Sports that aren’t a huge time / money commitment

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any rec sport is cheap. You and your DH must be from wealthy families—golf and hockey are both expensive hobbies.

Rec soccer, basketball, volleyball, Flag football, softball, and summer swim are all popular and inexpensive.

But what will happen is you will end up Doing what she is interested in regardless of cost.

I like the team dynamic and camaraderie, so my kids are in soccer and softball. Both are great sports they can do for the rest of their lives, and low injuries. I enjoy watching both sports (no thanks track or swim - yawn).

We did rec cheaply for both, until my DD's goal was to make her HS team, so we switched to travel soccer (HS is very sports competitive).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DH and I were chatting about what sports to put our toddler DD in when she is old enough and the convos quickly turned to what we didn’t want her in!

He says we need to do all we can to steer her away from hockey, which he played, and where ice time is early, equipment is expensive, and games were far to drive to. I countered back that we should also avoid my sport, golf, which had pricy lessons, long tournaments, and big time commitments. So what sports aren’t a big time suck on time and money? Everything we can think of has obvious or hidden costs and time constraints (one set of friends have to volunteer 75 hours for their child’s swim team each season, another spends over $10k on travel soccer fees).

Disclaimer: of course we want our kid to find her passion (if it’s even sports), and we plan to expose her to lots of different types, both individual and team, plus learning to swim of course. This is a more lighthearted post vs “don’t stifle or force your kid” post...

np I get it is lighthearted but, do you really regret playing golf? Or your dh hockey?

[Anonymous]

tennis

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Golf is where it's at for girls in terms of college scholarships, so your investment while she's young may pay off! Plus, you already know how to do it so it's something you could do together.

But seriously, don't listen to me, my daughters and I ride horses and my husband is always aghast at how much it all costs. He almost choked when he found out the horse my daughter was petting was for sale for a quarter of a million dollars. (Not our horse, just to be clear).

Golf is incredibly, incredibly expensive if you want to be good.

Also, if you are chasing a women's golf scholarship realize that there is a good chance you will end up out west or in the south.

What does that mean? I guess my Stanford degree means nothing.

[Anonymous]

Yes, but you can still say no and have boundaries. I want my kid to do things they enjoy and have, but there is a limit. Mine is not thousands of dollars for a sport or anything that takes up their whole childhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:tennis

NP. can you describe frequency of lessons and what tournaments/teams if any your child is in? Would love to know how to keep costs manageable (DC is still a baby, but never to early to get good ideas).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Golf is where it's at for girls in terms of college scholarships, so your investment while she's young may pay off! Plus, you already know how to do it so it's something you could do together.

But seriously, don't listen to me, my daughters and I ride horses and my husband is always aghast at how much it all costs. He almost choked when he found out the horse my daughter was petting was for sale for a quarter of a million dollars. (Not our horse, just to be clear).

Golf is incredibly, incredibly expensive if you want to be good.

Also, if you are chasing a women's golf scholarship realize that there is a good chance you will end up out west or in the south.

What does that mean? I guess my Stanford degree means nothing.

NP here. I think they meant that the golfing schools are on the West Coast or in the southern states (warmer weather year round, and all that).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Golf is where it's at for girls in terms of college scholarships, so your investment while she's young may pay off! Plus, you already know how to do it so it's something you could do together.

But seriously, don't listen to me, my daughters and I ride horses and my husband is always aghast at how much it all costs. He almost choked when he found out the horse my daughter was petting was for sale for a quarter of a million dollars. (Not our horse, just to be clear).

Golf is incredibly, incredibly expensive if you want to be good.

Also, if you are chasing a women's golf scholarship realize that there is a good chance you will end up out west or in the south.

What does that mean? I guess my Stanford degree means nothing.

NP here. I think they meant that the golfing schools are on the West Coast or in the southern states (warmer weather year round, and all that).

Right, that much was clear. It just sounded like they said it as in why would you play golf if it means you can't end up at a college in the Northeast. I guess it's because I grew up in CA, but people are here are so stuck on needing to live and go to college on the east coast. It's kind of ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

We try to steer our kids towards sports they can play life-long. Like, no adult is going to invite his friends over for wrestling. So, biking (road and mountain), tennis, soccer, and basketball. We made sure they know how to swim and take them to the pool regularly but are avoiding pushing swim team unless they really, really want to do it. My kids have many talents, but neither of them are scholarship material. I don't understand the obsession with turning every sporting interest into overpriced "lifestyle" with teams, tournaments and 40+ hr/week commitments. Like, your kid can like soccer and play pickup games with friends. It's fine. Nobody needs to go to the State Tourney.

[Anonymous]

What I don't understand with teens and i guess tweens too is thet will happily play and socialize with their friends on a team in an organized setting, but get them to go outside with their friends and play pickup games of the same sports is like pulling teeth. I would think playing more informaly would be more fun.

[Anonymous]

Tetherball

[Anonymous]

If tetherball is the only option that's sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fencing. DS has been fencing for a few years. He has a couple of practices per week and a few tournaments per season. The gear can get a little expensive. Tae Kwon Do is similar to this, but more expensive. Every belt level and tournament costs money.

I'm surprised you think fencing is affordable. My son's club runs about $500 a month minimum, and that doesn't include equipment, tournament or travel costs and fees.

Like with anything, it depends on where you are. We attend a club in Chantilly and its $135 monthly, so long as you have an annual commitment. If you really want to go the cheap route, they have all of the equipment that you need their and you can borrow it every practice or bring your own. Its a small club, but the instructors are great.

So you pay $1620 per year. That is way more expensive than rec soccer or rec basketball options in Bethesda.

It sure is, but DS enjoys it, is motivated to go, has improved at it, and is getting exercise. He lacks a lot of depth perception and some of the agility necessary to be decent at soccer and basketball, so those things are out for him. The price is relative, for us and many other people in this metro area.

[Anonymous]

Wrestling. And there are immense college scholarship opportunities for girls who wrestle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wrestling. And there are immense college scholarship opportunities for girls who wrestle.

Wrestling is a fantastic gateway for girls for a college sport. Unfortunately there aren't a lot of girls who do it, especially at the middle and high school levels, so finding someone at her skill level and weight class will likely involve travel.