What is the cumulative cost to parents of competitive/club sports (K-12) per child for a recruited athlete for college?

[Anonymous]

What are the costs of competitive club sports, plus coach time and any misc fees, per kid to get them recruited into college?

Does it vary by sport?

What is the cumulative cost for soccer? volleyball? etc.

[Anonymous]

Obviously it varies by sport. My kid was recruited for cross country and track. Over his competitive career prior to college, we spent about $600 on shoes and shorts.

[Anonymous]

Infinitely more than the economic return.

[Anonymous]

Typically not worth it, OP.

[Anonymous]

I just like that it keeps kids off the phones and working on something, and if it does pay off then I would say that some payoff is still there even just going purely by the numbers. Kids seem to be enjoying their sports ball though and it definitely helps their self esteem and not becoming useless incels like a lot of them do. Ofc, we also stress academics and their extra costs there actually are way more than for sports.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Obviously it varies by sport. My kid was recruited for cross country and track. Over his competitive career prior to college, we spent about $600 on shoes and shorts.

My DS is a runner and I am thrilled by the low cost compared to other sports. Really don't care if it leads to anything in college, but it goes to show you that spend $$$$$$$ certainly isn't always necessary.

On the other hand, we have friends easily spending $50k a year on their kid in a sport hoping it give him a leg up for a top college. He's nowhere near the top of his class and I truly don't know if it will pay off. They are holding back on doing things like replacing their leaking hot water heater in order to pay his fees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What are the costs of competitive club sports, plus coach time and any misc fees, per kid to get them recruited into college?

Does it vary by sport?

What is the cumulative cost for soccer? volleyball? etc.

Just have super smart kids who are kind and be the best in the school band or something similarly cheap & they can be at T10/ivy with no recruiting necessary and no sports cost. Both of mine are at different ivies. Most unhooked kids at the ivies are similar. The athletes get usually get mocked for not being as smart. The ones who are smart have to prove it every day in class. Even some professors assume they arent as bright and they are not taken as seriously unless they really put in the effort in seminars. I would never want my kid to be at a top school like an ivy as an athletic recruit, now that we have seen the other side.

[Anonymous]

Depends. Track vs. soccer vs. hockey vs. figure skating can vary by dozens of thousands.

[Anonymous]

DD does year round swim and has for 9 years. Costs are to the swim team, for suits (pricier now that she needs tech suits), about 1 to 2 times a year she does a meet that it is easiest for us to spend the night at a hotel at, and then other misc stuff like goggles, caps, occassional meet gear, summer swim.

I cannot add it up. It will kill me. But she loves it. It’s her main thing.

[Anonymous]

My neighbors' dd plays soccer at an Ivy and all she did was school soccer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My neighbors' dd plays soccer at an Ivy and all she did was school soccer.

This just doesn't sound believable at all...soccer is one sport where your HS team is basically irrelevant. Maybe she is paying club soccer in college, because even Ivy coaches are D1 coaches.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My neighbors' dd plays soccer at an Ivy and all she did was school soccer.

This just doesn't sound believable at all...soccer is one sport where your HS team is basically irrelevant. Maybe she is paying club soccer in college, because even Ivy coaches are D1 coaches.

This was my thought too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My neighbors' dd plays soccer at an Ivy and all she did was school soccer.

This just doesn't sound believable at all...soccer is one sport where your HS team is basically irrelevant. Maybe she is paying club soccer in college, because even Ivy coaches are D1 coaches.

This was my thought too.

It could be a walk-on. That can happen even in D-1. But generally agree with the sentiment. Any kid we knew who went on to play soccer for a D-1 team played travel exclusively in high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My neighbors' dd plays soccer at an Ivy and all she did was school soccer.

maybe club soccer

[Anonymous]

It can vary wildly, but for soccer here is an estimate:

U3-U6 - Rec soccer (parent coaches), $300 per year for registration and equipment.

U7-U8 - Pretravel (paid coaches, but this is the get you hooked phase where the fees don't seem too bad), $ 1,000 per year for registration and equipment.

U9-U10 - Travel (paid coaches, local travel), $2,500 per year for registration and equipment.

U11-U12 - Pre-ECNL Travel (paid coaches, a couple tournaments you have spend the night for) $4,000 per year for registration, equipment, travel, and some private training so your kid can make the ECNL team in a couple years!

U13-U18 ECNL Travel (paid coaches, tournaments/playoffs you need to fly to) $10,000 per year for registration, equipment, travel, and private training.

So $75,000 would be a rough estimate. Could be higher based on how much private training you do.