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?

reefsin30knots

Typically our juniors start at the age of 13/14. Rowing boats are indeed expensive, a high end Empacher single could easily cost £14k, eights upwards or £40k. Most clubs have a fleet of club singles that squad members can use. In terms of entry equipment, a pair of lycra leggings and a t-shirt is enough to get you started, all the other equipment the club will provide.

In terms of entry equipment, a pair of lycra leggings and a t-shirt is enough to get you started, all the other equipment the club will provide.

That's what I am saying is unusual.

DH and I were rowers in our younger days. I reckon DS would make a great rower but we don't live in a rowing area, so we thought sailing would be a nice alternative. In sailing, to move beyond a purely recreational, messing about, level the child has to own a boat- a decent junior boat that will hold up to racing is a couple of grand, youth boat more like 4-5k. And it's apparent from reading the bios of the British Sailing Team that they were almost unanimously sailing by the age of 8 or so.

Totally different kettle of fish to rowing where you can indeed get to a high level, starting in adolescence and only ever having invested (a lot of) time and a few lycras.

Our cheapest activity is leisure centre swimming lessons. At £30 a month the fees are really reasonable but still out of reach for many. I can see how other sports especially something like tennis could ramp up the costs quickly.

On gymnastics, we’re really lucky to have an excellent recreation only club near us. I think it does change the ethos when lots of children are going for an hour a week and there isn’t the divide between the elite and the others.

The sporting activities we do are significantly cheaper than music which is our most expensive one. Given how rubbish so much state school music can be, I’d expect the demographics of children going on to university or conservatoire courses to be privileged. If sport is becoming elitist, music must be worse.

@littleowls83 we don't have that sort of provision here. Pools are few and far between - the club use multiple pools to get time in - public grotty pools and those that are attached to independent schools for eg and they compete with other clubs, lifesaving, water polo, school lessons etc for that time. Our council run pools are outsourced and not subsidised and have very few multi age sessions that we could take the kids to.

As @2reefsin30knots says, it feels sadder somehow that we've let the kids get into something, progress and see that they could be really good before pulling them out because the costs have spiralled out of all expectations.

I'm jist moaning. It's like complaining I don't get to go on cruises or something. We can't afford it, so we can't afford it. Bit, as a pp said, it's hard to see how we get anywhere in sport except by private family wealth and that's got to be a limiting factor for success.

Sorry @littleowls83 I think it was @Cyrilgoggin who said about the local pools.

@DeepaBeesKit

Misty mountain

Golf in england is an astonishingly expensive hobby for an adult. Club fees are extortionate (thousands per year) and the cost per round at clubs that don't require membership is prohibitive.

Not necessarily. I pay less than £400 a year membership and then it’s £10 a round. Junior fees are £150 and no extra cost for rounds either (plus he gets a choice of 2 courses). We both get free tickets for other events which are worth about £200 each.

DS1 used to swim at a fairly high level. I did work out the annual cost and it was several thousand pounds - £100 per month training fees, membership was about £50, but add in gala fees (usually about £80 for a weekend gala - £10 for a swim taking less than 30 seconds was painful), travel and accommodation, plus my time and petrol for running him around everywhere, and I was having to officiate as well. Warm weather training camps would be about £1k a time.

Interesting that Scottish Swimming is banning tech suits for the under 14s. Fortunately DS wasn’t so bothered about fancy kit, although he did eventually go for LZR jammers when he was about 15 (I don’t think it made much difference to his times). His view was that achieving optimal starts, turns, finishes and technique was more important.

That's SS take on the race suits - at that age it is more about technique, starts and turns.
At least by officiating, I get fed and no spectator fee!!

DS often used to compete in his trusty Speedos. His starts were amazing though.

As for officiating, when you’ve had to do all 6 sessions over a weekend on your feet with a 2 hour drive home in the snow to ensure your club doesn’t get fined for not supplying officials you might change your mind.

Recorder is the way to go

LOL-ing at the PP who suggested wild/sea swimming! Quite apart from living in a very landlocked part of the country (we do have a few filled quarries though, which would be super safe 🙄), there is absolutely no way I would allow either DD to swim in the sea. 7yo DD1 can knock out over 1000m with juice left in the tank, and her technique is coming along very nicely. That does not mean she is ready to swim in a current, be aware of submerged objects, or not freak out if caught in a rip tide! I quite happily sea swim myself when I get the chance, but it is not an appropriate activity for children. Quite how you teach a beginner to swim in the sea would be interesting to hear too. It would certainly separate out the 4yo wheat from the chaff!

As for public pools, those are not free either. £4.75pp here and, as a PP said, you are confined to a very small area in the shallow end until they are fairly competent unaided. Swimming lessons work out cheaper,are more efficient, and allow them greater access to the pool allowing them to built stamina.

For another PP, I don't think many DCs spoken about here are doing 5+ sports. Certainly mine only do 2 sports each, which is the norm amongst their peers. One is swimming as it is an essential life skill IMO, the other is their choice (within reason! We have declined horseriding). This still totals £148/month before kit or memberships and insurance as both have gone beyond the rec stage with one of their sports.

My DD does Tennis at the club in the local posh town. Her membership is about £20/year which includes court access for parents to play with her and a discount on coaching (£25/month for 1 lesson a week) and holiday camps.

To be fair they were the first sport allowed after lockdown so I'm pleased with them. She also does Athletics (very cheap) and Gymnastics (21/ month for 1 hour a week but sibling discount) and has started violin (much more expensive).

We can afford it and she needs the physical stimulation which I struggle to organise with younger sibling in tow.

Tennis membership for adults is pretty expensive but you only need to pay the 2 most expensive family members' memberships - others are free.

@Murraysmum

My son has played tennis since he was 3. The costs are astronomical. Coaching at his level now is around £800 a month. Rackets £170 each, and they need 3-4, stringing £13 a time at 1-2 week intervals, shoes £70-80 a time every 6 weeks or so. That is before tournament fees and travel costs are factored in. Its just such a shame that kids with real potential are falling through the net simply because parents cannot afford it.

My DS does tennis. £800/month would pay for 16-20 hours of 1-1 lessons at our club with the top coaches. They must be playing a lot of tennis to need a racquet restrung every 2 weeks and shoes need replacing every 6 weeks.
DS plays 4 times a week ( 2 group lessons/1 x 1hr 1-1 and a weekend hit with family or friends, or sometimes a weekend tournament) he has 1 racquet (it was about £70 iirc and it was a birthday present) and his shoes last at least 6 months. He's 12 and hasn't had a growth spurt yet, though.

My child figure skates, I spend approximately £10,000 per annum on club fees ice fees coaching competitions travel costumes, biggest cost by far is ice fees (over £100 a week) and coaching (£50 a week) this will be the first Olympics in years we’ve had a skater represent GBR and it’s because it’s such an elitist sport. Quite a few families have 2/3 skating children, eye watering

@Lukeaway my favourite sport!!! I'm an obsessive figure skating fan (I'm Russian originally ). I tried to get my daughter into it, but she has tall genes from all sides, so it was never going to be for her. She skates recreationally, but as I said up-thread, she picked the other most expensive sport in the world - horse riding 🙈

@lukeaway bloody hell!

[quote Hellocatshome]@lukeaway bloody hell![/quote]
£10k is a conservative estimate to be honest, it’s what my husband thinks we spend 🤣 it’s probably nearer £13/14k 😬

DS has just “retired” from competitive swimming. Swam at national level and now wants to focus on getting good A Level results.

We’ve worked out that we can join a fancy gym/pool/spa place for the cost of his monthly squad fees. It’s our way of filling in the time we used to spend driving around and sitting outside pools.

That doesn’t include the extras on skins, goggles, race fees, hotels for competition weekends etc.

A few skating families have children that horse ride too! It’s a constant topic of conversation which is more expensive (not much in it) so I’m well versed on those expenses! If only we could redirected them onto running or some other inexpensive volunteer run sport!

To an extent every sport is expensive when you get good, unless there is funding or sponsorship. The biggest cost is the travel to competition (including hotels etc) - much more than equipment or coaching costs in most cases.

Smaller sports with a smaller pool of competitors will work out more expensive earlier than something you can compete to a decent level without travelling outside your local area - there are so many football teams you can have fun playing locally but obscure stuff like fencing you end up schlepping around the country for U9 events...

Tennis has good numbers locally so unless DC are super talented even an expensive club will be cheaper than getting moderately good at fencing. I suspect there are more players ranked in our county than are in my fencing weapon in the country...

@Lukeaway 'At least it's not horses' is a regular refrain amongst sailing parents too.

The biggest cost is the travel to competition (including hotels etc) - much more than equipment or coaching costs in most cases.

You can get a couple of weeks at a Premier Inn for the cost of a class legal piece of string with a carabiner on the end for DS's floating go-kart.

I used to volunteer at a couple of events that ran pony trials. The team ponies used to change hands for 6 figures, entry fees were about £400 then stabling was the same again. The horsebox with comfortable living for the humans was generally worth more than my house.

However having a loan pony and doing a bit of local dressage was much more affordable...

... and it has, like, 800 pieces of string on it.

I feel like everyone knows horse riding is expensive though, with skating you imagine it’s maybe £10 a week then before you know it theirs competitions and ranking and qualifiers and skate camps and you can’t go on holiday even if you want to because your child has to bloomin compete at the most inconvenient times. I designate this as a public service announcement for anyone considering it as a recreational sport

@2reefsin30knots

The biggest cost is the travel to competition (including hotels etc) - much more than equipment or coaching costs in most cases.

You can get a couple of weeks at a Premier Inn for the cost of a class legal piece of string with a carabiner on the end for DS's floating go-kart.

Fair point, plus you have to transport the floating go kart as well...

The international circuit is the killer cost wise in fencing - not getting cheap flights to Tokyo, Tashkent, USA etc and even in Europe it's somewhere obscure with limited flights... Plus luggage charges. It's horribly easy to get selected for the U17 circuit if you're female (low numbers) so costs can escalate amazingly quickly - from go along to 2 localish competitions to squad trip to obscure place in Hungary...