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

[Anonymous]

Do you think those that pay these fees are more selfless - with finances and time invested?

[Anonymous]

Yes sports are expensive and for many kids/parents a waist of time but the social component is very important.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes sports are expensive and for many kids/parents a waist of time but the social component is very important.

My kid plays at the elite level so I see the other parents and their kids more than my own relatives. I have adopted sisters... which is great since I only have brothers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ballet for 10 year old is still less than that, but will quickly go over once she hits middle school. Classes, private lessons, pointe shoes, summer intensives away from home. She absolutely loves it and has a lot of natural talent so it's worth it for us.

Tennis and music lessons for other DD 8 will also be over that amount within the next few years.

Those two are thankfully balanced out by another DD 12 choosing chorus and track & field/cross-country as her preferred activities.

Ballet mom here. Why do you think intensives away from home are worth it? My daughter has always done local summer intensives and outside of the fun of being away from home, I'm not sure what the benefit of going out of town for an intensive is over staying local.

Summer intensives: I highly recommend the discussion board Ballet Talk for this topic--very knowledgeable posters and moderators.
Anyway, from what I can tell spending a lot of time around teen dancers, there are several reasons they go to summer intensives (SI)
--If they are seriously considering a pro career, SI are an opportunity to see how you stack up against other dancers from other schools, to be exposed to different teachers and styles of ballet, and possibly to test-drive the idea of moving to a residential program.

--If they are not seriously considering a career (or even not at all), SI are also a form of specialty sleep-away camp, and many dancers enjoy them for the same reasons as above: different teachers and styles, etc.

Of course a solid local program is also good and fine for the summer--it is just more of the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ballet for 10 year old is still less than that, but will quickly go over once she hits middle school. Classes, private lessons, pointe shoes, summer intensives away from home. She absolutely loves it and has a lot of natural talent so it's worth it for us.

Tennis and music lessons for other DD 8 will also be over that amount within the next few years.

Those two are thankfully balanced out by another DD 12 choosing chorus and track & field/cross-country as her preferred activities.

Ballet mom here. Why do you think intensives away from home are worth it? My daughter has always done local summer intensives and outside of the fun of being away from home, I'm not sure what the benefit of going out of town for an intensive is over staying local.

Summer intensives: I highly recommend the discussion board Ballet Talk for this topic--very knowledgeable posters and moderators.
Anyway, from what I can tell spending a lot of time around teen dancers, there are several reasons they go to summer intensives (SI)
--If they are seriously considering a pro career, SI are an opportunity to see how you stack up against other dancers from other schools, to be exposed to different teachers and styles of ballet, and possibly to test-drive the idea of moving to a residential program.

--If they are not seriously considering a career (or even not at all), SI are also a form of specialty sleep-away camp, and many dancers enjoy them for the same reasons as above: different teachers and styles, etc.

Of course a solid local program is also good and fine for the summer--it is just more of the same.

Except we get a hotel nearby as our child is young, the specialty sports camp is about the same as a local and cheaper than most overnights (if we did overnight). The coaching staff are college level, not the basic coaching we get in year round practice and they even bring in olympians which is really cool. I don't expect my kid to become a college athlete but he really enjoys it, we can afford it as we make it a priority and I'd rather do a speciality camp vs. a general one.

[Anonymous]

Re the question why parents pay for things like figure skating if the odds of making the Olympics are slim. What else are you supposed to do when your kid loves a sport more than anything else, when she feels that this is what she was put on earth to do? There may come a time when she no longer feels that way, and we will revisit our commitment then, but I won't deny her the opportunity to try to excel in what she loves. We are not rich, but I tell people that I will give her what she needs even if I have to work as a night janitor. It's just what you do for your kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Curious about the people who spend more than 5 figures on a sport.

What do ya'll make?

Cuz the OP in another thread is being roasted for spending 50k on vacations for 5 people.

I'd love to see what they'd say about spending 30k on figure skating or a horse!

$250 HHI

Only child

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Curious about the people who spend more than 5 figures on a sport.

What do ya'll make?

Cuz the OP in another thread is being roasted for spending 50k on vacations for 5 people.

I'd love to see what they'd say about spending 30k on figure skating or a horse!

$250 HHI

Only child

DP. Have net worth over 10 mil+

Also only child who is ranked high nationally, top 100, in his sport. We enjoy DS’s activity as a family and travel nationally and internationally for competitions. We actually spent similarly for vacations prior to his activity but now we combine vacations with DS’s sport.

[Anonymous]

Tennis is expensive and totally not worthy,but ds loves it and we pay to show our support.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Curious about the people who spend more than 5 figures on a sport.

What do ya'll make?

Cuz the OP in another thread is being roasted for spending 50k on vacations for 5 people.

I'd love to see what they'd say about spending 30k on figure skating or a horse!

$250 HHI

Only child

DP. Have net worth over 10 mil+

Also only child who is ranked high nationally, top 100, in his sport. We enjoy DS’s activity as a family and travel nationally and internationally for competitions. We actually spent similarly for vacations prior to his activity but now we combine vacations with DS’s sport.

Table tennis?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Curious about the people who spend more than 5 figures on a sport.

What do ya'll make?

Cuz the OP in another thread is being roasted for spending 50k on vacations for 5 people.

I'd love to see what they'd say about spending 30k on figure skating or a horse!

$250 HHI

Only child

DP. Have net worth over 10 mil+

Also only child who is ranked high nationally, top 100, in his sport. We enjoy DS’s activity as a family and travel nationally and internationally for competitions. We actually spent similarly for vacations prior to his activity but now we combine vacations with DS’s sport.

Table tennis?

Omg that would be awesome.