Youth Sports Costs

[RezClone]

I'm a youth baseball coach in a small NC Iowa town. I coach rec and travel. Besides ISU sports, this is really my only "hobby" per se lol. I don't really hunt, fish, or like to camp a whole lot. So this stuff is kind of my wheel house. I've been doing this for the better part of a decade.

We have local travel team sponsors, and plenty of community support. This year I only charged 65 dollars per kid, 35 for hat AND jersey (plenty good enough but certainly not "elite". But we look good they look the part). The kids parents buy their own pants, socks, and personal accessories of their choosing. Some things I require to be a team color, other things I encourage them to wear whatever colors they want (kids love funky colored accessories) I supply catchers gear helmets some bats but most parents like to buy their own bats)

I'd say our competitors charge anywhere from 300-700 per kid. This is really the minimum you should plan for ballpark when cold-call reach out to an organization, baseball or softball. Our cost would be in that range too if it not for our sponsors and fundraisers.

IMO, the metro USSSA tournaments increase cost significantly. They are a quality product no doubt, but I'm not sure it's the right route for a "community" team made up of friends and classmates. It's more beneficial if you think your kid benefits more from an "all-star" team environment. I'm very much a proponent of the former, but that's entirely personal preference.

The juice is more often NOT worth the squeeze w/ the fancy tournaments, but you'd be suprised how often money is no object w/ parents particularly in larger areas. Perfectly fine if that's what you choose, just my opinion based on personal experience managing groups of kids as a whole.

If you're worried about competition, you can find it just about anywhere in Iowa. You DON'T need to stay huddled around the expensive metro tournaments. That's just a fact. There's kids that can throw hard and mash the ball in every corner of the state. I've also seen kids go from hopeless to competent in a matter of weeks. That's something you're not typically gonna get on an all-star team.

Now you wanna talk expensive...put your daughter in dance. That's where the real money is at lol!

 

[Clonefan32]

All I know is someone is just printing money out there. Set up 37 divisions for each age group so that each group can win a $17.00 banner and a $13 dollar ring so mommy and daddy can post a picture to their Facebook. Meanwhile basically every kid on the teams athletic ceiling is probably playing for Dordt or something.

Sports are awesome and my absolute favorite thing to do as a kid was to play sports. But the whole thing has completely jumped the shark. At the end of the day, it comes down to kids that put in the individual work (not just playing games) and it comes down to kids with natural ability. There's no amount of travel ball that came make up for those two things.

 

[BillBrasky4Cy]

That has been a popular question, how many great athletes do we miss out on with the current system. I don’t see it changing anytime soon but I do fundamentally agree

This is a major issue with US soccer. There is a TON of talent that never even gets a sniff because they aren't playing in the major ECNL or ODP type showcases. Hell we see it in West Des Moines. There are a ton of Latinos that are really really good and nobody knows wo they are until the they start playing for Valley. The problem is that no colleges or Academies are recruiting an Iowa high school soccer game.

 

[ScottyP]

Fortunately, my wife and are are not very athletic so my kids likely won't be playing in these kind of leagues. My daughter did soccer for a couple of years, but was mostly in it for the social aspect.

My neighbor is really into the youth sports for his kids. Mainly baseball and hockey. They have a batting cage set up in their back yard with a hitting machine so they can practice every day. The daughter plays in a boys league instead of softball, but I'm not sure why. The family enjoys it, which is great, but the daughter gets a gigantic ring about every weekend for playing in a baseball tournament.

I was amazed that some of these youth leagues have even started utilizing some analytics. My neighbor's son was pretty young and they were focused on launch angle and stuff like that.

 

[ScottyP]

The star pitcher for the Texas Longhorns softball team was a Dowling graduate, who didn't even play high school softball. I'm sure that is probably more common, but I was a bit surprised by that.

 

[RLD4ISU]

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?

Probably won't have popular thoughts with this, but - honestly - I'm perfectly fine with being unpopular. LOL.

Sports can be fun. You learn rules, socialize, learn to play together and learn competition. Maybe find out what your area offers. Archery and golf may not be "glory" sports, but also highly competitive. And both of those are something they can do until they're old, arthritis sets in and they can't get around well. IMO sports - especially as a child - should be fun. If they're not having fun or like it, what's the point?

Find out what your child is interested in or wants to try. This is a tough one. Is it something they want to do or is it because of peer or parental pressure? Then as a parent figure out the thin line of making them stick with the sport until it's over to teach them too finish a job started or giving them permission to quit. Both have pros and cons. And remember parental pressure can be projected without realizing it. Our oldest son went out for wrestling and after a while, came to us extremely upset and worried. He wanted to quit wrestling, but didn't want to disappoint us. We were shocked, especially since his Dad wrestled just one year. Be open to sports other than football, baseball, hockey and soccer. They do exist.

Remember that you and your spouse are the parents. That means you're in charge of what happens and can do a lot of guidance. Have good communication with your kids about what they want and why. Set boundaries, some hard line and some gray.

Travel/club teams were just starting to be a thing when my boys were growing up. Honestly, we couldn't afford it. Each of them mentioned it at some point. There are also times when Mom and Dad saying "no" or "we can't" is a good thing - it takes the pressure off the kids. (Sometimes you find out later that your child didn't really want it, but felt peer pressure to ask and were actually relieved when you said no.)

Talk to someone that is an adult now and either played a lot of sports while growing up and/or did the club/travel teams. Get their perspective? Both my son and husband have said if they knew then what they do now, it would've changed a lot. They both have said they would've found other interests to excel in.

We personally didn't want our boys involved in sports all year. So we asked them two pick just a couple and take a break between. We also had a rule that in order to play sports, their grades had to be good. (Even before the school required it) When they moved beyond the t-ball stage and talked about playing baseball, we explained playing baseball would be a commitment. It was one we were willing to do, though we would not have as much time to go camping, fishing and do other summer things that interested them. They chose fishing & camping.

Hind sight is always 20/20. There's no perfect, fool proof way to navigate this or everyone would be doing it. Do what's right for you, your family and your child/children.

 

[AuH2O]

Sorry if this is repetitive, not reading all the responses.

But for baseball I strongly recommend this. If your kids are really into it, get some parents and kids together and form your own "travel" league that plays in USSSA tournaments. If you can find a place to practice, you can play as many tournaments as you want in the Des Moines area.

We did this when my son was coming up through 8th grade. They have different levels A - Majors, though a vast majority are in AA. Our team had a few kids that were AAA/Majors level, but most were more like AA, and they all got to play and develop. My son and friend that did this both were completely prepared to play HS baseball, and started varsity in 4A as sophs. We were not the only team like that by a long shot. There are a lot of volunteer-led and town type teams in those tournaments.

It still will cost you some cash - I think getting uniforms, renting practice space and entrance fees probably ran about $700-$800/year, but it's a far cry from the serious travel teams that you might shell out in excess of $2-3 grand per year. Plus you really don't ever have to leave the DM metro if you don't want to.

Not that I'm against the latter, as my son joined a typical travel team in HS when there wasn't another option. But if you have parents and a bunch of kids that want to play more, there are tons of teams like that playing USSSA tournaments right alongside the serious travel teams.

 

[AuH2O]

And seeing a lot of great advice here. Most important thing is make 100% that your kid is REALLY wanting to do the club/travel thing. I have seen a lot of kids that do the travel thing coming up, and then fizzle out when they are in high school because they burn out or just find different interests.

I have been pushing back on my kid doing so much because I worry about him getting burned out. He spends most of his free time with kids hitting and doing baseball stuff. But it's a core part of their social activity. I think they mostly sit around and BS.

 

[RezClone]

Fortunately, my wife and are are not very athletic so my kids likely won't be playing in these kind of leagues. My daughter did soccer for a couple of years, but was mostly in it for the social aspect.

My neighbor is really into the youth sports for his kids. Mainly baseball and hockey. They have a batting cage set up in their back yard with a hitting machine so they can practice every day. The daughter plays in a boys league instead of softball, but I'm not sure why. The family enjoys it, which is great, but the daughter gets a gigantic ring about every weekend for playing in a baseball tournament.

I was amazed that some of these youth leagues have even started utilizing some analytics. My neighbor's son was pretty young and they were focused on launch angle and stuff like that.

So I was a late bloomer myself, so one aspect I really don't like is kids can be left behind now at too young of an age, particularly with baseball because it's such a skill-heavy, muscle-memory, and experience-driven repetition based sport.

It's a fine line with kids because you hear the horror stories of parents living vicariously through their kids and burning them out. But as someone who tries to do the best they can for the kids first and foremost in this space, I can tell you for a fact you are playing with fire thinking your kids can just be kids and try to turn it on at 12 or 13.

Often times 9 or 10 year olds are simply too young to understand what they want or what they might be missing out on. They just see that they might want to go to the pool or ride their bike at the campground catching Frogs instead on any given day, and they don't understand the long term implications of missing out on a pivotal year of opportunity to grow their skill set.

The dirty little secret is it is entirely on the parent to "predict" how serious their kid will WANT to be a ballplayer later on, and then try to "push" them the right amount until said kid wake ups one Saturday morning and decides, "Dad, I really wanna be a ballplayer like so and so."

This happens ALL THE TIME. Nobody wants to be the psycho parent who ruins your kid's childhood. But I promise you that you are just as likely to be staring your pride and joy coming into his own as a human being someday, wondering why he can't do something he really wants to do now, and likely could have with the proper guidance.

We can't and shouldn't always just take 9 and 10 year olds completely at their word. If they have some skill and you are able and willing to make the time and money commitment, it's something YOU ALONE need to navigate properly on behalf of your child. Yes, take their input and consider it thoughtfully always with their best interest in mind. But this really does happen ALL THE TIME. And trust me, there's plenty of ways a disgruntled 13 or 14 year old can fill their summer free time that might be far more harmful than you anticipated when you were just trying to do the right thing and "not be overbearing" a few years prior.

I hate this aspect of it. Nobody talks about it and even fewer are equipped to navigate these choices IME. It's really hard as a coach to explain this to parents, and it's really not my place either. But it's just the world we live in now. Kids are growing up faster than ever, and your kid is not immune to the effects of that phenomenon no matter how hard we try to shield them from it.

 

[Clonefan32]

I am screwed she is all all about it. 6 more years of this crap. But she loves it so I can't get out.

I'm in the exact same boat with my two youngest. They both love dance and it's about all that've shown an interest in. I've just let my wife know that at no point should she tell him how much this is costing us, and I just go and watch and stay willfully ignorant.

 

[Clonefan32]

I do have to say social media posts about youth baseball with accompanying videos are one of my favorite things. "Timmy got his first home run today!". Lady, that's a single and 2 errors.

 

[ScottyP]

So I was a late bloomer myself, so one aspect I really don't like is kids can be left behind now at too young of an age, particularly with baseball because it's such a skill-heavy, muscle-memory, and experience-driven repetition based sport.

It's a fine line with kids because you hear the horror stories of parents living vicariously through their kids and burning them out. But as someone who tries to do the best they can for the kids first and foremost in this space, I can tell you for a fact you are playing with fire thinking your kids can just be kids and try to turn it on at 12 or 13.

Often times 9 or 10 year olds are simply too young to understand what they want or what they might be missing out on. They just see that they might want to go to the pool or ride their bike at the campground catching Frogs instead on any given day, and they don't understand the long term implications of missing out on a pivotal year of opportunity to grow their skill set.

The dirty little secret is it is entirely on the parent to "predict" how serious their kid will WANT to be a ballplayer later on, and then try to "push" them the right amount until said kid wake ups one Saturday morning and decides, "Dad, I really wanna be a ballplayer like so and so."

This happens ALL THE TIME. Nobody wants to be the psycho parent who ruins your kid's childhood. But I promise you that you are just as likely to be staring your pride and joy coming into his own as a human being someday, wondering why he can't do something he really wants to do now, and likely could have with the proper guidance.

We can't and shouldn't always just take 9 and 10 year olds completely at their word. If they have some skill and you are able and willing to make the time and money commitment, it's something YOU ALONE need to navigate properly on behalf of your child. Yes, take their input and consider it thoughtfully always with their best interest in mind. But this really does happen ALL THE TIME. And trust me, there's plenty of ways a disgruntled 13 or 14 year old can fill their summer free time that might be far more harmful than you anticipated when you were just trying to do the right thing and "not be overbearing" a few years prior.

I hate this aspect of it. Nobody talks about it and even fewer are equipped to navigate these choices IME. It's really hard as a coach to explain this to parents, and it's really not my place either. But it's just the world we live in now. Kids are growing up faster than ever, and your kid is not immune to the effects of that phenomenon no matter how hard we try to shield them from it.

My daughter is almost 10 and just recently (this summer) showing interest in softball and volleyball. The problem is that I'm worried she is almost too old to even start playing and we aren't sure where to go for leagues. She also is pretty small for her age.

 

[RezClone]

My daughter is almost 10 and just recently (this summer) showing interest in softball and volleyball. The problem is that I'm worried she is almost too old to even start playing and we aren't sure where to go for leagues. She also is pretty small for her age.

Knowing nothing about your situation specifically, I would say you're still frimly within the window. You should be fine.

At least in terms of baseball/softball, 10 is still young enough to get on board. Any later than that tho, it gets precipitously more unlikely a kid reaches their full potential.

PS I'm also no volleyball expert by any means, so that alone might extend the window a year or two. Someone else would know more about VB growth specifically.

 

[Bigman38]

Fortunately, my wife and are are not very athletic so my kids likely won't be playing in these kind of leagues. My daughter did soccer for a couple of years, but was mostly in it for the social aspect.

My neighbor is really into the youth sports for his kids. Mainly baseball and hockey. They have a batting cage set up in their back yard with a hitting machine so they can practice every day. The daughter plays in a boys league instead of softball, but I'm not sure why. The family enjoys it, which is great, but the daughter gets a gigantic ring about every weekend for playing in a baseball tournament.

I was amazed that some of these youth leagues have even started utilizing some analytics. My neighbor's son was pretty young and they were focused on launch angle and stuff like that.

When I read these stories I just think about the % of kids who just burn out by HS or college if they have they have the talent. It happened to all of the athletes I played with that were good enough to keep going.

 

[Bigman38]

My daughter is almost 10 and just recently (this summer) showing interest in softball and volleyball. The problem is that I'm worried she is almost too old to even start playing and we aren't sure where to go for leagues. She also is pretty small for her age.

My daughter played her first year of volleyball in 7th grade last fall. It was her first experience with tryouts so that was tough for her only being 1-2 weeks in at the time. It's a no cut school but she made the 3rd team of 4 and had a lot of fun. She even asked to sign up for a spring rec league.

 

[ScottyP]

Knowing nothing about your situation specifically, I would say you're still frimly within the window. You should be fine.

At least in terms of baseball/softball, 10 is still young enough to get on board. Any later than that tho, it gets precipitously more unlikely a kid reaches their full potential.

PS I'm also no volleyball expert by any means, so that alone might extend the window a year or two. Someone else would know more about VB growth specifically.

It doesn't help that my wife is going back to school for her teaching degree and spends most of the evenings/weekends working on homework or has classes. I'm pretty much a single parent right now taking care of three young kids. Adding another activity is probably too much for our family to handle.

 

[RezClone]

My son and friend that did this both were completely prepared to play HS baseball, and started varsity in 4A as sophs. We were not the only team like that by a long shot. There are a lot of volunteer-led and town type teams in those tournaments.

This is a great post and this section above is what my main focus in coaching travel ball is all about. It's not wins and losses, it's process and growth management. This is what you should look for in a coach/organization for your child.

I started as a soph in 3A. There were no fewer than 2 older kids at my position who were bigger and stronger, who both had plenty of varisty success before I got there. (Not to mention two more that were my age and a year younger that were plenty capable and talented ballplayers in their own right that could have easily beat me out.)

This is only at a 3A school! I don't think a lot of parents realize that one day when your son/daughter plays HS ball...the degree to which they will be starting all over again and will need to have the confidence and experience to perform basically flawlessly, both immediately and consistently. Or else, they simply won't play.

If the program is decent at all, nothing will be handed to them. They will have to earn it, and probably go above and beyond in order to sever existing relationships or expectations that belong to returning starters so that they can worm their way into the role they want. Often times, you will need to convince a coach they need to play you despite them not expecting to at all. That's the name of the game, and it's anything but easy to do.

100% wouldn't have been able to do it if my parents wouldn't have dragged me out in 100 degree heat when they could have been doing just about anything else. It seems a million years away when your kid is 9 and 10. It's not, it will go by in the blink of an eye. The days and opportunities to build that journey are priceless, and you can't get them back once they are gone. And for that, I will always be grateful and try to pass that on to as many kids as I can.

 

[Clonefan32]

My grandson, who was 2nd grade last year, played in the Ankeny Centennial basketball club and I'd say it was a good experience overall.

However, I was really ticked off about the expense. In addition to having to pay the $325 participation fee, I believe adults (includes parents, grandparents, etc) had to pay $8 each and children $4 each for admission to watch his games on the weekends. So that meant my wife and my son's family had to fork out another $40 each weekend to watch our grandson play a couple of 45 minute games.

The participation fee goes up to $425 next year and $500 the year after that.

Helps you understand how the more affluent Des Moines suburbs have such better basketball programs than the other communities. I think that's sad.

My favorite is some of the travel basketball tournaments that do pool play Saturday and then seeded game Sunday. Pay to get in Saturday, then have to pay again on Sunday to watch your kid play in a 8th place game.

I also think this post is kind of indicative of the problem. Even at a $325 participation fee, that's a crazy figure for a 2nd grader. There is absolutely nothing at that age instruction-wise that you wouldn't get from Parks and Rec. But what it winds up being is parents that are afraid there wont be spots on travel ball teams that want to make sure their kids get on at an early age.

 

[SouthJerseyCy]

This is going back 15-20 years ago, but probably about the time this sort of thing began. My daughter played softball and I coached the parks and recs team. We had fun and they learned fundamentals. After a few years some of the township folks decided we needed a local travel team. My daughter was good enough to make the team, but wanted to also play with her friends on the rec teams. She was the ONLY girl that would play on both. All the rest of the good players only played travel ball. It absolutely decimated our rec team. I had no pitchers left and we got absolutely destroyed. Daughter ended up having shoulder issues not long after and had to give up the sport, but it certainly put a damper on our experience.

 

[RezClone]

This is going back 15-20 years ago, but probably about the time this sort of thing began. My daughter played softball and I coached the parks and recs team. We had fun and they learned fundamentals. After a few years some of the township folks decided we needed a local travel team. My daughter was good enough to make the team, but wanted to also play with her friends on the rec teams. She was the ONLY girl that would play on both. All the rest of the good players only played travel ball. It absolutely decimated our rec team. I had no pitchers left and we got absolutely destroyed. Daughter ended up having shoulder issues not long after and had to give up the sport, but it certainly put a damper on our experience.

Yup, this happens. I still encourage my kids to play rec for this reason, and most do. Our town is not big enough to lose all our travel kids from Rec.

But our schedule looks a lot more like a HS schedule for about a month because of it. Most weeks have 3 dates of games, one being a tournament. I try to sneak a practice in there too if I can, but sometimes it's not feasible. (The rec team needs to practice too lol)

So I understand both sides of the argument. I definitely don't like to see Rec leagues die so we'll keep doing both. But it's a lot.