The Costs of Going ALL IN
The Costs of Going ALL IN
This week we came across an article and W5 Episode that aired last spring highlighting two families where they have gone all in to support their kids in chasing their dreams of playing NCAA on full-ride scholarships, national teams or professionally.
In the first of three-part series, they focused mainly on young hockey players and ended with an interview with the chief executive officer of a marketing research company based in the US that focused on the costs of youth sport participation not only in the US but internationally.
Their findings had my head spinning and although I have always encouraged players to chase their dream whatever they aspire to (regardless if it is sport, music, drama, academics) but what this 3 part series showed is a reflection how so many families are chasing the dream it has lead to youth sports exploding into multi-billion dollar industries primarily in Canada and the USA with no signs that it will slow down anytime soon.
A couple of years back Time Magazine’s front page highlighted that the US Youth Sports industry had then exceeded $15 Billion USD (approx. $20B CDN based on current foreign exchange). The highlight of the article was a young baseball phenom appropriate nicknamed Joey Baseball
The article and spin-off videos highlighted how Joey Erace, then 10 years old, and his family were chasing the dream for him to play MLB. He was playing on multiple travel teams, getting private one on one instruction for pitching ($100/hr), one on one fielding sessions ($100.00/Hr), had his own home batting cage, was getting sponsorship offers, over 24K followers on Instagram and even being asked for autographs from fellow aspiring young kids who were following him.
His life had evolved to baseball, baseball, baseball.
All this at 10 Yrs. Old?
Fast forward to 2019 and the US Youth Sports Industry had grown to over $17 Billion as a result of more and more players and their parents continuing to chase the dream to reach those lofty goals of representing their countries on national teams, getting NCAA scholarships, what is now multi-million salaries in various professional sports and possibly the Olympics.
Coming back to the W5 episodes shared last Spring, the marketing research firm WinterGreen whose chief executive Susan Eustis was interviewed at the tail end of episode one shared that the Canadian Youth Sports Industry in 2010 was $1.2 Billion, had grown to 5.2 Billion mid-way point of the 2000’s but in 2017 had climbed to $7.6B and last reported number for 2018 was a staggering ….
$8.7 BILLION DOLLARS!!!
THAT’S OVER A 400% INCREASE SINCE 2010
Based on the current exchange this is approx. $6.5 B USD.
Compare that to the USA with 9X the population of Canada (327 M vs. 37M) whose last reported number is $17 Billion USD
As a result, Canada’s youth sport participation costs are the HIGHEST cost per capita than any other country in the world.
Highlighted in the episodes were two youth sports players and their families who were all in as either a hockey or soccer family;
Ethan Mcfarland – 14 years old at the time the episodes aired who aspires to get a full-ride Michigan State Scholarship to play NCAA Div 1 hockey and be drafted and play in the NHL.
No different than many kids have growing up in prior generations, playing shinny with their buds on frozen lakes, outdoor ice rinks, stick and puck for hours on end BUT the sad reality is 0.3% of those will reach that level as I have shared out in talks across Canada.
The cost for him to reach that goal is he has abandoned what all the powers that be and sports medicine research has shown is multi-sport participation so he becomes the best athlete he can be.
He also has a modified school course load geared specifically for “elite” athletes as a hybrid to homeschooling so he can make it to all of his shooting, skating, puck control sessions both on and off-ice in addition to sessions with Psychologists, nutritionists, custom skate, stick equipment manufacturers
All the while his parents seem to be nonchalant about the fact to support doing all of this is costing them tens of thousands of dollars a year much like thousands of other kids across Canada that are doing the same to chase the dream.
Probably one of the best data sets that I can provide to hockey parents to reinforce the importance for their kids to avoid this excessive time and financial commitment to focus on hockey, hockey, hockey is the NHL players association was surveyed last year and as Ken Martel (technical director for USA Hockey) shared with me and has now shared with other sports orgs, below is a slide from presentation he did for New Zealand Hockey (yes they play hockey in New Zealand)
Another statistic – Since 2010, there has been a 63% decrease in full-ride scholarships offered to Canadian born players to play in the NCAA which is a direct correlation with the ADM model in the USA, more and more US-born players are being recruited for those scholarships vs. past years seeking Canadian born players.
The other family highlighted was the Nicolazzo family whose three children, Xavier (7 at the time), sister Kiarra (10), and older brother Romero (13). Their Dad Frank coaches both boys teams.
Year-Round Soccer, Soccer, Soccer, every day all year long including indoor session when Canada’s winter kicks in including playing on numerous travel teams costing tens of thousands of dollars every year.
REALITY CHECK – a colleague of mine shared me the soccer statistics which I reciprocated with hockey a few years back regarding NCAA/Professional path of US Soccer Players
As admirable as it is for all three of their children to chase the dream, like Hockey, the reality that they will reach that level is a longshot at best and depends on so many factors for all the stars to align.
The sad reality for both families and their kids who are rolling the dice and going all-in with one sport year-round as early as 7 years old is there is a very strong possibility that one or all of the issues below may happen;
- Kids are suffering pressure as early as 9-10 years old W5 highlighted in their episode.
Shouldn’t 9 -10-year-olds be playing a game for the sake of it, not feeling the pressure to reach a lofty goal 10 years or more down the road?
- All the research and data shows that these young players may quit (62% in the US are quitting by age 11, 70% by age 13 with similar trends in Canada and many other nations) due to pressure, burnout, not having fun as a result of focusing on winning at all costs chasing the dream because they are not having fun
- They may suffer a season-ending, worse yet a potentially career-ending injury like multiple concussions, tears of ulnar, medial, anterior cruciate ligaments
- May suffer depression, anxiety IF they make it to the NCAA, pro-level as they were deprived of a normal childhood which has been identified by many NCAA athletic directors is a major issue of new players coming into their programs now vs. a decade ago
- Worse case – may consider, or actually do commit suicide as there has been a 56% increase in the suicide rate the last 10 years from 10-24 years of age. If you don’t think this is a reality, I personally know of 3 kids who committed suicide, the third happened to be the brother of one and cousin of two other players I coached so really hit me hard. This stat was shared by Corey Hirsch, advocate for mental health and the Hockey Talks program the day that Tyler Motte shared he is dealing with depression and anxiety issues with amazing support by the Vancouver Canucks. Why? Because 7 years ago Rick Rypien committed suicide as a result of similar mental health issues stemming from the pressure to perform.
All of the above aside, many of the single-sport players I have interacted with as they got to older levels (15+) stopped smiling, stopped laughing, appeared methodical, robotic when they came to training sessions, games, other activities.
Why?
Because they lost that original love for the game they had which many parents argue with me is the reason when they support their kids to play year long, pay for all kinds of development the grind of playing one sport all year long starting as early as many kids do today became a job.
When they originally started down the path did they ask if they could WORK hockey, soccer etc?
No – they asked if they could PLAY hockey, soccer etc.
Last but not least, in the event that you have not been following business news of late, many countries are looming towards another recessionary period so the tens of thousands of dollars that parents are spending each year, much of which via credit facilities including second mortgages, credit cards, lines of credit will put the entire family in harm’s way if one of the dual incomes is lost to downsizing.
Is it really worth taking that risk going all in with one sport?
In lieu of looking at youth sports as a return on investment, we should be looking at all the other benefits it provides, developing character, valuable life lessons, healthy (both physical and mental) lifestyles, friendships, social skills being part of teams, being well rounded and becoming the best ATHLETE they can be.
If at the end of the day they are one of the select few to reach the level of NCAA, National or professional level then that is just icing on the cake.
Let’s all work together to bring the game back to the kids ….. where it belongs.