drive their majors. While in high school, maybe they thought they would attend a Division 1 college and major in engineering or another STEM field, but when the athletic scholarship was offered, they dumbed down to still play sports and are now majoring in home economics or something at a much smaller NAIA college.
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