Anyone pay more than $6000 per year for your teen to participate in an expensive sport?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there some ROI on all this outlandish squash spending that I don't know about? Ivy League athletic scholarships or something?

Squash can be a good path into college, yes. It's the weird sports (fencing, squash, crew) that can be a plus for a kid into one of the Ivy league schools.

Squash is also one of the sports that a kid can begin in HS and maybe make the team, which can be just about impossible for soccer and lacrosse, depending on where you live.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know this thread is about sports, but is anyone shelling out a lot of money on stuff like music lessons, art, acting, dance, etc? Just curious.

We pay about 2K/yr on private music lessons per child. And instruments, materials (string, reeds, etc), and music add on to that.

Same here, but so far no music-based summer camps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there some ROI on all this outlandish squash spending that I don't know about? Ivy League athletic scholarships or something?

Squash can be a good path into college, yes. It's the weird sports (fencing, squash, crew) that can be a plus for a kid into one of the Ivy league schools.

Squash is also one of the sports that a kid can begin in HS and maybe make the team, which can be just about impossible for soccer and lacrosse, depending on where you live.

It’s a great sport for getting into college - the teams at Harvard printceton and Yale are stocked with the top US players that started around age 5/6 and then the top international players from Israel Egypt India England etc. BUT schools like Amherst and Williams need to fill their teams too and you could def use squash to get in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there some ROI on all this outlandish squash spending that I don't know about? Ivy League athletic scholarships or something?

Squash can be a good path into college, yes. It's the weird sports (fencing, squash, crew) that can be a plus for a kid into one of the Ivy league schools.

Squash is also one of the sports that a kid can begin in HS and maybe make the team, which can be just about impossible for soccer and lacrosse, depending on where you live.

It’s a great sport for getting into college - the teams at Harvard printceton and Yale are stocked with the top US players that started around age 5/6 and then the top international players from Israel Egypt India England etc. BUT schools like Amherst and Williams need to fill their teams too and you could def use squash to get in.

It's also a great way to get a job on wall street. Squash players stick together and help each other out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there some ROI on all this outlandish squash spending that I don't know about? Ivy League athletic scholarships or something?

Squash can be a good path into college, yes. It's the weird sports (fencing, squash, crew) that can be a plus for a kid into one of the Ivy league schools.

Squash is also one of the sports that a kid can begin in HS and maybe make the team, which can be just about impossible for soccer and lacrosse, depending on where you live.

It’s a great sport for getting into college - the teams at Harvard printceton and Yale are stocked with the top US players that started around age 5/6 and then the top international players from Israel Egypt India England etc. BUT schools like Amherst and Williams need to fill their teams too and you could def use squash to get in.

Well shoot, if you gotta start at age 5, my DS has already missed the bus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well our daughters sport turned into us buying a horse. So we are at about 27k a year with boarding, fees, vet bills, and then the competitions itself. Still worth it as she is very grateful and very hard working. She's been at the stalls everyday at 545 am since we bought the horse 17 months ago. Literally every.single.day.

Heh, a friend of mine who bought his daughter a horse said that a major advantage of it was "she's too busy to bother with boys".

There's an old saying about why you should never date horse girls:

You'll always come third to them, after the horse and Daddy's money.

[Anonymous]

Interestingly, in my experience in figure skating (where we spend $6000 per year on our 8 year old DD), many of the families involved in figure skating are definitely NOT wealthy (or at least live in very modest homes, have modest clothing, modest cars, etc). Many of the parents are first-generation in the US (often from Russia or China), and really like the sport of figure skating for its discipline, etc. It seems these parents make huge financial sacrifices for their kids to do figure skating.

This is our experience as well -- not many flashy cars in our rink parking lot. It seems to be families sacrificing for the sport.

[Anonymous]

Sorry, but I'd rather spend the $6000 on building their intellectual horsepower. My kids were all good athletes but size and speed were not in their gene pool. My son was a varsity tennis player (good but not great) but he really got into science so he went to a couple of science camps. He went to Harvard and he is now a doctor. It's unlikely that tennis would have gotten him to the same place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, but I'd rather spend the $6000 on building their intellectual horsepower. My kids were all good athletes but size and speed were not in their gene pool. My son was a varsity tennis player (good but not great) but he really got into science so he went to a couple of science camps. He went to Harvard and he is now a doctor. It's unlikely that tennis would have gotten him to the same place.

Why can't it be both? Why does it have to be one or another? You sound like my parents and the real reason wasn't the money but it was they didn't want to make the sacrifices to drive us to activities daily and put in the effort. They bitterly criticize us for letting our child do it. No reason he couldn't have done tennis and science camps. My sister did no science camps or sports and is still a doctor and went to an ivy for undergrad and medical school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, but I'd rather spend the $6000 on building their intellectual horsepower. My kids were all good athletes but size and speed were not in their gene pool. My son was a varsity tennis player (good but not great) but he really got into science so he went to a couple of science camps. He went to Harvard and he is now a doctor. It's unlikely that tennis would have gotten him to the same place.

Don’t fall off your high horse there! It doesn’t have to be either/or.

[Anonymous]

I’m initial squash poster. At our club in Baltimore, paying $4k/ month gets you a mix of clinics and private lessons daily with some of the best coaches in the country. That level of coaching is unnecessary for most kids. These are kids who are ranked in the top 25 in their age groups and/or who are being recruited to play at Trinity (currently best men’s squash team in country) etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, but I'd rather spend the $6000 on building their intellectual horsepower. My kids were all good athletes but size and speed were not in their gene pool. My son was a varsity tennis player (good but not great) but he really got into science so he went to a couple of science camps. He went to Harvard and he is now a doctor. It's unlikely that tennis would have gotten him to the same place.

Why can't it be both? Why does it have to be one or another? You sound like my parents and the real reason wasn't the money but it was they didn't want to make the sacrifices to drive us to activities daily and put in the effort. They bitterly criticize us for letting our child do it. No reason he couldn't have done tennis and science camps. My sister did no science camps or sports and is still a doctor and went to an ivy for undergrad and medical school.

Don't discount the sacrifices, because it's not a huge sacrifice to you. DH and I both work full time. While we could afford travel sports etc., It would mean we and the kids would have little to no free time. I wouldn't be a happy or good parent in that scenario. If I saw Olympic level talent in my child, maybe, but for just getting exercise and enjoying sports, it's not necessary. We do rec sports each season, musical instrument lessons, and various summer camps. Not that I begrudge or judge those who do spend that time. But you shouldn't judge those who aren't up for the time commitment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, but I'd rather spend the $6000 on building their intellectual horsepower. My kids were all good athletes but size and speed were not in their gene pool. My son was a varsity tennis player (good but not great) but he really got into science so he went to a couple of science camps. He went to Harvard and he is now a doctor. It's unlikely that tennis would have gotten him to the same place.

Why can't it be both? Why does it have to be one or another? You sound like my parents and the real reason wasn't the money but it was they didn't want to make the sacrifices to drive us to activities daily and put in the effort. They bitterly criticize us for letting our child do it. No reason he couldn't have done tennis and science camps. My sister did no science camps or sports and is still a doctor and went to an ivy for undergrad and medical school.

Don't discount the sacrifices, because it's not a huge sacrifice to you. DH and I both work full time. While we could afford travel sports etc., It would mean we and the kids would have little to no free time. I wouldn't be a happy or good parent in that scenario. If I saw Olympic level talent in my child, maybe, but for just getting exercise and enjoying sports, it's not necessary. We do rec sports each season, musical instrument lessons, and various summer camps. Not that I begrudge or judge those who do spend that time. But you shouldn't judge those who aren't up for the time commitment.

You don't need to do travel sports. Yes, its a huge sacrifice, but that is the choice you make when you have kids. If you don't want to make the sacrifice, don't have kids. This is really about you and your happiness and free time, not the kids. Some kids enjoy being very busy, mine do. I do not but I do it for them. My parents were like you and I am very distant to them now as they are always about their needs and happiness and ironically complained how we had no interests when we did, it was just them not willing to sacrifice some of theirs to take the time to do it. When you have kids, you give up your time for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, but I'd rather spend the $6000 on building their intellectual horsepower. My kids were all good athletes but size and speed were not in their gene pool. My son was a varsity tennis player (good but not great) but he really got into science so he went to a couple of science camps. He went to Harvard and he is now a doctor. It's unlikely that tennis would have gotten him to the same place.

Why can't it be both? Why does it have to be one or another? You sound like my parents and the real reason wasn't the money but it was they didn't want to make the sacrifices to drive us to activities daily and put in the effort. They bitterly criticize us for letting our child do it. No reason he couldn't have done tennis and science camps. My sister did no science camps or sports and is still a doctor and went to an ivy for undergrad and medical school.

He did do both varsity tennis and science camp but we didn't have the money to spend $6000 on sports or $6000 on science camps. He was the one who wanted to go to a local science camp and he never asked about tennis camp. We drove our kids to a ton of sports stuff but we couldn't afford private coaching or anything but local travel team sports. With the resources we had we did what we could and I know our kids appreciated it....unlike you. Maybe your parents thought you were a rotten kid and didn't deserve it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, but I'd rather spend the $6000 on building their intellectual horsepower. My kids were all good athletes but size and speed were not in their gene pool. My son was a varsity tennis player (good but not great) but he really got into science so he went to a couple of science camps. He went to Harvard and he is now a doctor. It's unlikely that tennis would have gotten him to the same place.

Why can't it be both? Why does it have to be one or another? You sound like my parents and the real reason wasn't the money but it was they didn't want to make the sacrifices to drive us to activities daily and put in the effort. They bitterly criticize us for letting our child do it. No reason he couldn't have done tennis and science camps. My sister did no science camps or sports and is still a doctor and went to an ivy for undergrad and medical school.

Don't discount the sacrifices, because it's not a huge sacrifice to you. DH and I both work full time. While we could afford travel sports etc., It would mean we and the kids would have little to no free time. I wouldn't be a happy or good parent in that scenario. If I saw Olympic level talent in my child, maybe, but for just getting exercise and enjoying sports, it's not necessary. We do rec sports each season, musical instrument lessons, and various summer camps. Not that I begrudge or judge those who do spend that time. But you shouldn't judge those who aren't up for the time commitment.

You don't need to do travel sports. Yes, its a huge sacrifice, but that is the choice you make when you have kids. If you don't want to make the sacrifice, don't have kids. This is really about you and your happiness and free time, not the kids. Some kids enjoy being very busy, mine do. I do not but I do it for them. My parents were like you and I am very distant to them now as they are always about their needs and happiness and ironically complained how we had no interests when we did, it was just them not willing to sacrifice some of theirs to take the time to do it. When you have kids, you give up your time for them.

Wow - have you sought counseling? It might help with your anger toward your parents.