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?

With swimming and learning to swim I’ve always paid for a private 1-2-1 teacher and then taken the kids every day in the summer for like 2 weeks - DD went from not putting her head in the water to swimming a length after 4 1-2-1- lessons you have to find the right teacher though

YANBU! We pay £65 per child per month for 2h gymnastics a week, plus club membership, plus British Gymnastics membership. They recently sent a link to their kits - £60 for a fleece! The club is full of privately educated children too.

@DeepaBeesKit

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?!

Yes it does seem a bit insane to be complaining about the price of sports when committing children to 5 sports costing thousands a year.

My DC had to stop tennis lessons because we would have had to join the tennis association (or similar?) and I just couldn't afford it. They were never going to be the next Tim Henman, but I think if they'd continued with lessons they'd be half reasonable at playing a social game with friends for fun. One of DSs friends continued with tennis and is pretty good, but DS can't give him a challenging game, so it's not as fun as it could be.

It's a shame.

I think Football has been made more accessible to all though.

I really noticed how much money we saved when all sports stopped during lockdown.

But I also noticed my child’s screen time go up, their mental health go down. So it’s money I’m happy to spend. But then I have a super sporty child who loves it. It does mean I sacrifice other stuff, but I don’t mind.

I agree that more investment needs to be made, particularly for those kids in low income families. As a nation we are missing talent as it’s only very well off who can afford sports such as tennis.

@LynetteScavo I agree if you compare grassroots football to grassroots tennis the accessibility is staggeringly different. The LTA needs to sort this out and stop being so elitist.

It's not a case of 'praying' they don't take up x y or z sport or activity.
It's just not an option.
DC ask if they can do this or that, the answer is "no I'm so sorry but we don't have the time or the money"

We pay £360 per season for 2x 1hr basketball sessions per week, DS1's shoes were £130, kit is over £100 but not only needed when the outgrow the last. A big expense is getting him to and from training - we take him half way and pay £25pm to another parent who does the rest. Games are almost weekly and can be a couple of hours drive away.
We somehow absorb the cost and are fortunate that DS2 isn't sporty (£10pw tennis lessons only).

Sorry should say are only needed when they outgrow

Yanbu.

I understand WHY it costs, but that doesn't change that it's unaffordable to most.

Try having young musicians!

Yes it's expensive but it's a choice to take part in competitive sports and there's cheaper options eg football, running as they require less facilities. The biggest cost with dds football was driving to away games

I completely agree with this. If you factor in all costs over the year (inc fuel etc) I reckon DS's sport costs us £500pcm. We couldn't do it for two kids. It is one of the best funded sports in the country in terms of lottery money and some of the squad type activity is 'subsidised' but to get to that level you have to have bought a piece of kit that costs 2k-ish and paid for a lot of coaching. The vast majority of kids are in independent schools.

I don't think it's just sport either. If you look at the costs of kids' music at a decent level, it makes me very glad we ended up with the activity we have. I was browsing one of the NYO threads on here and looked up how much membership of that costs- it's about 2k! And a decent instrument seems to cost about the same again.

Pursuing these activities should not be a preserve of the rich. But I don't know what the solution to that is.

If you want to swim there are public pools or try wild swimming - we swim in the sea year round

@2reefsin30knots

DD's violin cost £2800, the piano was free thankfully, just £300 to move it, lessons are £40 an hour, (she had 45 mins violin, 46 mins piano and 1 hour singing per week) she's at conservatoire currently

That's true. We have violin for one on top of swimming for 2!

@gogohm

If you want to swim there are public pools or try wild swimming - we swim in the sea year round

In my area they are looking to close all council leisure centres plus just going for a swim isn't a sport, its exercise.

Doubtless you swim in the sea because you live nr it or can afford to drive to the coast.

For children where I live ( not uk) most expensive sports are subsided for children . For example for an adult or tourist child to go skiing locally is approx €50 per adult and €30 per child, per day ski pass.

The ski season is approx 4-5 months long.

Children under 18 who live in our town just need to take document to town hall that show this is their main residence and they receive a full season ski pass for €1. Obviously adults will have to pay for a season pass ontop (€500 ish) if too young to go alone, but those 12-18 years will often ski just with friends. So bargain entertainment every afternoon and weekend all winter for teenagers.
There are ski equipment secondhand markets every autumn

On the point about football though, what's happening more and more is that "academies" are popping up trying to monetise it and draw talented players away from grassroots clubs, which is such a shame given that it's one of the most accessible. Then you have to explain to children why they can't go and play with their friends at the club that costs hundreds a month instead of £10.

So sad, it basically excludes kids whose parents can't afford it. I hope you do let the club know, the more people voice it the better. Gala really don't need to be quite so expensive, prioritising having everyone and community over glitz. People don't realise.

@unihorn I agree - this is a big problem. The nature of childrens sport has changed. Most clubs are no longer run as part of an adult side with volunteers (or a parent) running things but as part of a coaching businesses with paid coaches. I've also noticed that whilst we used to train outside on grass no matter the conditions, my children now train on astroturf most of the year which increases the costs lots too.

But I disagree with you about competing. Competition is the very essence of many sports and is what drives people on to get better .... and fitter and stronger

This is true, but it's also not necessarily true at the younger ages, and there are sports where competition is often much more directed into competition with yourself via improvement in meeting your personal goals - climbing perhaps the most obvious one kids do, the competition is beating the harder climbs.

Some sports, swimming, gymnastics particularly, have a history of doing a survival of the fittest route to junior development, everyone is trained as if they're elite and want to compete at the Olympics, the equipment is needed (the swim skin, or the bar at home for more than the 10 hours a week in class) or you cannot compete and get "dropped".

And yes funding is part of that, it's expensive to hire the pool, but of course why does the pool need to have every pool full of kids who want to go to galas and compete, why not have half the lanes rec swimming with more fun aims - the non-elite are still subsidising the training of the elite, but you're keeping them in the sport.

It will also likely bring on a few more, as those not interested in competing at 9 or 10 will still be developing good technique when they suddenly get the puberty development which turns them physically into the perfect swimmer - rather than you losing the swimmer where puberty took them to a rowers physique.

But NGB's do need to so much better at encouraging participation, and that does require limits on equipment differentials, and coaching structures that don't reward only identifying Olympians.

My DD does dance. She does 2 lessons a week (1 hr and 1 x 45 min) and its about £190 per term.
Uniform is the same for both and is around £30 for leotard and tights plus tap shoes. (I've bought tap shoes second hand a few time)

[quote Glittertwins]@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).[/quote]
Scottish swimming announced recently that kids U13 won't be allowed to compete in compression suits.

www.scottishswimming.com/newsroom/news/2021/10/rationale-behind-technical-swimsuits-ban.aspx

I'm not sure whether other countries will follow suit.

Off the top of my head Mary, Speedo and TYR do entry level leg suits that look a bit like the ££ compression suits.

Race fees vary from £3-£7.50 per event round here.

@Unihorn

On the point about football though, what's happening more and more is that "academies" are popping up trying to monetise it and draw talented players away from grassroots clubs, which is such a shame given that it's one of the most accessible. Then you have to explain to children why they can't go and play with their friends at the club that costs hundreds a month instead of £10.

I see these so called ‘Academies’ where we live all the time. They are such a con. They are basically just over-priced grassroots football clubs, who try and poach the best players with lots of promises of better coaching and opportunities. They charge twice as much and make parents pay for a full kit and often the coaches are no more qualified than those who the kids previously played for.

Unless it’s an Academy for an actual professional football club, then it’s not an Academy.

Growing up my lad did gymnastics, athletics, futsal, football and table tennis. All local clubs that charged no more than £3-5 a week. He did do tennis one summer, but didn’t like it (he said the kids were too posh lol). Luckily, he didn’t do all these sports/clubs at the same time, so the costs were not too bad.

Where we live, a local sports centre has been able to attract some funding to put on some free weekly sessions. My lad does futsal once a week and it doesn’t cost anything. They offer free gym and dance lessons once a week too.

He now referees and that cost me a lot of money at the start (course, kit, equipment, boots), but now he is earning money from it, he either gets buys his own stuff or gets things for Christmas and birthdays).

@Unihorn yep that’s so true. My DC plays in a local team a number of the players are in the local ‘academy’ and in a years time will be told they can’t play for their local team. They are not going to be the next Ronaldo, or make it, but the lure of the possibility is too much for them and their parents. So my DCs team will be deprived of some good players (and friends) because of this. It’s such a shame.