To hate that so many sports are so expensive?

[SwumMum]

DC had swimming lessons through a local competitive club from tiny. Almost without any real thought they've just stayed with the club, entering squads and taking part in galas and competitions. They are not in any way exceptional for their ages and whilst they enjoy it, they have no intention of competing in a more serious way.

The fees have ramped up slowly over the years, with occasional shocks such as an expensive gala or a particular piece of kit that had to be bought. We have just absorbed these costs but when we didn't have to pay through lockdowns we really noticed how much better off we were.

The club have now announced a 90% increase in membership fees that will be taken as a lump sum, plus an increase in fees per month too. This amounts to hundreds of pounds extra and we just can't pay. Along with lots of other families, we will have to leave the club and, due to a lack of local options, the kids will stop swimming.

We had a similar experience with gymnastics many years ago - the fees and kit costs were just an ever upward trend, out of all proportion to the benefit or enjoyment the kids got from it.

I work with someone who has a DD who plays tennis competitively and they fund the cost of training and competitions with a holiday home they rent out, and say there's just no way they could do it if they hadn't inherited the property when they did.

There seems to be such a financial barrier to accessing sports - there are so few pools and leisure centres where we live. No schools have really good sports provision and to pay for private clubs is prohibitive to all but the most wealthy.

AIBU to hate that for so many DC, sport is out of the question because of cost?

@arethereanyleftatall

Lol *@whitehorsesdonotlie* I'm afraid not! I don't even have a Wikipedia page. Just about hold the whole of the first page on google. Was in The swimming times a few times. And have a posh cossie. That's it! Sorry to disappoint.

Not at all! The discipline and drive needed to get an international place - an amazing achievement!!

My sons football is relatively cheap, £20 a month subs to the club and that provides him with all his kit apart from boots which we buy but they tend to last a season (sept - may) and if he wants new ones other than then he tends to use his own money (birthday/xmas/pocket money) occasional extra fees for tournaments but no more than £5 a time and only 2-3 times a year. The most expensive part is the the hot drinks from the tick shop to keep warm watching him play through the winter.

My daughter did dance and ice skating and they were expensive, especially dance, lessons three times a week, exam fees, competition fees, it was a lot. I was relieved that she never got into ice hockey - as a previous poster said, the kit costs were eye-wateringly expensive.

@modgepodge

I think generally team sports run outside by volunteers are cheap - netball, hockey, rugby, athletics. As soon as the sport needs a specialist building (pool, gym) costs understandably go up. Also, volunteer dads coaching a group of kids to kick a ball round a field - fine. I believe England netball coaching courses start at less than £100 for example, so many parents might pay this themselves to help out their child’s club, or the club might chip in. I would imagine the training to coach gymnastics would be rather lengthier and rather more expensive, so gym coaches tend to be doing it as a career not for 2 hours a week as a volunteer.

I realised the other day I know of 3 parents whose children have been talented scouted to join some sort of ‘elite’ program, for hours and hours every week. I realised I know no parents who’s children who do gym for a bit od fun (after about age 5/6). Either I only know extremely talented gymnasts…or something is a bit off.

Mum's teach kids to kick footballs too!! I am one!

*TimeForTeaAndG

nancy75
Yes, dance makes tennis look cheap. DD did ballet when she was 4 (lasted 1 term) the uniform was £120!
Holy crap! For what?!? A leotard, shoes and socks for a 4 yo is not that expensive!!!!!*

From what I remember it was a leotard, skirt, tights, shoes & a cardigan - I’ve still not recovered from the shock 12 years later!

Pray they don't take up equestrianism.....

Hockey and football have been 2 cheap sports here. Hockey is £120 for 8 months of training (£140 for older kids), including match fees. Unfortunately I have a dancer for a daughter and we pay £300 per month.

YANBU my two are 6 and 8 years old, they play a couple of sports:

Rugby (Club) €130 family membership yearly. We fundraise etc to raise money.
Football €110 yearly sibling membership, €6 every week for pitch fee.
Taekwondo (Twice weekly) €80 pm
Swimming Lessons weekly €260 every 8 weeks(130 per child).
Due to start Tennis joining fee €100, €170 for 10 weeks. They're starting in February and we've already shelled €270 in fees!

All the above excludes kit and associated gear. They love them with the exception of football, they're not keen on the coach as he's a bit of a perfectionist. I'm hoping as time goes on they'll pick their fav two and stick with them. You're absolutely correct, sports can be expensive.

I work in a school in a deprived area and found out today that only 2 of my 25 children (age 7-8) have had any form of swimming lessons. A few have never been swimming full stop

It's because the UK doesn't have national investment in sports. In other countries you have government-funded sport schools, for instance, or generally funding structures that provide wide training funnelling athletes up who will compete internationally. UK doesn't fund its sports people. Have you seen the news a world champion female BMX rider funding herself?
Same for music.
See: class history, tory, etc

@DeepaBeesKit

Actually doing sport usually isnt expensive.

It's the club/competing/fancy kit element that is, and that part of it isnt necessary to enjoy sport.

You can go and play tennis cheaply on public outdoor courts in tons of parks.

Swimming at a public pool isnt usually too expensive, especially for children.

Running is cheap. Cycling can be if you look for second hand bikes etc.

There are public basketball courts and cricket nets & football nets and skate parks.

True

So Cubs is a lot better value than the sports.

100%. Scouts (all sections) have always been by far and away the best value activity any of my dc have done, over all the years.

@mishmased

YANBU my two are 6 and 8 years old, they play a couple of sports:

Rugby (Club) €130 family membership yearly. We fundraise etc to raise money.
Football €110 yearly sibling membership, €6 every week for pitch fee.
Taekwondo (Twice weekly) €80 pm
Swimming Lessons weekly €260 every 8 weeks(130 per child).
Due to start Tennis joining fee €100, €170 for 10 weeks. They're starting in February and we've already shelled €270 in fees!

All the above excludes kit and associated gear. They love them with the exception of football, they're not keen on the coach as he's a bit of a perfectionist. I'm hoping as time goes on they'll pick their fav two and stick with them. You're absolutely correct, sports can be expensive.

What’s the joining fee for tennis? That sounds like a lot - ours is £10 for uniform (t shirt & hoodie)

@modgepodge

I think generally team sports run outside by volunteers are cheap - netball, hockey, rugby, athletics. As soon as the sport needs a specialist building (pool, gym) costs understandably go up. Also, volunteer dads coaching a group of kids to kick a ball round a field - fine. I believe England netball coaching courses start at less than £100 for example, so many parents might pay this themselves to help out their child’s club, or the club might chip in. I would imagine the training to coach gymnastics would be rather lengthier and rather more expensive, so gym coaches tend to be doing it as a career not for 2 hours a week as a volunteer.

I realised the other day I know of 3 parents whose children have been talented scouted to join some sort of ‘elite’ program, for hours and hours every week. I realised I know no parents who’s children who do gym for a bit od fun (after about age 5/6). Either I only know extremely talented gymnasts…or something is a bit off.

My 7yo swimmer also does recreational gym. The rec classes are all full with waiting lists, so a good number certainly do keep it on just for fun in our area. The rec classes go up to 11yo IIRC.

@nancy75 joining fee to be a member of the tennis club. €50 per child under 10yrs and €80 for over 10. Both kids will be staring in February. We haven't bought any uniforms yet! It is so expensive, we are in Ireland and everything is expensive.

99% is insane but my kids are horse riders, I think I work just to find that

Reading this, I think we got away cheaply with martial arts, despite the fact that DD actually competed successfully at national level!

£45.- / year for insurance and club membership. Suit is £35.- and lessons are £4.- for 90 minutes. (or max 12.- / Week) Competitions and grading are £30.-

Our club is probably rare in the fact that you still pay on the door for lessons. So you don't attend, you don't pay.

It's sad, but listening to other parents, I often feel that popular kids sports are big business. I'd love to see genuine clubs being subsidised so sports can be accessible to all children!

There are people on here whinging about costs who have 6 yos signed up for five sports. Thats just ridiculous imho. When do they have time for playing, reading, relaxing so they aren't tired for school?!

Swimming is expensive but pool hire isn’t cheap. We pay £60 a month for 6 hours a week. Only one paid coach. All the rest are volunteers. Gala costs vary but post covid they have been much higher. Paying £7.50 per race this weekend and in none of them will she be in the water for more than 3 minutes. I’m heavily involved with our club and we are just managing to stay afloat. Lane hire is so much more than people realise.

It depends on the sporr

Rugby is often free apart from the boots, rugby clubs tend to hire out their venues to cover the cost of their youth program. The youth coaches and refs generally volunteer, so the costs are really only kit, insurance and transport. Football, hockey and basketball are generally cheap as well.

My son plays rugby, hes just graduated from my rugby tots which is £10 per session, the rugby club he is training with now charge a flat £50 season fee.

I find this really interesting, as a kid I was often «priced out» of sports or music activities. (Not my older brother though and I’m still a bit sore about it).

As an adult I started teaching in a really deprived city and many of my students (10 year olds) couldn’t swim, play an instrument etc. There were quite a few schools in this area who faced the same challenges and through attending different county training courses etc you start to recognise the same faces and sit on the same tables. As a group we got together as many staff as possible and ran after school clubs in our respective schools in football, cricket, cross country running, hockey, guitar and recorder.

We wrote to local busineses, sports clubs etc and begged for any equipment we could get our hands on. The Y6 classes took part in the Young Enterprise scheme and this enabled them to design and produce a sports kit for the school.

We ended up with a football league across 6 schools, a hockey league and a cross country tournament. It cost the families nothing, just the staff our time after school but it was so worth it.

I don’t know if the leagues are better funded now or if they are still happening as i left the UK about 12 years ago, but i like to hope that those kids got an opportunity i didn’t and maybe some of them still play a sport or an instrument as an adult.

@Iwantthesummersun

Swimming is expensive but pool hire isn’t cheap. We pay £60 a month for 6 hours a week. Only one paid coach. All the rest are volunteers. Gala costs vary but post covid they have been much higher. Paying £7.50 per race this weekend and in none of them will she be in the water for more than 3 minutes. I’m heavily involved with our club and we are just managing to stay afloat. Lane hire is so much more than people realise.

This in a nutshell. Pool hire is incredibly expensive. A lot of pools have increased their charges to recoup after covid closures and until fairly recently, our local clubs have had to have full hire of the pool at all times and pay for that due to not being able to have partial lane hire with public using the other half. Any open meets on are unlikely to allow spectators- an important part of recovering some of the pool hire fees for the hosting club. I've just paid out 3 figures for competition entries in January, providing they go ahead.

@JimLaheysWhiskeyBottle

I find this really interesting, as a kid I was often «priced out» of sports or music activities. (Not my older brother though and I’m still a bit sore about it).

As an adult I started teaching in a really deprived city and many of my students (10 year olds) couldn’t swim, play an instrument etc. There were quite a few schools in this area who faced the same challenges and through attending different county training courses etc you start to recognise the same faces and sit on the same tables. As a group we got together as many staff as possible and ran after school clubs in our respective schools in football, cricket, cross country running, hockey, guitar and recorder.

We wrote to local busineses, sports clubs etc and begged for any equipment we could get our hands on. The Y6 classes took part in the Young Enterprise scheme and this enabled them to design and produce a sports kit for the school.

We ended up with a football league across 6 schools, a hockey league and a cross country tournament. It cost the families nothing, just the staff our time after school but it was so worth it.

I don’t know if the leagues are better funded now or if they are still happening as i left the UK about 12 years ago, but i like to hope that those kids got an opportunity i didn’t and maybe some of them still play a sport or an instrument as an adult.

This sounds like a great initiative - I think initiatives like these that start out grassroots-led should be funded by Government especially in schools with a higher percentage of free school meal recipients or in areas where families can't afford the extra sports / club activities.

We cannot rely on the goodwill of teachers volunteering extra time after school all the time.

I think I read that some countries have government vouchers specifically for children to use for sports / club activities.

It would be of such benefit in so many ways.

YANBU.

Dd is privileged that we can fund dance classes and riding once a week. If she could have her way she’d have her own horse and go to dance festivals (the latter of which would probably cost maybe £150 a month extra). As is she already does the additional pointe class and intermediate ballet.

Youngest does football - free boots for a little donation - you just clean your pair and donate them back when your child outgrows, free top, £80 a year for everything else coaches, transport etc

Cricket - £10 for the summer - free coaching

Croquet -£10 for each child or £50 for a family for the year - free coaching

Horseriding - £100 a month £500 a year for hat, boots, body armour etc as she grows

@SwumMum : we have a very active 2nd kit group at our club - all kind of equipment and racing stuff on there. Maybe see if your club does the same?
PS Arena do lovely entry level racing suits at a reasonable price fir a Christmas or birthday present. Full compression race suits are not advised until fully grown - yes they can be purchased but not worth it (as told to me by a large swimwear retailer).