<p>Nike is a big sponsor of AAU club basketball and football camps. If you are good it won’t cost you much of anything to be on a major travel team…</p>
<p>Yes, barrons, plus you get goodies like shoes and backpacks! We went to one of the showcases my nephew was in. A couple of the guys we saw are already in the NBA even though they would only be 20 or 21 at this point.</p>
<p>I tend to think the answer to OP’s question is yes, from what I’ve observed.
Not only that, quite a few sports that the Ivies and top New England LACs recruit for tend to favor students from the North East. For example, field hockey, women’s ice hockey, squash (and until recently both men’s and women’s lacrosse) are played at almost zero West Coast schools. So West Coast applicants miss out on significant sports recruiting opportunities at these top schools since they never had the chance to play these sports.</p>
<p>And because football takes up so many recruiting spots for guys, girls are very overrepresented in recruiting for some sports (such as volleyball with 20 some men’s D! programs and 300 some women’s). Men’s crew is primarily a club sport in lots of schools even when there is a varsity women’s program. I do think that kids coming from money are at an advantage with any sport that requires travel, lessons, club teams, etc. that the family has to pay for themselves.</p>
<p>Yep - I had a rower and it is an investment for sure. I seemed to be a pretty decent route to women’s scholarships though and an admission boost for guys who had the academic chops to be in the mix anyway at MIT and Ivies.</p>
<p>On the west coast softball is another expensive year round travel sport that does lead to women’s scholarships.</p>
<p>Putting aside college recruiting, at our HS in order to make the HS team in certain sports (soccer, field hockey, volleyball, baseball, softball, basketball, swimming, tennis), you need to have been playing/participating for years at the club level. A year of non-elite club soccer is about $2000 around here, not including uniforms and equipment. For elite clubs, add extra coaching and travel expenses. There may be a few AYSO kids who make JV, but it’s extremely rare to see a non-club kid make varsity. The varsity coach also coaches for one of the local clubs, so club kids are coached “his” way and have an advantage. There are other sports - including football, badminton, track, cross country and probably a couple others, where years of club training aren’t required. I think club sports are more a requirement in affluent areas where so many of the kids do club that those who don’t aren’t on a level playing field.</p>
<p>Those on free and reduced lunch do not have to pay the activity fee in our town, so pay-to-play is not hurting the truly poor. As usual, it is the lower middle class that feels the crunch most. Our fee is $75/season for sports and marching band, and other activities like clubs and concert band cost $25/activity. There is an annual maximum of $300 per family. However, that is peanuts compared to the cost of high level club sports. That is where the real money is spent.</p>
<p>I agree with the other posters who pointed out the need for parent availability. One reason I stayed home with my kids was to be able to get them to all their EC’s and practices. We were not lucky enough to have people living nearby whose kids did the same sports on the same teams, and nor would I expect someone else to drive my kid without me doing half too. Just last week, on a weekday when school was closed, D had to be at high school practice from 9-11. Many parents here commute an hour and a half to either of two big cities for their jobs, so managing the transportation would not be possible without help. It is tough for them to handle the driving even when high school practice ends at 5:15 or club team practices start at 6 or 6:30. And then there’s the small problem of feeding your athlete a healthy dinner. In addition, now that driving laws are stricter regarding teens transporting non-family passengers, and now that gas is so expensive, it’s not as those the seniors can just pile all their younger teammates in their cars, even if you felt comfortable with that solution. I recall one day there was an early release, kids had to come back to school at regular dismissal time for practice. Girls on D’s team piled like 9 kids in a small car, using the trunk too. Police got involved and it was not pretty. </p>
<p>Hmmm, I wonder if the students on the cross country team would consider commuting to school by running there.</p>
<p>LOL. My kids did do that on several occasions, but it was not viewed as safe by the local police dept., who gave me a courtesy call once concerning D running on the shoulder of the highway. Our township is quite spread out, and for most kids running to the high school would involve crossing a very busy, major thoroughfare. Was that a subtle way of accusing us of white privilege? (joke from racial thread) </p>