Least Expensive Sport
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Anonymous
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At the rec level soccer and basketball were really cheap, but get very expensive the moment your kid wants a more competitive experience.
I think you’re right that running is the cheapest. Swimming is the next most affordable. |
Anonymous
| Swimming is pretty expensive! At senior levels it can be about $4k for winter swim. Plus extra for any summer training, summer swim, meet fees, tech suits and travel (air and hotels). Swimming costs more than playing on the top travel soccer teams at a big club in the DMV. |
Anonymous
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Somebody mentioned Ultimate Frisbee and that is easily the cheapest. There are no refs for games so nobody to pay for that and coaches are quite reasonable. There really are no travel teams either…there are summer leagues if you want to play in them but dirt cheap.
Track may seem cheap but I assume recruited runners pay for personalized training and club teams. Ultimate just doesn’t have any of this…of course fewer kids are recruited for ultimate, but it is a D1 sport and kids are recruited. |
Anonymous
Shoes & headgear (and maybe a knee sleeve). And the shoes are generally cheaper than cleats. That's it. You can probably get the equipment for between 100-125. Really not that bad. However, once your kid gets good, there are tournament entrance fees. But still, cheaper than others |
Anonymous
AAU is less that 1k a year, usually a lot less. Club swimming is several thousand a year |
Anonymous
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Cheapest is the one your kid loves the most.
If you are forcing them into a sport because of costs, there is no ROI. They will just not try as hard. |
Anonymous
What if your kid loves a sport that you can't afford? |
Anonymous
If they are really good, as in already ranked nationally, talk to family and friends for help. But if they are really hood- they probably have sponsorships. If they are mid, stick with what you can afford- because they can lose interest. And it’s not worth breaking the bank for. |
Anonymous
| There is a very wide gulf between nationally ranked and mid |
Anonymous
I don't think in most sports you know if your kid is nationally ranked until you have invested a considerable sum. How else does your kid get to the events where the evaluators are? |
Anonymous
I don't disagree with you but also a swimmer is not required to do summer swim and many don't at a certain point because it's not that competitive and not doing it means they get an off season where they will still train but will have more time to focus on technical improvements and rest their bodies. Similar with summer training. Yes you might pay for this or for private coaching, in particular if the swimmer has specific things to work on that were identified during the season. But it's not required. Go to the pool. Get your laps in. Do your dry land training. Work with other swimmers and time each other and offer feedback. Swimming actually is a sport where off season training does not need to be some boondoggle of $$$. Not saying swimming is cheap, especially at the upper levels. Of course it is not. Especially in this area where it's quite competitive and the best coaches can charge a lot of clinics and privates. But it's good for sports parents to remember you actually are not required to do every single thing, and it's worth it to start thinking about whether every different league, clinic, training opp, etc. is worth it. First it can lead to burn out. But even if it doesn't, it may simply not be worth it. If the goal is to be the best possible swimmer and maybe get a spot on a college team, something like summer swim league is not actually centrally important to that and should only be done if it's fun (also summer swim is not very expensive, but I know this all adds up). |
Anonymous
| For fun, what are the most insanely expensive? Horseback riding, sailing, ice skating? |
Anonymous
+1 just need a disk. I do think at higher levels there are refs? But until then you just need cleats and a field. Maybe pay for a shirt. https://usaultimate.org/college/schedule/ |
Anonymous
I do think riding wins because it is absolutely not possible to do it seriously if you don't own a horse, and then you have stable fees, etc. Plus riding is highly competitive. Because sailing is a team sport, and there are competitive sailing co-ops and associations, it's possible to sail competitively without owning a boat. Also sailing as a competitive sport is not something it's necessary to get really into at a young age. Many of the world's best sailors are in their 30s, 40s, even 50s. There are youth sailing leagues but there are also people who just learn to sail as a skill when they are young and don't really get into it as a competitive sport until later. Riding is different. It is competitive from the start and people tend to be at their peak competitiveness in their teens/20s. Ice skating is one of those things where you are only going to spend insane money if you are good enough to justify it. The worst are the kids who are good enough to compete on the national circuit but will never, ever rank top 10. If you are coming in 47th you are never going to get real sponsorships. So you're just going to pay for it out of pocket. A nightmare. Plus not a sport that might get you a scholarship even if you aren't olympic level, like gymnastics. This is why I would never encourage my kid in a sport like that where you either have to be the best in the country or you're no one. We only do sports where there are ways to succeed at several levels so it's not so all or nothing. |
Anonymous
Nope |