I have 2 young kids, 7 and 5, and am super excited that the young one will be out of daycare and going to kindergarten in the fall so I should be able to save quite a bit more money. I mention this to other people and they say well it just goes from daycare expenses to sports/activities costs. I know that these cost more, but it seems like all you hear about is kids doing tournaments/travel ball all the time. My neighbors are gone every weekend during the summer for baseball tournaments all over the state. There seems like there are competitions all over the place and that is the new norm even for young kids. I heard a commercial today for Des Moines softball tryouts for what I am assuming are "elite" teams that start at an 8 and under division. I can't believe that they have tryouts for specific teams at that age. Are the days of pee wee baseball with just kids from the local schools or other sports like that without having to travel all over the state done? I live in Ankeny so it is hard to believe that there isn't enough kids that they have to travel all over to play teams. I am all about kids playing sports but I really don't want to go crazy competitive and cost wise especially for super young kids. Any input from other Fanatics on this issue?
We have only done wone year of club baseball and stepped back from it this year. I would HIGHLY encourage you to keep control of the situation, We are in Linn-Mar and amazingly the Linn-Mar Youth Baseball Club is the largest in the state apparently. 10U this year he was relegated down to the lowest level team of the the age group of which there are four teams for LMYB at 10U alone, so what roughly 55-60 boys there alone. Add in teams from 2-3 non school affiliated clubs (Reds and Top Tier) and you are quickly approaching 100+ boys without factoring in at least 2-3 other school affiliated clubs.
There are other rec leagues as well but there is a SIGNIFICANT difference in competition and coaching from those to the mid to upper level club teams.
Cost wise we were on a mid-level club team last year and only had one overnight trip to DSM for the state tourney. Every other tournament we went to was within an hour or so drive of home. We were probably in the $1k-1.5k all together with team costs and travel expenses for the year for the whole family.
If you are on upper level teams expect more tournaments and to travel further. And that is on top of league games during the week. It will consume at least 3-5 days/nights a week between games, tournaments and practice.
Oh and don't forget about fall ball. If they want to do other sports they will generally be required to be dedicated to baseball from February-July.
