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Youth sports can be a critical part of a child’s healthy development. They can offer benefits that improve the child’s physical health, mental and emotional well-being, and social skills. Studies have also shown that youth sports can teach healthy lifetime health habits, help the child perform better academically, and teach valuable life skills such as discipline, responsibility, and perseverance.
Unfortunately, the cost can often strain a household financially. All the equipment, gear, registration fees, travel costs, lessons, and camps can add up. In 2022, Lending Tree conducted a survey revealing that 60% of families faced financial strain due to the cost of their children’s sports. Approximately 20% of families planned to spend over $1,000 on sports while 11% expected to go into debt to pay for their children’s athletics.
- Related: Top 10 Tips for Skiing With Kids
Below are the five most expensive sports for children and the average annual spending on one child for one sport. Multiply accordingly for multiple children and multiple sports. Costs can change dramatically given location, age, talent level, and recent years of inflation. Data is from a national youth sports survey by the Aspen Institute and Utah State University.
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Hockey: $2,583
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Skiing/snowboarding: $2,249
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Field hockey: $2,125
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Gymnastics: $1,580
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Lacrosse: $1,289
Do the benefits outweigh the costs? In addition to the advantages listed in the introduction, sports can increase bone density, fight depression, develop integrity, help kids make friends, and most importantly let them have fun. When you teach your kids to ski, you gain a lifelong ski partner, and can you put a price on that?
Ice hockey and snowsports (skiing, boarding) most expensive, no big surprise. But there are ways to keep the costs in check if you live in a northern climate: lots of swaps, lots of lightly used equipment at resale shops (eg, Play it Again Sports). For me, I never sell my kids’ old equipment. Keep it in order to lend / give to parents who have young kids. They are very grateful for that. Bottom line: if you live in a cold climate and you don’t get your kids into some kind of winter sport, winter can be LOOOOOONG for everyone. We live in Minnesota, we embrace the winter.