The ‘travel team trap’ that’s sapping parents’ time and bank accounts

The opening ceremony for the Target USA Cup in Blaine, Minnesota is quite the scene

A youth travel soccer tournament billed as the largest in the Western Hemisphere

It hosts over 1,200 teams and 16,000 players from all over the world each July

It's the ultimate example of how big the youth sports travel team culture has grown in the U.S

There are thousands of club and travel tournaments each year across the country

And parents who can afford it will spend, on average, between $2,000 and $20,000 per year to take their children

But the soaring cost of these weekend trips is leaving parents without the means on the sidelines

A recent study published in the Journal of Sport and Social Issues

found that club and travel sports participation has steadily increased over generations

4% of surveyed adults born in the 50s participated. compared to 13% of those born in the 90s

The Aspen Institute estimates that 17% of kids in 2024 played on club or travel teams

and the trend is not slowing down. Chris Knuster, a sociology professor and researcher

at The Ohio State University, is the lead author of the study Part of the rise in private club and youth sports rate is this confluence between parenting expectations and really a booming in the youth sports industry

full of people who are selling services and are essentially youth sport entrepreneurs

making the case that they can aid skill development and offer improved experiences

The Sports Events and Tourism Association estimates that youth sports travel accounts

for more than 60 percent of the estimated 52 billion dollars sports tourism industry every

year. Parents often spend more on travel than on equipment or registration fees. Chris Bjork is an

education professor at Vassar College and co-authored the study. He said parents can easily get sucked

into the travel team trap because they want what's best for their kids and they follow the lead of

other parents in the community. Sometimes that works out but sometimes it doesn't and the the

effects tend to get exacerbated because once you sign up for one of these elite programs

you discover that you're spending a tremendous amount of time with these other parents who are

all looking at things from the same perspective. So it's kind of an echo chamber

So where can this echo chamber take you and your budding star player? How about a weekend at Ripken

Baseball The original Ripken facility is in Aberdeen Maryland where the MLB Hall of Famer Cal Ripken grew up Visiting teams can pay over to enter a four tournament showcasing

as many as 48 teams from around the country. In addition to the cost of actually getting to the

facility, which can run thousands if you're flying, families will likely pay for multiple hotel rooms

which can cost more than $200 per night, meals, gas, tolls, and activities in the area before and after each day's games

On top of the costs, kids then find themselves under the bright lights and are pushed to play well against top competition

So there's certainly an atmosphere of pressure and even, you know, a focus on every practice and every game

to the extent that didn't really exist for much of the history of youth sports certainly

but has become amplified as parents and children and communities invest more time and energy

and awareness of what goes on in youth sports, and particularly private club and travel sports

For some families, the cost and the scrutiny are worth it. Those trips and experiences can become cherished family memories and lead to lifelong friendships

Success on the field can also lead to more exposure and interest from college recruiters and professional scouts But those opportunities are rare The NCAA says only 2 of high school athletes will land a scholarship

Now because of this huge increase in kids who are playing for a travel team

the pool has increased substantially, but the kind of end point has remained the same

So that means that a lot of families are going to get disappointed. Bjork, who is co-author of a book on the changing youth sports industry, says it's not necessary for your kid to join a club or travel team unless you're committed to helping them get a shot at that scholarship

Your kid can be very happy, can be very successful without playing basketball 11 months a year, four days a week

Another thing that's really important to take into consideration is now parents are forced to make these decisions when their kids are 8, 9, 10 years old

and what eight-year-old knows what they're really going to want to do when they're 15

When deciding whether or not to join a club or travel team, Bjork and Knuster encourage parents

to be mindful of outside influences that create pressure to keep up with other families

Creating balance in your kids' lives is essential, regardless of how much money you spend

For Straight Arrow News, I'm Chris Francis