They say hindsight is 20/20. That sure was the case for my son participating in club volleyball. He started to play when he was in middle school when I was still married and in a two-income household. At the time, the travel was mostly drivable, and the costs weren’t as high as they later became.
Starting off, he really wanted to play volleyball…a sport his other parent also plays. And my son was good at it right away; it seemed he had a natural fit for a sport that wasn’t available at many of the local high schools and definitely wasn’t competitive at the few that offered it. To really play this sport meant he’d need to find a good travel or club team. Volleyball isn’t as widely popular for boys as it is for girls, so there weren’t travel team options (which would have been a little cheaper). So he tried out for two club level teams and made them both. We chose one and were happy with our decision. The cost of entry was about $1,500 per year for lots of coaching, gym time, and tournament fees. Okay, it’s a little expensive but at the time I thought I was doing well financially and can do this for my son to have this experience.
Fast forward a couple of years and things started to look different. I was divorced, and my housing costs had doubled and other expenses were also higher with living on my own. In addition, I now had the full picture of what a teenager’s club level sport actually costs. Here’s a better breakdown of the annual costs:
Club fee $2,000 (it rose to this over time)
Hotel charges $2,600
Flights (for him and family) $2,300
Other Tournament fees $80
Car Rentals $160
Tournament entry fees for non-players $100
Coaches gifts $20
Total $7,260
My portion of this comes to $3,630, which is significant. But it also doesn’t take into account pet care costs, which are about $80 a day while I was away. And it also doesn’t take into account all the additional costs for meals while being away. So the full costs are much higher. If you round my costs to $4,000 (which is closer to the true cost with pet care and food), I was spending about $333 each month for my son to play volleyball. I’m sure there are people who have $4,000 to spend for their teen to play a sport they love, but I really wasn’t one of them. It had real costs for me, and it caused me a lot of struggle and pain to figure out how to come up with it.
I could have used this money in other ways…I should have used this money in other ways. I could have built a savings so I didn’t feel so strapped each month. I could have saved cash for a down payment on a house. I could have put the money in both kids college accounts. I could have used part of the money for the kids and I to go on a real family vacation. During these five years, we sacrificed family vacations…instead all hopping in cars or planes to go to volleyball tournaments.
All the families did. It was just what you did. The only thing is that it was a true struggle for me every time. Many of the other families either had money or had access to things that made this more affordable. Several of them worked for airlines, and they had free flights for their families. Others worked for hotel chains and had free rooms. Meanwhile nothing was free for me. I just got myself in deeper and deeper trying to keep up.
Admittedly I didn’t fully know what I was signing up for. I wish I had done more research before agreeing to it initially. Once I was in, it was difficult to get out of it.
So for anyone considering club sports, I would advise you to do more research than I did. Talk with families of people who have been a part of the club. Make sure you understand the hidden fees as well as the ones they disclose. Two- and three-day tournaments that are far away result in a lot more expenses than one-day tournaments that you can drive to. It adds up, and it could be a high price to pay to give your kid the chance to play a sport that he or she is not likely to get a full ride on for college.