Life is Life!

#086 Shootin The Financial $h!t: Club and Travel Sports: Big Business and Big chunk of $

• Felipe Arevalo, Chase Peckham • Season 4 • Episode 8

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The cost of putting children in organized sports is a bit out of control and has been for a while according to Kids Play USA Foundation. The biggest cost being general participation fees that can range from $50 to $1,000 and depending on where you live, a lot more. It also ranges from the league and sport with which they participate. Then you throw in the equipment and it can easily run in the thousands of dollars in certain cases, most if not all, is picked up by the family of the child.

Today the  TWTM "Shootin" crew discusses the positive and negatives of todays billion dollar youth sports industry and the affect it can have on families bank accounts not to mention, the time invested. 

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Intro:

[inaudible] Welcome to Talk Wealth to me, a safe space podcast, where we chat about anything and everything related to personal finance. The information contained in this podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes. Only. It does not constitute as accounting, legal tax or other professional advice.

Chase Peckham:

Good morning, Phil. I find you from a very interesting location this morning.

Felipe Arevalo:

Good morning. It is, it's a different background.

Chase Peckham:

It's a different background. Uh, my wife's vehicle had a, something that was wrong with it. And we found out that there was a recall on her brakes. So I am currently at our GMC dealership getting that fixed.

Felipe Arevalo:

we should do a whole episode on recalls because I have one coming up next week.

Chase Peckham:

The cost of recalls. And in this case, it's not going to cost me anything, which that is a wonderful thing.

Felipe Arevalo:

That's the good thing.

Chase Peckham:

Right. Typically when I come to these places and we come to dealerships, we know it's going to cost us at least three figures, if not four.

Felipe Arevalo:

Yeah. And you might get a free car wash,

Chase Peckham:

But you, you might, but it depends on the car. Well, it depends on the dealership, right? It might be they get it wet and then it dries and there's spots all over it.

Felipe Arevalo:

It could be worse.

Chase Peckham:

Yeah. They don't, it's not exactly a detail.

Felipe Arevalo:

No, it's just like a hose it down type of car wash

Speaker 3:

Exactly. That's going to make it worse.

Felipe Arevalo:

Yeah.

Chase Peckham:

It actually, and it actually was before. And today's topic is really an interesting one because it's one that I've been in involved in for quite a few years. And we haven't touched on, uh, in, in these podcasts. Uh, although we've made mention of them from time to time, but we haven't actually designated a full, uh, podcast to it. And I just recently got back from Las Vegas. Now that things are opening up again, youth sports is in full swing again, Phil and even probably well, prior to the pandemic, it was becoming something that was the talk amongst parents about how expensive it is. And you have a young one and you think about daycare. And we talked, we've talked about daycare expenses and those kinds of things. And we think, Oh gosh, if when they just go to school, we're not, we're going to lose that expense, but we make it up somewhere. Right. But being a parent, those kids grow up and they actually get more expensive, not less expensive. And if they have interests, whether it be dancing, whether it be singing lessons or music lessons or any kind of lessons, and then you get into youth sports and there's lots of different kinds which we'll touch on, I'm telling you, it could be like putting kids through college at a very young age.

Felipe Arevalo:

It most definitely can. And, and you know, each kid is going to vary. Obviously it's going to vary by region and believe it or not. Uh, I mean, you know, it, the cost of sports also varies by your kid's skill level. And it's almost like the better they get the expensive they get. Uh, and as they get a little older, you, you know, you're right. You think babies are expensive and then, and they, they are expensive. Uh, but it's different kind of expensive. You don't pay diapers anymore, but now that cost goes towards whatever their hobbies are or in this case sports. And, and sometimes like my oldest, just trying to figure out what sport he's going to take up and just kind of going through the wheel of trying all the different sports. Some kids have it locked down, that's my sport. I'm going to go for it. Uh, but it's definitely a, an added expense. And it's one that maybe some people didn't realize how much it was until last year, when all of a sudden we didn't have youth sports. And I was like, Whoa, this money come from.

Chase Peckham:

Yeah,

Felipe Arevalo:

It might've been from not playing youth sports.

Chase Peckham:

I mean, it starts in, it starts out when it, especially your son's age five, you know, I mean, it starting at four and five years old now, I mean, you can do club soccer and there is even S you know, club and, or travel baseball as it's known. But some of these sports, you can start at a pretty young age now, like five, six years old, which I think is insane, uh, five years old, you know, I think youth sports, those, those like little leagues, uh, your, your local, uh, like.

Felipe Arevalo:

AYSO'.

Chase Peckham:

Yeah rec rec sports leagues, the right. Exactly. Those are more doable, right? I mean, it might cost you$90 for the registration. Could it be 150 to play?

Felipe Arevalo:

And some gear.

Chase Peckham:

Right. And then we'll right. You had mentioned that the cost of the gear, especially, you know, baseball gloves for little ones. I mean, you can get it on the cheaper end for$80, which is not cheap. Right. Um, bats, which are changing all the time, those are expensive. And then you can get into the other sports, like hockey, which takes a lot of gear. Right. So that's, that's expensive.

Felipe Arevalo:

and places like San Diego trying to find ice time.

Chase Peckham:

Yes. Right.

Felipe Arevalo:

Yeah. We don't have a lot of ice to go around.

Chase Peckham:

That's. Right. So, yeah. Right. There's not a ton of ice rinks going around, so yeah. It's hard to,

Felipe Arevalo:

I just finished a masterclass.

Chase Peckham:

Oh really?

Felipe Arevalo:

Wayne Gretzky.

Chase Peckham:

Oh,

Felipe Arevalo:

So I'm all into hockey right now. Um, but I love hockey. I would really dislike if my kids took up hockey because they have the most awkward schedules for what times they make it to practice and what times they,

Chase Peckham:

Right. Because they have to make available ice time. Right. And so that's either going to be super early in the morning or later at night. Yeah. It really is. In fact, my son tried it, um, up in the North County, San Diego area, when he was super young, he was about five or six, six, I think. And the way they did it was they would lend you the hockey equipment. So you didn't have to pay for it. Um, all you did was, was pay for them for their little season. And it was basically an introduction to get them into the sport. Like, do you, you know, do you like it? So from that in it didn't cost us very much. And we found out my son was a terrible skater and he ended up not liking it. So that ended up saving us down the road for all that equipment that we would need. But there they were. I was like, man, this is pretty smart. You know, you get a kid that really loves it and has an affinity for it and finds out, you know, what, he's pretty coordinated and can use those skates. That's something that, you know, but down the line, you're, you're not renting that equipment. You're going to have to buy your own. And then not to mention that these little suckers grow and they grow out of their equipment fairly quickly.

Felipe Arevalo:

Yeah.

Chase Peckham:

That's tough. I mean, and I know firsthand, my son was a catcher at a very young age and, you know, he's gone through three sets of catcher's gear in his young life. And the catcher's gear can range anywhere from, you know, what the helmet, the chest pad, the ne the, the shin guards, uh, all that stuff. And the glove, a catcher's glove. I mean, we're talking anywhere from a hundred dollars a set at the young age to$500, uh, as they get a little bit older in the, in the equipment gets a little bit better.

Felipe Arevalo:

Yeah.

Chase Peckham:

Pretty crazy.

Felipe Arevalo:

You know, it'll differ by position and everything, but I saw an interesting thing that kind of highlights, you know, some of the costs of it. And it's by, uh, an organization called Aspen project play. It was an article that I was reading and it shows that low income kids are six times more likely to quit sports due to costs. So there's definitely, uh, a cost gap there. And it could be hard for some lower income families who might be trying to scrape by to be able to have their kids in, in sports. And, and it's something where it's like, it's a real expense.

Chase Peckham:

Yeah. And it's a disparity. And I think that that's, that's a difficult thing. And that's why like major league baseball and the NFL, uh, NBA are, are trying to create all kinds of programs for inner city, uh, and lower income kids to give them the opportunities to play those sports. Uh, and, and it is difficult because yeah, I mean, the stress levels of, of, of, for parents trying to do what's best for their children, especially if they have an ability, right. They have abilities.

Felipe Arevalo:

Right.

Chase Peckham:

To play these sports and then play them at the highest levels. Uh, and we can't wait. I mean, I don't, I don't know if we're even going to want to get into the, uh, the, the, the craziness and the competitiveness of these youth sports, because that's its own topic in its own. Right.

Felipe Arevalo:

It makes you feel for the coaches.

Chase Peckham:

It does make you feel for the coaches and it, but it also makes you feel like parents, you know, we feel like if we don't, Oh gosh, if we don't get our kids in this thing and they're going to fall behind and they're not going to get ahead and blah, blah, blah, I'm not giving him the best opportunity. And in, in reality, that's not necessarily the case. Right. It's a, you're going to find that a lot of kids will just, we're finding that a lot of kids burn out you're right. And it's not just the financial cost of it. I mean, you could, I have friends that have spent upwards of 15,$20,000 over a four or five-year period. And their kid just now said, I, you know,

Felipe Arevalo:

I'm done.

Chase Peckham:

They were 13 years old. Don't want to play soccer anymore. But think about it. They've been playing year round since they were six.

Felipe Arevalo:

Right.

Chase Peckham:

I mean, that's crazy. That's more than we spend for college. If we would save that money, we could all put our kids through college a lot more, and it's hysterical to listen to parents and go, well, I got to do this. So my kid can get that college scholarship. Um,

Felipe Arevalo:

If you'd have saved the money you'd pay for their college, and you wouldn't have to stress about them, possibly getting one of those small chances of getting that NCAA scholarship.

Chase Peckham:

1% chance that your kid's going to get a scholarship. And when you're talking scholarship, you think your parents think that that.

:

Not full rides.

Felipe Arevalo:

That's right. The only full rides that are really there and football and basketball, and you've got to be like the top 1% in your, in your sport. And then, and the other sports like baseball, I mean, there's 30 people on a team and you've got 11.7 scholarships. So there's not very many baseball players that are getting full rides either. Now there are, these programs are very creative and there's lots of other ways to get money. Like, you know, maybe they're a good student. Maybe they have, um, they, they can get financial help because they don't make a lot of money. Uh, their parents don't have a lot of income so they can get different help in a lot of different areas to help pay for that. But it's not going to come all from the athletic budget. So if people have this idea that I'm going to spend all this money and give all my kids, not to mention all these individual lessons that you're going to spend hundreds and hundreds and thousands of thousands of dollars on, uh, you're, you're, you're fooling yourself a bit. Right.

Chase Peckham:

It's, it's, it's not there. So if you're, if you're doing these sports, it's gotta be because your kids really love them. U h, and not because you think that this is a vehicle for your kids to be some superstar.

Felipe Arevalo:

Yeah. I do think that there's a, there's the additional benefit of playing sports, uh, especially team sports, uh, you learn teamwork, you learn, you know, perseverance and you literally learn to fail. You learn to struggle. So I think there's that added bonus that just aside from the sport, I think it's important for kids to get out there and join a team and win some games and lose some games because there's, you know, you do pay for it, but, but you're getting more out of it than even if your kid doesn't go on to play college sports, or even if they just play up to high school and then call it a quits from there.

Chase Peckham:

Yeah.

Felipe Arevalo:

Um, you know, there's a benefit to it. So even at the lower levels of competition, you know, I think it's, it's, it's a potentially a good investment. Now. I wouldn't call it an investment in their college future. Uh, but you know, it's, especially for younger kids, I think it's, there's a, there's a big benefit to it.

Chase Peckham:

Yeah. And there is, there absolutely is. And, and, you know, it's funny, my, my kids, I talk about this and, and I, it's funny because I, I think I talk out of both sides of my mouth, right. There's I think it's crazy that we all spend much money, but yet I do it. My daughter has fall, has always played. Soccer has become a very good goalie, loves it. Um, and we have found that goalies are hard to come by. Um, and we had to tell soccer that because she's now in love with volleyball, um, and loves them both and wants to play both. And, you know, but at that point, it's, it's very expensive for both of them, uh, for year round sports, not to mention just finding the time between school and doing your schoolwork and other interests, but she doesn't want to, she loves them both, right? That this is something she really wants to do. And we've our soccer, um, came back and said, we'll work with you. We'll help you. And they, they had to do that. Otherwise we were going to have to make a decision. We just, you know, at some point there's just, there's a budget,

Felipe Arevalo:

right.

Chase Peckham:

We talk about this all the time. We had to make the decision that Avery, we got to figure out what we're going to do here, because, you know, unfortunately we can't afford the full price of both of these at the same time. Cause we're going to talk over$5,000 a year, not counting travel, right. Not counting the tournaments. We got to go play in.

Felipe Arevalo:

Right.

Chase Peckham:

Uh, and of course, it's we go on these big, elaborate, you know, travel tournaments where you're gone for three or four days, uh, not to mention.

Felipe Arevalo:

The kids get so excited don't they.

Chase Peckham:

They do. And you got, but you got to talk about the travel and getting there and whether you drive and it's the gas and the wear and tear on your vehicle or you're flying, um, or you're renting a car when you get there. And then the hotel, um, all the meals that you have every single day. I mean, we're talking thousands of dollars for one.

Felipe Arevalo:

Yeah, absolutely. And that's just assuming that you're staying nearby somewhere. Maybe you can drive too.

Chase Peckham:

Right.

Felipe Arevalo:

You know, um, you're, you're, we're here in Southern California. So your Arizona trips, your.

Chase Peckham:

Las Vegas just got back. Yeah.

Felipe Arevalo:

Your, uh, up in LA area trips, you know, big soccer state cup up in Lancaster, up in the, in the high desert. Um, you know, it's something where if you, if you can drive through it, but they always dangle that really nice tournament's in front of these kids. Like we could play in Orlando,

Chase Peckham:

You feel like you're a big leader. Right. You feel like you're, you're traveling. You're a big deal. And, and, and that is a cool experience. I mean, like you met, it's the same thing with the, you get to hang out with your, your, your teammates at the pool, or you get to hang out in the rooms together, you can go to go do team building things. And that is a really cool thing. That that's great memories, but at some point it's, it's, it's a bit much, and it's expensive and it's the same thing in every sport. So we do this for soccer and, you know, I just got back this last weekend from Vegas for a soccer tournament. And then over Memorial day, weekend, or couple of weeks from now, we're going to go to Vegas again for a volleyball tournament. Uh, and, and so it's like, Oh my gosh, here we go again. And at some point you just got to say, we can't, we, we can only afford a couple of tournaments like this a year now, unless they're local.

Felipe Arevalo:

Right.

Chase Peckham:

And so getting back to the, you know, t he, t hat added expense is, you know, that the soccer, these turn at least these, and we talked about the lower income areas, at least some of these travel organizations leave room in their budgets to help out financially. And so they'll have things like, you know, they'll, they'll, they call them scholarships, but they're not free money, but they'll let the parents work it off. Right. So you'll be able to go volunteer for certain events, u m, that will, you know, either you work in a, in a, in the food, u h, and snack cart,

Felipe Arevalo:

Snack bar.

Chase Peckham:

The snack bar, or you work in event, like where you check people in for a tournament, if your company or your team, uh, has a tournament. So you can, you know, work that off, so to speak. So you can try to save that money, which is great, that, that these organizations will work with you to do it.

Felipe Arevalo:

And I know something like sometimes the entire organization does it, like, especially with little league, you know, and I think literally I think the going to this baseball complex, multiple games going on at the same time and a snack bar. And you don't think about that necessarily with some of the other youth sports, you know, as a parent, the snack bar, that was always like the highlight of little league, but to keep cost down in some little leagues, uh, instead of doing the buyout for the, for the snack bar, they have each team responsible to volunteer a certain amount of hours in the snack bar. Um, so as a league, they just make it a requirement. Each team needs to volunteer X amount of hours at the snack bar. Here's your schedule, uh, type of thing. And it allows them to keep the overall cost of the league per player down. So, you know, I know in other leagues that's just an added cost into the, um, and added costs. That's kind of built into the registration and no one has to work the snack bar. Uh, but you know, it's, it's, it's just a different way to keep the cost down in, in some communities. And I know like our little league does it where you have to volunteer, um,

Chase Peckham:

Right we do too. To work the snack bar, our little league did that as well.

Felipe Arevalo:

Yeah. It's like, it's kind of cool. You get to hang out with the other parents, you get to see the other parents. It's not that bad.

Chase Peckham:

No, you're right it's not.

Felipe Arevalo:

Yeah.

Chase Peckham:

It's not it. And it's really interesting, um,

Felipe Arevalo:

I'm really good at, uh, doing, uh, frozen. Uh, I can microwave some frozen pretzels.

Chase Peckham:

You're good at that?

Felipe Arevalo:

Yeah. There's not a steep learning curve, but it's definitely, uh, you know, nachos and chili. And then, and then when you go back as an, as a fan watching your kid's game and you go to the snack bar, you're like, Oh, okay. I gotta know what they're doing. Um, I know why they never have cookies. Those are pain and they take forever,

Chase Peckham:

Right.

Felipe Arevalo:

You actually have to bake them. And it's something where, you know, there's, there's creative ways and there's other things people can do. Uh, you know, look for deals. I know with, uh, with soccer, some of the, some of the chains around here when soccer, season's about to start, they have like package deals. You know, soccer is not as much equipment as some other sports. So they may have a deal for shoes, shin guard, and a ball for an amount of money. And they have two different shoes to pick from two different balls to pick from. And one pair of shinguards pick the size. And, you know, if you find those deals look around for them and, and you can save some money, sure. Your kid might be wearing the same shoes as, you know, half his team, but the little kids actually find that quite exciting.

Chase Peckham:

Yes.

Felipe Arevalo:

They don't seem to mind at all and just make sure you put their name on the ball. Cause there's going to be six of them, the same exact ball on the field, every practice,

Chase Peckham:

You know, my, my son didn't have his own bat for the longest time. And it was because of a friend of ours has an older son and he had, would have a couple bats. And so he would just, as clay got older, he would hand these bats down and there was a glove or two and it an infield glove that Clay used. And so it was, it w that saved us a lot of money. And it was just at the point I'm going, I'm not going to buy you a new bat every year. I mean, we're talking 250, anywhere from 90 to 250 to$400 for a bat. And of course, as they get older and these kids know what the cool bats are,

:

Right,

Chase Peckham:

and they know what the, y ou k now, quote unquote really good bats are t here, they, it gets extraordinarily expensive. And y ou've got to be able to say, you know what, your athletic ability can, you don't need that bat. Right? You don't have to have all the greatest equipment, u h, to do that, but they see some friends that have all that and then they want it.

Felipe Arevalo:

Yeah. That bat, that costs an extra a hundred dollars is not going to get you that many more hits, if any,

Chase Peckham:

No,

Felipe Arevalo:

During the course of the season, it's going to be, you're going to be just fine with the one that costs, you know, half of that.

Chase Peckham:

Yeah. It's true. And in so much of parents, you know, we want to give our kids the best. We want our kids to succeed and we've, and then there's that, that, that I call it parent FOMO, athletic FOMO, fear of missing out. Like I'm not doing enough for my child. Like I've got to get in those extra lessons. I've got an, and I've fallen into that. I mean, I know better, but I've fallen into that. And there was a, I read this great book by Mike Matheny, uh, who, who was a long-time major league baseball player for the giants and the Cardinals. And then, uh, later took over for Tony Larussa as the manager of the St. Louis Cardinals. And I believe now is the, uh, the manager of the Kansas City Royals, uh, the current Kansas city Royals manager, uh, who are doing pretty decent for a team that wasn't supposed to be very good, but he, in a period of time when he was done playing and he was coaching his kids, Little League teams in his travel teams. And, and he wrote this letter to parents and he called it the Mathenia manifesto.

Felipe Arevalo:

I read it.

Chase Peckham:

And it was basically telling parents and coaches that we need to check ourselves and you need to chill out and not put so much pressure on these kids, not Be. Like everything's the world series, it's just youth sports. Uh, and, and the kids need to understand, you know, authority and they need to understand how to be good teammates and they need humility. And that's the problem. A lot of us don't have that as cause it's every kid for themselves and they all need to be the top. And it's just the pressure that we put on it, besides the pressure to the wallet and to the bank account. Uh, it's, it's pretty amazing. But if, if you get a chance to read that the Mathene manifesto, if you're a parent or a coach, uh, read that it's phenomenal book, very easy to read and it, and it's truly inspiring. And it gives a really good idea that you don't have to spend an exorbitant amount of money to play because ultimately for these kids, if they're good and they're good athletes and they work hard, they're going to be found.

Felipe Arevalo:

Yeah. And it's something where, you know, it, especially at the younger age, it's just, they go out there, they can make friends, they can, uh, I was at one of my buddy's house. He had a little get together last weekend. And one of his wife's friends said, Oh, how'd you meet? How'd you meet Anthony? And I was like, I think, you know, we played soccer in middle school. That's how I met him.

Chase Peckham:

Right.

Felipe Arevalo:

Um, you know, that was a long time ago. Um, but you know, you can make friends that you can end up being friends with for forever. So it's just an opportunity to get out there and try and look for options to keep costs down if cost is an issue. And, and maybe, you know, have that honest conversation with your kids as you grow up. I remember my parents having it with my brother saying you can't play every sport. Um, we can't do it because of time and we can't do it because of money. Um, you know, there was, at some point now I'm gonna try out basketball. And he was playing baseball and soccer season was supposed to end and basketball was supposed to start. And baseball was kind of going to start also. And then he made the all-star teams. So all of a sudden.

Chase Peckham:

That ran into it.

Felipe Arevalo:

Soccer didn't end, and now he's playing three different sports. And you know, his, one of his, uh, they were buying one of cleats for one of the sports and they bumped into the coach and he's like, Oh, those are the wrong ones. You know, they're not gonna let you put baseball on those. Um, or they're, I hope that you play soccer with the toast bike on that and say, Oh, these are my baseball ones from my other team. So they had to like, sit him down and say, look, you finished your basketball, finished your baseball, finished soccer, but then pick one, uh, or alternate them. Right. Because it's just too much to be playing. And I was easy. I tried a couple sports, uh, I love baseball, but I could not play baseball because when I was younger, I was very, uh, antisocial, uh, public appearances made me very nervous. So being at the plate was terrifying, uh,

Chase Peckham:

Oh wow. Being in the center of attention. So you weren't even just scared of getting hit. You were more scared of people watching you.

Felipe Arevalo:

Oh, it was most scared. Yeah. Just walking up to the plate was scary. Then I couldn't wait for a pitch to come in quick enough so I can get off, go sit back in the dugout or go to first base.

Chase Peckham:

That is not uncommon.

Felipe Arevalo:

It was terrifying. Um, so I played, then I switched to soccer, uh, because soccer, yeah, you might, but it's all going and you're moving and you're in there with your teammates. There's no like, Oh, now batting. No.

Chase Peckham:

Right.

Felipe Arevalo:

Don't tell everybody I'm coming up to get the, to go hit the ball that's terrifying.

Chase Peckham:

When I was a kid, if they did that. And we didn't get that very often because I'm old. And so we didn't have like these cool PA systems that people that were cheap that people could buy and do these like full on lineups with walkup music and all that stuff that kids have now. And it's crazy.

Felipe Arevalo:

It's really crazy now.

Chase Peckham:

It's really major leaguers before t hey're major leaguers. You know, they get that kind of life without the paycheck. And in reality, it's the parents paying for it. So, but you know, it's fun. I mean, y outh sports is great. It's good for parents. It's just, w e g otta, we, as parents have to check ourselves a nd what are we doing i t f or?

Felipe Arevalo:

Right.

Chase Peckham:

And are we doing this? Because we think our kids going to be a superstar or are we putting all this money? Because our, we know our kids love it because at some point, you know, a lot of kids get burnout.

Felipe Arevalo:

Yeah

Chase Peckham:

We talked about that earlier, right? They, they just they're done after seven straight seasons and quitting at the age of 13. And yet they've played probably 400 soccer games, right?

Felipe Arevalo:

Exactly.

Chase Peckham:

I mean, that's a lot not to mention the wear and tear on the body, the cost of keeping them healthy, um, baseball players. I mean, the cost of, of these kids, uh, baseball players are getting Tommy, John surgeries upon their elbows and reconstructive surgeries at 17 years old, 15 years old. I mean, that means that they're, they're playing a bit too much and you know, the body wasn't meant at that age, especially to, to do that much. And so then you throw that cost in, uh, and, and it, it can be pretty absorbent. I mean, in fact, there's right here, there, there's a great website called team genius. And this was, uh, written there's just this last year. And it was saying that that parents will spend on average of around 700 to a thousand dollars a month on youth sports. When you consider it, that's a month, when you consider equipment, travel uniforms, training programs, extra training, uh, and then in your, you might have these, uh, in your travel program, you pay monthly for that. But then they throw in like the personal or individual training that costs extra per time. Uh, then you mentioned that when you go on travel, you know, the coaches aren't gonna pay for that. So every play, every family's got to put in$45 a trip for the coaching, uh, per diem or coaches fees. So there's, there's so many different things that are happening. Um, and then, you know, it's crazy what there'll be doing it at night. And, and I find my, my, my daughter literally right now has practice every day, every weeknight, except for maybe one right now, between volleyball and soccer.

Felipe Arevalo:

Yeah.

Chase Peckham:

Now volleyball is going to stop here pretty soon, but, uh, for, for a bit, uh, and, and then it'll be it more soccer time, but it's still, it's, it's a lot. Then my son's going to start tackle football for the first time he's going into eighth grade and I want him, and he wants, you know, we want him to play tackle and learn, putting on a helmet. And pads is like before he gets to high school and gets hit by, uh, you know, like kids that are like adults and see if he likes it. And because, you know, he thinks he loves it. He thinks he likes contact, but he's never been hit before. And I was expecting like this thousand dollar, 1500 to play football, and it's not, it was like 375 bucks for the whole season. I'm like, Oh, okay. But that could be cost prohibitive for some people. Right?

Felipe Arevalo:

Yeah.

Chase Peckham:

So, so there, you gotta look into it that there, cause there are they budget in, uh, for those families that can't,

Felipe Arevalo:

And then you have high school sports, which is, is much more affordable once they get to that age, participate in the school.

Chase Peckham:

But even those budgets are shrinking. So there's fundraising and even for travel sports, fundraising has become a much bigger thing. I know that during the super bowl, uh, there was a lot of families that, because there there's a bunch of boys in our area that had a chance for their team to go out and go to the hall of fame, the majorly baseball hall of fame out in New York, uh, in Cooperstown and play a tournament there for seven days. And so they were like doing these, you know, by a square for$25, a piece or$10 a piece, uh, and they were raising, you know, four or five,$600 to help with the price of going out there and doing this experience. So, you know, Lord knows I'm not starting to go fund me so people can help me with my kids' youth sports. But I do know that there are families that, that can't do it. And we have started some GoFundMe's for those kids to get those experiences that their parents can't afford it. So, I mean, but, and that's when teams get together and that's when communities are great when they get together and help those, that can't, you know, those that don't have the cost, uh, help cover the costs.

Felipe Arevalo:

Yeah. It's definitely something where, you know, there's a, there's a, you have kids and they're, if they're going to play sports, you know, it, it's, it's definitely something you want to start adding into that budget or, or paying attention to. Um, and then you have people like me, who I just desperately want my seven year old to find what he likes and running out of sports. I'm running out of sports. I can have him try, uh, to see which one just kinda takes a hold of and, and runs with. And I'm trying to come to the realization that maybe, maybe it's just not going to like them. Uh, and as someone who's all about sports, that that's tough, but it does save me money, uh, decides not to play. Um, I got basketball and I got golf lift. I think that's, this is my last two chances to get him to find something like, but then there's also, you know, you get coaching, you got snacks on your snack day for, for soccer.

Chase Peckham:

Yeah

Felipe Arevalo:

Um, and, and then you're, you, you're sitting there and you get an email, Hey, your kid's been put on a soccer team, but they don't have a coach. We need a coach. And then they start to guilt you with, if we don't have a coach, we won't be able to play. And then that's why I make sure I give my email, uh, so that my wife doesn't volunteer me for all these odd tasks. Um, as, as we go, as we go further into the soccer world, uh, but coaching is fun, but it's just a little bit more now you have to be there early. You have to be there on time. You got to go get this and that. So there's, you know, more and more that goes into it as well as, as a parent, I know you've coached as well, too, right?

Chase Peckham:

I do. I have. Yeah. But at that level, and that's what I was reaching out, especially if you're younger kids. And I think you're a very smart Phil with your son is in the trying to figure out what there's those youth sports, those, those rec sports. I mean, at that age, those kids just want to have fun. I mean, most of the time it's, it's us parents that want to get them into travel ball because we think our kid is so good that they should be there. That's that's baloney. I mean, and, and the sh the seasons are shorter. You know, those kids, they can play it for three months, two months. And for them, remember, those kids feel like a month feels like a year. You know, time is a much slower for those kids. So the little league for Clay was great. He didn't play travel ball until he was 10. I didn't let him, I mean, but they start at seven. Now I did the opposite with my daughter and my daughter. Uh, she wanted to play travel soccer, but it, or club soccer that was different than, than baseball, but it's still cost. I mean, the cost, it was still cheaper at her age, but still, it was, it was crazy. So I, again, I talk, it depends on the sport. Um, but at the same time, you know, and in the rec at that time, my daughter was running circles around the other girls, just because physically, she was just that much better at the time. Um, and she wasn't learning much and she just kinda got bored. And then the clubs soccer was a whole new world, which was pretty cool, but, you know, for baseball, I mean, it just, you know, your kid and, and just, we got to check our own egos, you know, and it's funny how many former professional athletes and college athletes that I know that me being a college athlete, we, we seem to be a lot more understanding that, you know, not put as much pressure on the kids for the most part and not take it as seriously. Although, I mean, that's not a hundred percent, but, uh, you know, it's something that, where you just got to say, you know what, let them enjoy themselves and have fun. As soon as it becomes feeling like a job, then it's, you're gonna, it's going to be tougher on them. And, and I just have a really good friend. I mean, literally a really good friend, his son just turned 13, was this incredible soccer player played on the top team was asked to go to, to, to be in the Academy, but the Academy tells them that they can't play anymore. And he just now said, I don't want to play soccer anymore. I'm done. I mean, think about the thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars at that family put into it. And now he's done at 13 before he even gets to high school. Now, maybe he'll, you know, maybe that bug will come back.

Felipe Arevalo:

No, he just needs a breather from it, right? Yeah. And it's something, or maybe they get to high school, they discover a new sport and they switch altogether. And now I have a cousin in high school, she played soccer. Her whole life played club, went to tournaments, did all that, got to high school, discovered tennis, um, found out she's after a little bit, she's really darn good at it made the varsity tennis team. And then there you go. Now she's a tennis player. It's just like, Oh, well, you shouldn't even, I guess the soccer kept you in shape, but you know, it's a completely different, uh, sport and you know, who knows what they're going to end up liking.

Chase Peckham:

Yeah. And I think that sums it up. I mean, we, as parents, if you're looking into your kids, do it, just let them have fun, uh, rec, volleyball, rec all those things, those rec sports, the parents that are coaching, don't worry about whether it's great coaching or not at young ages. I mean, right. It's, it's really not that important if you think your kid is going to be a great athlete, but just get to know them as they get older, uh, and, and listen to them, uh, you know, you can push them, but at the same time, you've got to understand, and you're going to have to budget for this. This isn't cheap. Do your homework. There's a, there's a company out there called Bleacher noise. Um, and you can follow them on Facebook or Instagram, but Bleacher noise.com is a great base to look at that. And you can check cost and competitiveness and, you know, quality of coaching and all that. It's, it's a pretty cool website, a really, really cool website. And Phil, I mean, as always, I think we, if you like these podcasts, if you're enjoying them, please like us follow us wherever you can follow them, follow us on our social media, uh, and download us. I mean, the more downloads we get, the more popular and the more people are gonna find this podcast,

Felipe Arevalo:

Leave us some feedback, rank us, hopefully good. And, and reach out to us, let us know what you'd like us to cover. Absolutely. We can try and have an expert on, and you covered whatever

Speaker 3:

Bottom line, enjoy your kids, enjoy their sports, but don't take it too seriously. And don't feel like you have to throw it up.[inaudible].