How do people in the U.K. get their children into winter sport?

[Mrsknackered]

Was thinking about this today, we have been watching a lot of Winter Olympics this half term.

When you see people from team GB competing in the lesser known sports such as skeleton, and the one bowls on ice (I've completely forgotten the name) how on earth do they get into it?

Do they start out skiing? And then get scouted? I can't imagine where they find the places to train!

Tffta

Blimey. 'Toffs' and 'silver spoons'. Aren't you just lovely?!

special - ah didn’t know that. Replace sailing with equestrian, fencing etc. Sports that are on offer at private schools but not offered at most state ones! It’s not a competition at all really if 95% of the population never get to try it.

Iseesheep - what should I say? Minted? Privileged? Given many more opportunities than the rest of the population in all walks of life?

There is more to sport than the team' run and throw that is offered at school. ( organised bullying in my experience) You may actually need to look outside school, make a little bit of effort.

Www.RYA.org.uk

And boats don't eat. Dinghies don't even need petrol.

It’s very very expensive. Even to learn to ski costs a lot and then there are the multiple trips abroad to train and compete. DS does ski racing and even at his level the cost is eye watering. Multiple pairs of skis, safety equipment, then there are training fees, race fees, travel, trips abroad and up north. I can’t imagine what it would cost to do it very seriously.

It’s always the same with these things. You need money and lots of it. DS swims competitively and it’s the same story to a lesser extent as swimming is more accessible. His training fees are nearly 100 per month and that’s out of reach for a lot of people.

tffta you could be up for a gold medal in the Chippy Olympics

Aww thanks! [proud]

Tffta what competitive sports are really open to all though? Most require children starting at a young age and eventually spending hours training, private lessons, expensive club uniforms, equipment. My dd does iceskating, only a weekly lesson which works out at about £9 for half hour. Shes very sporty so could be a good skater but it would mean paying an awful lot more for private patch lessons, getting up early or going after school to practise at the rink, really good skates which you easily drop a couple of hundred £ on. So yes, we see many of the very talented skaters are accompanied by the prep and private school mums who can throw money at these things.

medal emoji

Athletics and football are pretty accessible.

Lots of the Summer Olympic sports are more accessible and cheaper.

Football and athletics spring to mind.

Tffta

To be fair you can use whichever phrases you like. But the words you choose will give an overall impression of the person you are. As Scabbersley's post will tell you.

You might not give a shit so if that's the case please do crack on. Alternatively, if you want your kids to have a go at some of these sports you could try looking for clubs (your fencing and riding) local to you and not expect your schools to provide them for you.

I don’t think tffta is far off the mark. To even get a chance to be successful you need a lot of financial backing and parents who are able to get you to all your training. If you are both working that’s not easy. I have no commute but getting DS1 to swim training 6 days and DS2 to skiing 3 days is hard going.

You need all that before you can even find out if you have the talent to make it. There must be thousands of kids with talent that’s never developed through lack of opportunity.

DS swims competitively and it’s the same story to a lesser extent as swimming is more accessible. His training fees are nearly 100 per month and that’s out of reach for a lot of people.

When DS was swimming competitively I worked out it cost us at least £4k a year - training fees, entry fees, travel and accommodation, petrol to get to training (even with lift shares). Throw in another £1k if he was going on a one week warm weather training camp. It should be an accessible sport but it just isn't.

I agree Agnes, it’s prohibitively expensive for a lot of people, especially at that level.

I used to do competitive sailing, a local charity taught kids for free. When I got to a competitive level, SM had to buy my sailing gear, comp fees, etc.

I 'rented' a boat, but had we bought it outright (like a lot of those competing) you're looking at £16,000+

@Tffta your posts say more about you than anything else and not in a good way either.

Oh and btw Athletics and football are expensive if you take it further.

Jenny Jones, our snowboarder who won a slopestyle medal in Sochi, built up a lot of her skills doing a year as a chalet maid and getting loads of experience in then. Overall yes skiing etc are sports primarily practiced by people from privileged backgrounds, but not exclusively.

Most children at expensive schools even with the money don't choose to or aren't good enough to get that far in sport either. It's not an easy life. It can ruin your childhood and usually means (unless you are a David Beckham) a life of very ilttle money, a career over by 30 and the rest of your life rather badly off. I don't think most rich people want their children going into sport.

Also ice skating in NE England then and now genuinely does not require a lot of money, although if you do any sport at a very high level your parents will need to drive you all over the place and the family ends up devoted to the sport too (I would not have been prepared to do that as a parent) and that is the case with most sports.

I certainly accept that some sports are more expensive to take part in that others however. Most of us can run without too much kit, whereas some sports need more to it than that.

My own view is that I am absolutely delighted my child at a fee paying top school despite being best at all sports - she won the sixth form prize - did not choose sport as any kind of career. She played a sport of England. It's a lovely hobby. It's a horrible life. If less well off children are spared that life in my view they are hugely benefited, not disadvantaged.

(..when I say best at all sports I mean overall best at sport, obviously not the best at every single sport)....

From Billy Morgan this morning - some achieve it without family money - just sheer guts

Morgan’s sporting career started as an acrobat in Southampton while he paid for winter seasons by working on building sites back home during summer months.

“I try to be as genuine as possible and I come from a very genuine background,” he added. “I used to work on building sites to pay for my winters and that makes me a relatable dude.

“I loved working on the sites and I learned loads of stuff. I almost miss it, getting my shirt off, working on the roofs.

Amazing result for him.

Billy Morgan is an amazing snowboarder and seems a really "down to earth bloke"

Growing up it seemed to me that only rich people could ski, but in Scotland it seems much more of accessible, kids can have lessons on dry ski slopes through schools for around £7 an hour, which although still out of reach for lots of people is cheaper than music lessons would be. However there must be a massive jump when you start having to buy your own equipment and train seriously.

Winter sports, like some others eg rowing, sailing etc are really only easily available if you have £££££

Both DCs here (12 and 7) snowboard, ski and sail. It helps that I grew up sailing and skiing so have continued wanting the DCs to try both, and they've fallen in love with snowboarding as a kind of add-on to skiing. None of them costs masses of money; they attend our local ski centre and our local sailing club. If you want DCs to attend those things there are definitely ways to do it without remortgaging your house to fund it.