TTMA Club Sports

[2chatter]

I know, I am opposed. But the rec league is having a hard time fielding teams for 14U+, so next year, we have issues. All of DD's friends on rec are trying out for clubs this summer.

Do people really really spend this kind of money? Dues are at least $400/month and don't include travel or extra sessions (like if the main coach orders a hitting clinic).

I can only assume that middle's soccer team will end up the same way - due to the age pure rules, her team won't just be able to go
Club either, so we are looking at losing weeks of our lives to training with a variety of teams.

Am I really looking at 1K/month for two kids in sports? Is it weird that I side eye that when it appears most people have been doing this for years? Many with national (instead of regional) travel?

And practices in 8th grade go until 10 PM. On school nights. Really???

[traveltheworld]

My kids are too young, but from what I can tell looking at the friends around us, this sounds about right. Which is not to say that it's crazy. I can't imagine spending that much money on sports, but again, seems like everyone else is doing it.

Are your DDs begging to go?

[sandandsea]

First I'm glad I'm not here yet. Second it seems that yes, this is the norm and people do it, even if they go into debt for it. I would really have to think about it before I agreed to anything (time, money, cost of family time and other opportunities).

Can they be happy doing school only sports? Are there other rec leagues they could join? Are they looking to pursue college scholarships so this is required or is it for fun?
Also I've seen it where families split shifts for this. So your family would take dd and a teammate to tournament 1 and the teammates family would take dd to tournament 2 and the whole family doesn't travel to keep costs down.

[xctsclrx]

So I guess not so normal in my circle. There is no way I would spend 1k a month on sports plus travel. My older boys are not talented enough to make it worth while they will be playing school sports. DS will be the same way unless there was a true talent. I just don't believe in spending that kind of money on something that could be used for the entire family.

[akafred]

Someone I know recently posted to FB about club sports. It was a weird tangent (to me) for the article she posted.

Anyway, I am def not there yet. Club is different from select, yes? Or another way of saying that? I did select soccer and it was expensive but nowhere near that bad. The fees weren't bad but the travel was a killer.

One thing I do know is sports scholarships are fairly rare (esp for anything close to a full ride). I would never look at club sports or any sports being a kind of investment and expect a payoff in scholarships. Kids can learn a lot of course, probably even more than just rec sports. But it would have to depend on the kid. They would really have to be dedicated.

[2chatter]

I'm with you guys. I feel like we painted ourselves into a corner when we chose one of the top ten districts in the nation - graduating class of 1500 with a giant percentage of motivated parents means that a super small percentage can play school sports - statistically.

I feel like if there's had to choose - 529 or sports for fun - it should be 529. Right?

And yeah, this is just for a lifetime set up to be active, not serious about it.

DD is compiling a spreadsheet of cost, distance, tournament count, practice schedules - for a more informed choice. This kid doesn't beg - which actually makes it harder. She considers and analyzes and so far is coming up with "I would enjoy it and build skills but I am not sure it is the best use of time or money. But it would be fun."

[sandandsea]

She sounds awesome and responsible. I agree 529 should win. And I get it with top notch big schools where few make the team. Are there enough kids for a rec league? Could she get friends together for weekly games?

[traveltheworld]

Wow. Your DD sounds super awesome and responsible. To the extent you can, I'd follow her lead, assuming it won't significantly negatively impact your savings for college (assuming you are paying), retirement, etc. All the sports/activities are so expensive - I really wished we stay lived in the "good old days" when kids can just around the neighborhood with each other and play soccer/baseball etc.

[saraml13]

So maybe I'm the outlier, but club sports aren't on my radar as a big thing in my area or circles. We obviously aren't at this stage yet, but DH and I both have a bunch of younger cousin who are high school and college age. I'm not aware of any of them doing club sports, even ones who have gone on to play sports competitively in college.

Our town and the neighboring town have excellent park districts that I have ton of recreational league offerings. Some of it may also be that DH and I come from Catholic families in an area with lots of Catholic high schools, so lots of kids attend those smaller schools and you don't get the 1500 graduating class making it difficult to play high school sports.

I know we've discussed this in an earlier thread, but I'm really hoping my boys are athletic enough to play socially / recreationally, but don't get too specialized in any one sport. Travel teams are basically my nightmare.

However, your daughter sounds super responsible. I agree it would be easier to tell her no if she was pitching a fit and demanding to do club sports. If she's willing to do all the research and make trade offs versus other activities, I'd be inclined to let her do it.

[twinmomma]

Jun 22, 2017 21:10:13 GMT -5 xctsclrx said:

So I guess not so normal in my circle. There is no way I would spend 1k a month on sports plus travel. My older boys are not talented enough to make it worth while they will be playing school sports. DS will be the same way unless there was a true talent. I just don't believe in spending that kind of money on something that could be used for the entire family.

This is how I feel. That's a lot of money to dedicate to one child's hobby if they're not like Olympic athlete level. That money could be used for something to benefit everyone in our household and there are other activities we could find for a kid to participate in. 

[2chatter]

She plays rec now, and the thing that I think will help is literally each of her friends will end up with a different club, most likely. So it's not like she's missing out socially. I talked to a mom last night while DD and I were painting the playground - she said tournaments are Friday-Sunday. All day on the weekend into Sunday night.

Youth at church is important to DD, and Sunday evening mandatory club training has always been a turn off for her. 13 is the age break where they get a better schedule, but now the game issue....

Between cost and schedule I just don't see this working out.

It does blow my mind though. I don't know any kids who don't play club, except DD and non athletes. I realized that last night.

[justcheckingin73]

That's crazy money. My dd does school sponsored sports and park district but those tend to be somewhat lower cost. The only thing I can think of in this area that comes close are travel teams. With those I'm more turned off by the driving and time away than cost. 

[leap]

That's a lot of money and a lot of time. Those are the two things, and that fact that she is only 7, hold me back from allowing my daughter to try out for dance team. I don't think she gets how much time is actually involved. I want her to have more time to screw around and be a kid. But at 13 I might consider it. I especially might consider it for a kid that seems to really get those two things, like your daughter. I think I'd ask her to really think about the time and really consider what is most important to her. Hopefully she works it out on her own.

[covergirl82]

My DS will be 8 pretty soon and loves sports. All his friends are into sports too. We live in a community that loves sports and some of our high school teams are state champs from time to time over the past 10 years. So I know DH and I are going to have some hard conversations in a few years about if we do a travel team. IMO, I would be agreeable to one travel team if DS is really talented and a lot of his friends are on the team. (I will say I'm opposed to a travel team during elementary school.) But then I would want it to be fair to DD, so I envision we'd either put money in an account for something special for her (like a fun trip to a place she really wants to go) or let her do a similarly expensive sport.

[erinshelley21]

I come from a family that did club/travel sports. I only did it through my middle school years but my brother played travel baseball until he graduated high school. It paid off for him, sort of. He got his tuition paid for for 2 years in college before he had to quit due to 2 injuries. I had fun while doing it, but wanted more of a social life and I was also lazy lol. My family has so many good memories that revolve around the baseball and softball fields, basketball tournaments and volleyball tournaments. That's what we did though. Now that I'm an adult though, I cannot believe my parents let us both play travel sports nearly year around for 3 years of our lives, and my brother much longer obviously. Fees and such were not nearly has much as what you're looking at for most of the club sports around here though. I come from a town that isn't necessarily the best at anything, but we have no problem going to play the big teams that are getting scouted so our kids can get looked at too.

DH and I are hoping our kids are not THAT good at sports, but if they want to play travel anything we will try to make it work.

[2chatter]

I'm super confused now - DH said DD should try out (we just had a lunch date!).

I just can't get "we could save that for college" out of my head. Not that we ARE now, but hello, money is fungible.

[indyrowergirl]

Does the high school have intramural sports? In my area, at her age, you can play HS, play travel, or play intramural (essentially HS rec.)

[2chatter]

indyrowergirl - nope - HS competitive only. The rec league is great at younger ages...but by high school there are only a couple of teams. Last night at soccer a parent was talking about how this is the last year before her child has to specialize. The kids are NINE. I expect that my nine year old will try a couple more sports. I feel crazier every day.

[librarychica]

I quite literally have never heard of club sports until this message board. Here if a kid wants to play sports they mostly play for the school or some kind of rec team, often organized by a church. I would not do it, personally.

[akafred]

I talked to my brother about it a little bit. He has 2 sons who are good at baseball but the older is/was very good. The main reason they did the club route (although not sure theirs is technically "club" but a tournament team that is expensive) is their son was very frustrated playing with kids who were at a lower skill level. Not in a snobby way but he felt held back and like he wasn't progressing as hoped. He had the skills to get a partial scholarship or even make the minors young. The last 18 months he slacked off academically and in baseball and never bothered even applying to colleges. 4 of his teammates were drafted this year. Meanwhile he graduated this spring and no college prospects. Like, never mind baseball; no college prospects. I may be a little jaded though.