<p>Well we made it through our first season of college fencing and my D is coming home for the summer, so to prepare we take all of her old furniture out of her old room and remake the area. As we are cleaning out her room we find medals, trophies, certificates, old equipment, shoes, t-shirts, airline reservations, programs and all of our sports life that got us to that D1 . Looking at all this we estimate just how much it cost in all this junk collected, outside of the time, travel, gas etc...</p>
<p>So, how much money did you spend to get to that coveted spot on the roster?<br>
Was it too damn much, but still not enough?</p>
<p>Our k1 is at school…and won’t be home til after the semester ends. K1 is a soph.
K1 had all of the same grades, scores, amazing leadership ECs etc etc like many other applicants PLUS the sport…</p>
<p>I look at a scholar athlete who has the full package as a student +
Just like a kid who plays the french horn +</p>
<p>For K1 it is a passion and probably a lifetime sport. </p>
<p>absolutely worth the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ and time beyond K1’s or our expectations because we never imagined where it would lead…</p>
<p>Schoolhouse, looking at all the mementos that serve as reminders of the long road from middle school to D1 athlete, I guess there was a fair amount of money and certainly a lot of time we spent together to get there. But I never thought of it as return on investment - I enjoyed the hell out of every minute of it. Even if she’d hung up her spikes after HS, there would’ve been no regrets.</p>
<p>(I have to wait another month or so before she wraps up her 3rd year)</p>
<p>Oh man, no idea what it cost, but best money spent ever. We had a lot of fun and great memories to go along with the heartache and the worries. Our daughter thanks us routinely for doing what we did. The sport isn’t working out quite as she planned, but she loves where she’s at and the life that sport brought her.</p>
<p>^^ amen, amen. The senior parents on the swim and dive team were so sad when the NCAAs ended–sitting around all of them spoke about the thousands of hours at the pool for early morning practices and endless age group meets. Not one ever spoke about the “value” of it in term of ROI. They remember how it made their kids better people and how much fun it had bee…and how sad that it was over.</p>
<p>We actually didn’t spend very much. Most of her learning has been done through her school teams, the outside activity has been at minimal expense so maybe a year’s scholarship worth over the past 14 years or so? Her sports scholarship is about 1/4th of the COA, most of the rest is covered by merit scholarships, which, if she had devoted more time to her sport, probably wouldn’t have been there.</p>
<p>We have some friends that have been spending about $3000/month for the past 8 years or so for their daughter. Yes, she loves the sport but their goal with spending this money was to get her a college scholarship. Doing the math, they could have paid full freight at ANY college in the country with what they spent on her sport and not had to worry about the scholarship—you just wonder what goes their people’s minds. She could have done one travel team vs 3 and still enjoyed her sport :D.</p>
<p>Plenty of $ spent here also, but I never looked at it as an investment I would receive a $ return on related to college tution but rather maybe a little help with admissions - and that is exactly what happened. She is playing for her college and that is a good thing.</p>
<p>The sport she started in 5th grade had so many positive influences on how she grew up - the friends, travel, bonding, winning, losing (much less of that) and memories are hard to put a value on - priceless, frankly! Never mind that keeping kids very busy keeps them out of trouble!!! It was a family for us - the team (and parents) was the village that raised all 13 of my daughter’s teammates from the class of 2012 - tight knit group.</p>
<p>My dd doesn’t even play the sports that I paid big money for her to learn in college. She even broke her nose this year playing a club sport. She does play for fun at college. DD is at a D3 school so no sports scholarships anyway. I am not going to lie about the thought of all that money gone and could have been used for college tuition. It does pain me to some degree.</p>
<p>DD would not be the person she is today without sports. It did keep her busy and kept her out of trouble. We did have some fun doing it.</p>
<p>We spent a small fortune over the years and I definitely looked at it as an investment, an investment in my daughter as a human being! Coming from a coaching background, I knew the odds of winning a scholarship were stacked against us. From a purely financial stand point, that money would have been much better off invested. But I would spend it all again and then some! My daughter gained so much from her sports particiation and it help mold her into the person she is today. We were very lucky in the scholarship lottery, my daughter landed in a great place, with fabulous opportunities that we can afford thanks to her very generous scholarships, both academic and athletic. But even if she had not reaped the benefits financially of 14 years of hard work, I would not have missed one second of it!</p>
<p>Edited to add, my daughter is not even competing in the sport she spent so many years training for. She swam competitively for 14 years and was recruited as a rower, a sport she took up 9 months prior to signing her NLI.</p>
<p>It is only money. Time spent with the kids doing what they want to do has been worth every penny. We only have some much time on this planet. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.</p>
<p><quote>It is only money. Time spent with the kids doing what they want to do has been worth every penny. We only have some much time on this planet. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.</quote></p>
<p>I appreciate this whole-heartedly. I am now more than a decade out of college, where I feel honored to have been an athlete. My parents and siblings sacrificed more in terms of time and money than I probably know. My mom had been a college athlete, and she in particular dedicated a huge amount of time driving me around, encouraging me through failures and successes, being a “mom” to other kids whose parents couldn’t be there, etc. </p>
<p>My mom passed away a few years ago, and some of my favorite memories are the wonderful conversations we had during those car rides at 5:00 a.m., or just seeing her cheering on the sidelines for everyone on the team no matter the outcome. My sport created a special bond for us (though I feel bad that it cost a lot of time and money!) and I will always be very grateful.</p>
<p>Totally agree - worth every penny! The life lessons learned thru years of hard work, goal setting, performing under pressure, teamwork, winning and losing gracefully- are experiences they will take with them for the rest of their lives… can’t teach these things in a classroom but they help to build these kids (hopefully) into being productive adults… I for one know I will miss the days of sitting on bleachers cheering and the discussions on the way to practices when D leaves for college. Whether they continue their sport in college or stop playing - these life lessons are priceless - best money ever spent…</p>
<p>The money spent on D’s sport was well worth it. For three years, our vacations revolved around out of town tournaments that took us to some great locations (and also some less desirable ones). She learned how to live, study and play out a suitcase. I agree with catsmeow about the life skills learned from experiences like this. It is the end of her freshman year and she has done well academically and athletically.</p>
<p>S2 didn’t start his current sport, golf, until his soph year of high school. He was cut from the school team that year, which just made him more determined. He worked very hard to become a better player, and made the team his junior year, ending his senior year as MVP. Prior to that he played soccer, baseball, tennis, volleyball, basketball, ping pong, you name it, he’s just a kid with a very strong competitive drive and a need to be active. He’s at a D3 school, no athletic scholarship, doing incredibly well academically, and playing the best golf of his life. </p>
<p>I’ve loved every moment of watching him become the athlete he is now, and would cheer him on through all those youth soccer and baseball games again in a heartbeat.</p>
<p>Great thread, although I would have given it a different title.</p>
<p>First, money will differ between sports, some are played in high school
and others require extensive travel.</p>
<p>I never regret any money spent on my kids …
what I do regret deeply though is the loss of family time with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.</p>
<p>So many holidays missed with family due to tournaments scheduled over them,
and grandparents that are now gone and can’t be rescheduled.</p>
<p>oh cbw, that is so sad. I am sorry for your regrets. the single-minded pursuit of any goal will lead to losses in other areas, and unfortunately as our children become “specialists” at younger and younger ages, there will be choices.
My s was lucky enough to do well enough at a “niche” D3 sport that I can’t say we lost anything, and it didn’t cost any more than piano lessons. I will miss it a lot, and I’m glad it helped him get into Midd, but I am also glad we didn’t have to give much up for him to do it. Of course, he’s never going to Nationals, but I can live without that!</p>
<p>My son has had so many opportunities through his sport. My husband played high school, college and post-college and our son started his infatuation with the sport early on. It was his motivating factor for academics – a huge benefit – and to see his plan and goals for junior and senior years was … inspiring? a relief? amazing? all of the above! </p>
<p>He had great college admission results, was part of a college team that achieved unexpected national rankings and recognition, is part of a tremendous alumni network, was invited to play in the world championships (the WORLD championships!!!) for his grandfather’s country and traveled abroad to do that after college graduation, and got his current job through the alumni connections.</p>
<p>Yep we spent a lot of money on the equipment and the camps and the extra teams and the travel and the contributions to various teams, including grandfather’s country team (we actually sponsored 2-3 players from that country as well as our own son) … and it was absolutely worth it!</p>
<p>(I would also add that you can’t make them do it if they don’t want it. S2 is just not interested in that sport. He has different interests.)</p>