@chavlicek15 @DFresh11 Can someone explain to me why travel youth sports fees are so damn expensive? I feel like I need to take a second mortgage out on my house!
The teams my boys played on in Germany was ā¬5 / month, everything else included (uniforms, travel, entrance fees) and they traveled all over our German stateā¦ the US versions they are currently onā¦ a bit more than ā¬5 / month 
That actually makes sense rugby is like the 3rd or 4th most popular sport in most countries. Itās only tops in Wales NZ and Fiji so thatās like 6 mil. Its big in SA still. Itās dropped to 4th in Australia.
The pay for play model in US youth sports infuriates me and I say that as someone who benefits from it having coached and running a gym that caters to rich HS kids.
Iāll also say itās the main reason the US will never thrive at true international games like soccer or rugby and itās why the US lead in basketball is shrinking every year.
Itās sad what it has come down to and the ripple affect across sports and communities.
I could do a 10 hour podcast on this with a bunch of parents. But that sounds awful. Lots of issues, starting with the number of travel teams that exist. When I was coming out of the Boston area - there were three travel teams, and then one in Springfield Ma. Now there are probably 5 in my town I grew up in. You had to be really good to play on one of those teams. If you didnāt make it, you just played summer league and tried to improve.
Also, nothing makes a parent prouder than saying āMy kid plays travelā. Coaches pray on that. I tell kids all the time they are better off working on skill development and strength/conditioning than playing for a fake travel team. They are easy spot if you do the research. First sign is that the coaches son starts at shortstop.
Yes. Because american parents who never really played sports think that paying for sports gives their kids a leg up
Is why my kids play pick up mostly
I laughed at thatā¦know a few parents who fit. As crazy as basketball is, baseball seems to be even nuttier.
Itās sad though. I think it pushes a lot of disadvantaged kids out of sports at a young age.
Iāve met these parentsā¦ we pay because my kids want to play on the teamsā¦ not because we need to ego boost. Haha! I actually tried to talk my older son out of it, but heās on the elite team with all his friendsā¦ and I know the difference between the crap teams and the better ones. However, there are too many levels compared to when I was a kidā¦ at least in soccer.
Tennis has had this issue for my entire life and has a well-deserved reputation for pricing people out. But by the time I was coming up in the 90ās, USTA was running a lot of initiatives trying to get people without country club memberships into the junior ranks. They recognized only accessing a small population reduced the competition for our younger players, which limited the supply of truly great players and also their respective growth opportunities when they were first competing locally. Plus, if you donāt play, learn the rules and appreciate the nuances, you donāt watch as an adult, limiting revenue.
Could not agree more with everything being said. The overall level of play in all sports would explode if more kids had access to qualified coaching (which most travel ball is not) instead kids are basically able to pick their teams to be with friends on teams run my parents living out their own delusions of grander.
I was guilty of that with my son. Now Iām broke
Had one son playing club soccer but only went to any match that was 75 minutes or less driveā¦
$1700 annual fee plus uniform and all the travel expensesā¦.
My other son was interested now too ā¦ had them try out at a different club - they both made it and annual fee is $650 per child plus kitā¦. Much more affordable and they offer financial need scholarships for those who need it.
And they are still going to play rec as long as they want regardless of what the club coach says about it.
Pretty good fathers day card from my little girl Kamilah
Happy Fathers Day to all the daddys out there. Raise em all to love the Hoos
Man she even got the jersey thatās fire. Well done Kamilah Uncle Dragon approves.
She should show that jersey to TB
Taking my Air Force PT test at UVa tomorrowā¦ can anyone confirm it would be worth me getting LittleJohns for lunch on the way home? Quality same as before?
Whatās the AF PT test? See how many paperclips you can fold in a minute?
Sit-ups, push-ups, 1.5 mile runā¦
More specific please. I may do same with you minus the run
So old man (45 - 49 y/o) 100% scoreā¦
I needā¦
NLT 44 pushups in one minute
NLT 48 situps in one minute
Under 10:10 1.5 mile run
Not sure about the run one year after Achilles surgeryā¦ but Iāll be closeā¦
Man I think I can pull that offā¦
Check that the 1.5 mile would be tough on me but I could get back to it.
