Like most people, I enjoyed watching the Olympics. Some of us might even imagine our children becoming elite athletes one day. Unfortunately, becoming a great athlete is prohibitively expensive for most people, requiring significant time and money to achieve greatness.
I've played sports all my life and love the activity. Sports bring people from different backgrounds together to work toward a common goal: winning. Sports teach us discipline, demand perseverance, and require resilience. Some of us even learn how to lose or win graciously.
Without sports, my life would be duller, with fewer friends and acquaintances. I'd probably be 20 pounds heavier and sleep less peacefully at night. If you can play sports regularly, I highly recommend it.
You don't have to be a great athlete. Instead, you just need to be competent. I hope my children pick up at least one sport or physical activity they can enjoy for the rest of their lives. Learning how to perform under pressure is a critical skill for success.
However, like getting into an elite university, I don't have high hopes that they will become elite athletes. Thankfully, being a great athlete isn't required to live a great life!
It's Expensive To Excel In Sports
Becoming a great athlete requires more than just physical fitness; it also demands mental toughness, a strong work ethic, strategic thinking, and being coachable, among other qualities. However, I'd like to focus on the financial cost of becoming a great athlete.
I'm currently in the process of introducing different sports and activities to my children to see what resonates with them. My goal is to help them find something they enjoy, so they can maintain a healthy mental-to-physical balance for a better lifestyle.
Personally, I believe the ideal ratio of mental-to-physical activity is 4:1. In other words, for every four hours spent working or using your brain, you should spend one hour engaged in physical activity. This ratio is especially important if you spend most of your time in front of a computer.
An Interest In Body Movement And Control
One of the activities we've enrolled our kids in is acrofitness, a combination of gymnastics and parkour. They love learning how to do tumbles, cartwheels, and run obstacle courses. Mastering body movement and control seems like a good lifetime benefit.
The cost of group lessons, with 5-7 kids, is about $25 per lesson, held once a week. So for a three-month summer session, we're looking at $300 per child. Not bad, but we noticed after a couple of months that our daughter was progressing faster than the other kids. She started getting bored because some of her classmates would join later with no experience.
Then, during one group class, she got lucky—none of her classmates showed up. It was a 10 a.m. session on a Tuesday, and that's when I saw how much more she could achieve with 1:1 instruction. She no longer had to wait for the least skilled student before moving on.
The Cost of Private Lessons Is Almost Four Times Higher
Her lucky break coincided with a stock market crash. My stock portfolio lost six figures within a week, much to my dismay.
The more stocks dropped, the more I felt motivated to spend money. I figured it was best to spend more than let the stock market take more of it away. So, I decided to inquire about private lessons for our daughter once her group session ended. The gym said we'd need to coordinate with individual instructors to find a suitable time.
Eventually, we found a Saturday morning time slot for 1:1 lessons at $90 per lesson. Paying an extra $65/lesson feels like a lot. Over a three-month period, the total cost will rise to $1,080 versus $300 for group lessons. And if we decide to continue with private lessons every week for ten months, we're looking at $3,600.
But here's the thing: our son loves acrofitness and parkour as well! The two of them enjoy learning and playing together most of the time. As a result, we'll be paying $160/hour per lesson for both of them on Saturday mornings. Hooray for a slight discount. But 40 weeks of lessons for the year will now cost $6,400—not cheap.
The Opportunity Cost Of Paying For Sports Lessons
This $6,400 could be invested in their college 529 plans or saved for our retirement. If they continue to show interest in sports, the costs could easily balloon to over $15,000 per year, per child, if they begin traveling for tournaments.
That’s $36,000 – $150,000 for one kid for one sport over 10 years. If properly invested, $150,000 could turn into $1 million in 25 years at an 8% compound annual return.
Will my kids have better control of their body movements in 40 weeks compared to kids who don't take 40 private lessons a year? Probably. But it's unlikely they'll reach the level needed to compete in college, let alone the Olympics.
At some point, every parent needs to decide how much money is worth spending to help their children become great athletes. Beyond a certain point, parents may risk their own financial well-being.
Odds Of A High School Athlete Playing Varsity Sports In College
According to Scholarship Stats, overall, a little over 7% of high school athletes (about 1 in 13) go on to play a varsity sport in college. Meanwhile, less than 2% of high school athletes (1 in 57) go on to play at NCAA Division I schools, which is where most of the athletic scholarship money lies.
Below are some fascinating charts for males and females playing sports in college. The odds are clearly stacked against high school athletes wishing to take their skills to the next level. Therefore, lower your expectations.
Your Competition Works Much Harder Or Is Much Wealthier Than You
Take a look at this video of young Chinese gymnasts practicing. Now compare that to how your kids are practicing. There’s little-to-no chance your child will ever surpass these kids because you won't make them suffer as much.
These young athletes might not be rich, but they do have a system that pushes them to train incredibly hard. Yet, even with all that effort, most of them still won’t make it professionally.
In some cases, being poor might actually be an advantage in becoming a great athlete. When you're poor, you might see excelling in sports as your main way out of poverty. Of course, if you're rich, you'll have endless funds for personalized training sessions.
For the USA women's gymnastics to win gold feels even more amazing! Realize how much work ethic is required to get to the top 1% in everything.
Getting Better At Tennis Took A Lot Of Money And Effort
I’ll always remember one woman at my sports club joking, “I’ve paid $1 million for tennis lessons and still can’t properly hit a topspin backhand!”
When I started playing USTA league tennis in 2009, I self-rated as a 4.0-level player. After a couple of years of regular practice and matches, I got bumped up to 4.5.
Then in 2012, I engineered my layoff and suddenly had a lot of free time. I was making 80% less a year, but I used that time to play more tennis. Three years later, I got bumped up to 5.0, a level where fewer than 1% of league tennis players compete.
There was no way I could have reached the 5.0 level at age 38 without the time and money to practice so much. I’m just a regular guy with average power, skills, height, and speed. My opponents were ex-college players, mostly in their 20s and early 30s.
But I could practice for hours a day, while most of my peers at the 4.5 level were spending 8+ hours a day in the office. Therefore, it was tougher for them to get better.
The experience I gained from playing so many challenging matches boosted my mental toughness. I stayed at the 5.0 level for five years, until 2019. Then the pandemic hit, which enabled me to appeal down to 4.5 after two years of not playing.
The Cost of Becoming a Top 1% Tennis League Player
Given that I gave up a $250,000-a-year base salary job in finance in 2012, I could say it cost me $750,000 to become a 5.0 player. Of course, that's not right since I didn’t quit my job just to play tennis. So maybe that cost was closer to $50,000. But still, that’s a lot of money.
Not only did I give up my salary to play more tennis, but I also spent more on healthier foods and better equipment.
I also paid, on average, $3,600 a year to be a member of my sports club, plus $200 annually in USTA fees. I could have saved money by solely playing at a public park, which I did and still do as well, but I enjoyed the camaraderie of my fellow members.
If you don't have similar time or resources to practice, moving up the ranks may be tougher. Less than 10% of 4.5 players ever get bumped up to 5.0. And I’d estimate that less than 3% of 4.5 players ever reach 5.0 after age 35.
But here’s the thing: as a 5.0 player, I was terrible! I lost about 80% of my matches. Despite all the money and time I spent training, I still wasn’t competitive enough at this high level.
If you dedicate enough time and money to your sport, you will eventually hit a ceiling. And that ceiling will no longer make the sport fun. I was frustrated and miserable for the last three years competing at 5.0.
No Need to Be a Great Athlete to Have a Great Career
Since 1999, I’ve lived in a bubble where most of my friends are athletes. Many of my colleagues in banking played college sports. One was the backup QB for Cal who beat Stanford when John Elway was QB during “The Play.” Another colleague even won bronze in rowing at the Sydney Olympics.
But in 2022, after I started meeting parents at my son's school, I realized that most adults are not athletes or no longer play sports as adults. This was baffling.
Yet, all of these parents earned enough to afford tuition at our independent school. While ~20% receive financial aid or help from their parents, it was clear that being a great athlete—or even being good at sports—is not necessary for career or financial success.
Instead, being a nerd seems to be a much stronger indicator for financial outperformance.
Easy For Parents To Spend A Lot Of Money On Youth Sports
One of the top criticisms of my various six-figure household budgets is that I allocate too much for kids. Ironically, many of these critics don’t have children. On the other hand, experienced parents often tell me I’m not budgeting enough for kids’ extracurricular activities. I believe them.
When you love your child more than anything, you’ll likely be inclined to spend on activities they find interesting. If you see potential for excellence in them, you might be willing to spend even more. After all, you don’t want to be “selfish” by limiting their potential.
Many parents will find themselves in an expensive situation where their kids love a sport but aren’t good enough to play in college, let alone professionally. Every dollar spent might not lead to tangible rewards, except for supporting the joys of their children. Be careful how much you spend.
Conversely, for those who've been fortunate enough to save and invest diligently for 20+ years, you may have excess funds. Then by all means decumulate wealth by spending it on your children’s sports. Even if they don’t end up with a college scholarship or a spot in the NBA, at least you’ll have given them every opportunity to enjoy an activity they love.
Be A Good-Enough Athlete Instead
You don't need to be a great athlete, instead, focus on being a good-enough athlete. The idea is similar to being a good-enough investor to eventually get rich.
If you're proficient in a couple of sports, you'll maximize your enjoyment, meet new people, and have a fun way to stay active.
Ideally, aim to get good enough at tennis and golf—two sports that are excellent for business development and can be enjoyed for a lifetime. Pickleball might be next on the list, given its explosive growth in popularity. You'll meet people young and old playing together.
We love sports in America, so it's worth becoming good enough in at least one sport. Talking about sports with friends and colleagues builds camaraderie, but playing together takes that camaraderie to a whole new level.
Do you think it costs a small fortune to excel in sports? If so, how do you calculate or measure the return on investment? Did playing sports help you get into a better university or land a better job? How do you decide how much to spend on your children's sports activities? And when do you know it’s time to stop investing money in their sports?
A Discussion On Competing At The Highest Level Of Your Sport
Here's a podcast episode I did with four-time NBA champion, Shaun Livingston, about what it takes to get to the NBA and win.
Recommendations
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sports is a lot like academics. you can throw tons of money at it but if the kid has no talent, the ROI will be lower than expected. However, average kids with average IQ and a practical degree can have a decent life if they work hard. You will lose money unless you can be a top 200 tennis player. Period.
As a childless unmarried Asian cat lady, I think the most important outcome to consider when investing in your child in sports or anything else, is not that your child gets a gold medal in the Olympics or equivalent, but the personal growth that occurs during that journey. That’s priceless, yes? Also, hopefully it helps keep to keep them out of real trouble….
Sports are critical for most kids. For mine baseball and football all through youth gave us something to practice together (hundreds of hours spent playing catch – the best of times) even though he wasn’t super into it. Baseball turned out to be his best sport as he has above avg hand eye, and he’s been able to carry that over to golf, which he now really enjoys playing with me. We also surf and snowboard together. The important part of pushing sports was building physical and mental toughness and figuring out coordination and how to work out and get strong. My wife always thought I pushed him too hard but now sees the results after he just graduated from Marine Corps Office Candidate School, in better shape than our friends sons that play college baseball.
As a kid sports were huge, especially tennis in jr high an dhighs chool and pickups hoops later in high school and college and post college. Early 90s pickup action at Heritage Park was really awesome, and then at the Lakeshore Towers Sporting Club (now LIfetime). I quit playing hoops and tennis in my late 30s to avoid injuries that would cut into my golf/surfing/snowboarding.
LTH, Lifetime, my go-to pickleball stock play
One of my kids started playing club sports early and never stopped. Now he plays two sports, both club and school. Most kids stop playing by their pre-teen years. As a parent, I try to encourage and support what he likes to do. Benefits: he learns how to get along with different people and deal with coaches, how to handle losses, that life isn’t fair, being promoted or not promoted, time management skills and it just keeps him busy. Even if he is feeling lazy any particular day be still needs to show up to practice and games.
After the kids are too old for the playground it’s hard to find the physical replacement. What I am loving is that he is now a youth referee making $40 a game. That’s pretty good for a 15 year old! Now he has experience training for a job, signing up for assignments, doing the job and following up with payment. He mostly uses his money for eating out and I like that he can see the direct connection between what he makes and what he spends.
We have no illusions that he will play D1. He has good grades and should in with academics. But I do see with many families, sports is what motivates and keeps the kid (especially boys) on track.
Great post, I had just been thinking about how much to invest in sports for my 3 and 5 year olds, and which sports (they like most sports). I played tennis competitively through middle and high school, was in the top 15 in my state, school won state championship ect. Started playing for fun with my dad at neighborhood courts, but as I had success, my parents put me in lessons ect, which led to pressure to compete and tons of practice. Once I turned 16, I started losing interest in tennis and wanted to play other sports. While I stopped playing tennis in college due to other interests, I did develop a lifetime love of sports and fitness, and I think it helped me get into a good college .Therefore, I think the lesson is that its definitely worth investing in kids sports to see where it takes them, but not so much that it causes financial strain- you never know how kids will evolve!
Indeed. It just might be a little bit tough for some parents to resist not spending a small fortune on every sports activity and less than possible. We’ve got to be aware enough to know what our children’s abilities are.
It is exciting to see how they will evolve overtime. I hope my kids will find joy in a physical activity.
That’s great that you played competitive tennis. I hear you on the pressure of success, which is why I burned out in high school as well, but it’s been fun playing playing tennis as an adult. Such a good social aspect.
For girls, ballet and cheerleading adds a +1 in the dating market. Plan accordingly
This post brought up a whole bunch of memories and laughter for me. My daughter played school, club and traveling team soccer. These girls were extremely good, competing for state titles nearly every year. The funny thing is a lot of parents thought their little Susie was going to be the next star and paid for many coaches and private lessons for their little girl. For a lot of these parents it was a financial hardship. I had no illusions of grandeur for my daughter. We allowed her to play because we could afford to and it was fun. On our travelling team we had one girl who was exceptional and dominate. She ended up getting a scholarship to North Dakota State. Not taking anything away from North Dakota but its a long way from Division 1.
Unless your kid is extremely talented and gifted and has a work ethic like no other they have no chance of getting scholarships. Don’t put your expectations or dreams on your kid. Even the most talented athletes have almost no chance. If your going to pay to play do it for fun.
Thanks, Bill
Go North Dakota State! I didn’t realize they had a 96% acceptance rate. I’ve never seen a rate that high before.
I do wonder how many parents put their finances in Jeopardy by supporting their children’s sports dreams.
Wise words Bill.
Chasing a sports dream or helping your kids chase theirs is extrinsically fun, even if it leads nowhere. Some of my best memories growing up were training for my sport, especially near the end when I realized I was never going to go to the Olympics. I still loved everything about it, and now I love to watch it. It did give me an athletic base for other sports I do often as an adult.
I also agree that it costs a small fortune to excel in sports. If we started calculating or measuring the return on investment, we’d undoubtedly pull our kids from their sports. The one thing I do focus on is the opportunity cost of playing a travel sport. Is it worth giving up fun trips for the whole family to allow one kid to play in another off-season “elite” tournament team? No!
Unfortunately, it took a few years and wasted weekends in crummy pay-to-play hotels to figure that out. We do it because it’s how we grew up, and we’re both competitive by nature, so we want to give our kids the resources to do well. The kids have lofty goals, but as parents, I’m not sure what our goals are other than to help them succeed in their sports. I think sports will positively impact their careers and future lifestyles, but I also agree that they could have good careers if they only ever play rec and high school sports.
I meant “intrinsically fun”
” Is it worth giving up fun trips for the whole family to allow one kid to play in another off-season “elite” tournament team? No!”
So true. Especially if you have other kids who don’t play the sport or have no interest.
That video is just plain disturbing.
Yes, it is. Having had the opportunity to visit China dozens of times, it does not surprise me at all. They want to be the best on the world stage and will do what they think is needed to get there.
There is still a tremendous amount of variation in how people live around the world. In the US we have enjoyed the best standard of living in the world for at least a generation, and we don’t often recognize that the rest of the world doesn’t live like we do.
Decades ago, when I first started traveling extensively internationally, I surmised that eventually the world would come to a common standard of living – the one we enjoy. People’s intellect and capabilities are the same regardless of where they were born or where they live…. Energy, iron ore and other commodities are globally available and competitive (even with some tariffs); information (without state censorship) is generally available globally. So what differentiates amongst countries? The political landscape! (especially the lack of institutionalized corruption and the right for individual freedom to flourish). It’s why the US and western Europe have been recently above the rest of the world in our standard of living.
I mistakenly thought that the way global standard of living equalization would eventually happen would be for the world to improve to what western civilization attained. The disturbing reality seems to be that equalization of standard of living will be to lower western civilization’s standard to the rest of the world.
Recently India overtook China as the world’s most populous nation, yet they are not yet near the top of the Olympic standings. As I had the opportunity to visit India dozens of times as well, this also does not surprise me. They still have aways to go to in basic infrastructure to make elite athletes a national priority.
Try not to criticize China for what they have accomplished. Time will tell if their political system will be able to survive the capitalist economy that they embraced, and has been the generation of their unprecedented growth….. enabling them to develop the system that has allowed them to prioritize the development of top athletes.
Humbly,
LandS
I know some parents who have their kids in 4 different sports groups simultaneously. That sounds overwhelming for me but supposedly their kids enjoy it. I didn’t grow up with any sports activities outside of school until about 4th grade. Then I took soccer for a few seasons. I was one of the worst players but I enjoyed being with friends.
I think there’s an important balance between experience/exposure, fun, training, and learning. It’s great to expose children to various sports as long as they also have enough space in their schedule for down time and other types of play and learning. With other non-sport related school activities, birthday parties, and play dates, weekends can feel like total chaos if parents don’t throttle how much their kids are doing. When some parents tell me about what their weekends are like, I feel exhausted just hearing about their schedules lol.
That’s great your kids are trying out some private lessons. It’s a great way to excel quickly and find out what really clicks. Good coaches are fantastic resources.
FWIW, I was D1 college tennis player from 98-02 (on partial scholarship, the norm for men). I had very few private lessons as a junior. But I played a ton of matches, both tournament and practice, against players better than me. Then LOTS of practice time on top of it, usually with drills that replicate actual tennis scenarios.
I think the concept of private lessons is good – get expert advice on what to work on. But it takes a lot of time to implement those skill improvements. There’s no need to go to private lessons every week. It just takes lots of court time, and really dedicated practice (i.e., not going through the motions). It doesn’t have to be exorbitantly expensive…public courts, fresh strings, and a can of balls.
I grew up upper-middle class, so we didn’t have funds to go crazy with tennis expenses, but I did have enough resources to get court time in the winter and travel to a top level tournaments, particularly as I got older and it was clear college tennis was likely. So agree there’s a minimal level of funding needed.
Cool. Do you still play regularly today?
“I grew up upper-middle class, so we didn’t have funds to go crazy with tennis expenses.” This might be a slight contradiction, no? Getting court time in the winter and traveling to tournaments (tournament entry fees too) costs a lot of money. It’s also not just the money, but the time parents need to spend on weekends taking kids, watching, paying for their lodging, etc.
I’d love for you to ask your parents how much time and money they think they spent and what they thought of the process. Clearly, there was a great “return on their investment” with you playing D1 tennis. Can you share how that has helped you in your career, etc? What the college a difficult one to get into? thx
Guess it depends on what “upper-middle class” means to folks. My parents involved me in the budgeting process for tennis, so there were restrictions on what was spent. I lived in Columbus, Ohio, and again, this was around 25-30 years ago, so you are probably way overestimating expense comparing it to present day California prices. But yeah, it still added up and I’m grateful for what I had. The main point I was making related to the poor ROI for excessive private lessons.
And yes, the life lessons from tennis have been really helpful in the working world (currently a lawyer, own my own practice). DePaul University in Chicago. Not a hard school to get into academically.
And no, don’t play anymore. It’s no fun progressively getting worse at something and there’s nothing you can do about it. Got bit by the golf bug instead. You want to talk about a sport that requires a TON of time and money to get good at? Welcome to golf.
Gotcha. Sounds like you’d probably do well in your career regardless of tennis?
“And no, don’t play anymore. It’s no fun progressively getting worse at something and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
This is great insight and something I see common. It’s true and kinda sad though yeah? After going to a top tier level, it’s HARD, mentally to accept getting worse over time. And it takes a lot to keep going.
Sorry but nothing tops horses for expensiveness. You simply can’t excel at all if you don’t have an expensive horse and all the expenses that come with having an expensive horse LOL. However, you can still have a lot of fun and growth.