Youth Sports: Are They Worth the Time and Money?

I recall a woman telling me her in-laws referred to her husband as a playboy. Of course, I delivered the predictable askance look.

She smiled and added, “He always wanted to play sports…and excelled in quite a few.”

Her husband is now 64 years old, but the parental pride in a son or daughter who plays sports persists, and more often than not, directs the child’s life from elementary school through high school. Parents envision the thrill of seeing their child playing at a Division I school and reaping the award of a coveted athletic scholarship. Without a sports scholarship, the cost of a pricey college education looms large.

But the arrival of the Covid 19 pandemic has pressed pause on sports, both professional and collegiate. The cancellation of March Madness portended gloom and doom. The NCAA reduced $600 million in funding by two-thirds to 350 colleges across the nation. Some will be able to absorb the loss better than others.

Money generated by football and men’s basketball funds other athletic teams. Without basketball and football slush funds, many colleges had to eliminate money losing sports. Dreams of a full ride for college were dashed.

But a closer look at the vagaries of snagging the golden ring dangled by Division I athletics reveals some disconcerting facts. The time and money spent on sports often does not bring the expected return.

Statistics indicate that about two percent of high school students are awarded athletic scholarships. And most of those students do not qualify for full scholarships (tuition, room and board) because they don’t participate in “head count” sports. Head count sports include football and basketball for men and volleyball, gymnastics, basketball, and tennis for women. All the other sports are “equivalency” sports, which if the student is fortunate, may earn him or her tuition, or room and board, but sometimes not much more than the cost of books.

Students who are aiming for a Division I team must spend an inordinate amount of time practicing with not only school teams but club teams. Practices go year round. As a college consultant and SAT prep advisor, I see many kids who are stressed. Often parents hire sports psychologists, but the solution to their stress problem is often time, time to complete homework, time to relax.

Perhaps the biggest stressor for families is the cost of developing an elite athlete. Before the athlete even sets foot on the field, the family must invest in required equipment and safety gear. The typical parent spends between $100 and $500 per month, per child, on youth sports, with the bulk of the money going toward travel and team fees, and $1,000 per month is not unheard of, according to a 2016 survey on youth sports statistics by TD Ameritrade. Those fees do not include the cost of private training clinics or summer sports camps, which can cost hundreds to thousands of dollars more per year. And perversely, there has been some research that indicates an inverse relationship between the amount of money spent on organized youth sports and the child’s level of enjoyment and commitment to the sport. Apparently kids perceive the emotional and financial investment as unwanted pressure.

Lynn O’ Shaughnessy, author of College Solution, writes that athletic scholarships are often not as generous as regular financial aid or merit scholarships. As a college advisor, I know colleges that offer merit aid to as many as 80% of their admitted students. Clearly the odds for merit or need based scholarship are much better than the odds for an athletic scholarship. 

We know the advantage of sports: team play, exercise, and discipline. But all of these can be developed on a college club team. Hopefully the pandemic will encourage families to reassess the race in which only a few will reach the finish line.