The Wisest Investment for Youth Sports Parents

Where should youth sports parents spend their money?

I interviewed hundreds of people, many of whom admitted that making the right sporting decisions for their kids kept them up at night. Most families operate with finite resources, and it is important to them to make the savviest decisions they can with regard to their money.

The youth sports world has become saturated with expensive options leaving the business world abuzz with excitement about the lucrative and ever-expanding playing field that is youth sports. Each day there seems to be a new product or process that pops up asking parents to spend money on the kids who play. With more opportunities comes more choices, and thus more decisions. Sometimes those decisions are hard.

I’d love to tell you there is a silver bullet, a cheat sheet, or a foolproof way to know that what you spend on youth sports will pay off. I challenge you to ask what payout or return on investment you ultimately want.

Part of the increased frenzy around investment in youth sports is connected to the new capability for college athletes to capitalize on their Name, Image & Likeness. (NIL) Essentially, the NCAA now allows for college athletes to be sponsored and paid because of their roles and platforms. The highly paid and influential athletes are all over social media feeds and commercials. Parents and young athletes can easily imagine all the possibilities that come with getting really good at sports.

If you have ever considered that your monetary investment in your child’s sports experience will pay actual monetary dividends, let me share with you some of the numbers.

I can hear the collective response to these stats. “So…you’re saying there’s a chance?”

Yes. Indeed there is a chance that you are raising a money-making athlete, but that chance is really, really small. Simply focusing on the financial investment, paying into youth sports as a means to a wealthy ends, is the longest gamble of your life.

I know most parents logically realize they will spend way more money on their kids than they will ever recoup, and it is a perfectly appropriate parenting strategy to use sports to invest in their development. Sports build kids physically, mentally, emotionaly and socially even if they never build them financially.

So how does this help the worried parent unsure about which product to buy or what camp to send their passionate athlete?

My suggestion is to use your relationship with them to guide you.

There is a 100% probability that once your kids have grown and the youth sports craze has ended, you will end up with an adult child.

Have you thought about what you want your relationship with that adult child to be like?

The memories you share will be about the things you did together, not the do-hickeys they outgrow. They’ll remember that you showed up, how you showed up and when you didn’t.

If that latest and greatest sports gadget or awesome round-the-world playcation experience are in your budget AND they are going to improve your relationship with your kid(s), Go For It! That is an investment worth making.