$ Kids' hockey $

[javorka]

How much do you spend on your kids hockey for the season?

We had a one-day tournament out of town this weekend...
Tank of gas...................................................................................$60.00
Skate sharpening.............................................................................$4.00
Lunch/supper for player, Mom and Dad................................................$45.00
Candy bag.......................................................................................$1.00
50/50 tickets...................................................................................$5.00
raffle table tickets (the hosts are doing this for a fund raiser, of course)...$10.00
tournament entry fee (divided by team parents)....................................$10.00
Total...........................................................................................$135.00

That's one weekend (no hotel room) and one kid (other son had a home game). By the time we pay for equipment, registration, etc. for both boys, I'll bet we'd be pushing almost three thousand dollars, maybe more!
I hope we'll be able to collect on the tax credit that the government is talking about.....I know we're doing our fair share of keeping the Alberta economy going!

Click to read more...

 

[Nbr-17]

Well my son's summer hockey's gonna be $CA 600.- that includes practices and 4 tournaments.
Next winter there will be a budget of about $CA 3500.- per player.

 

[Free Probie]

$1000 winter season
$ 200 Spring hockey
$ 480 Two summer camps
$ equipment as needed

Yeah $3000 seams about right.

If it makes you feel any better a Daughter in Tap and Ballet is more expensive and a whole hell of a lot less fun.

 

[javorka]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about how expensive hockey is....have you ever had a kid in figure skating?!!!..... just curious to know how much money we hockey parents keep in circulation.

Regardless of what is costs, money/time spent with hockey is well spent. We'd rather watch our boys skating than have them sitting in front of the TV or hanging around town or whatever.

 

[StrBender]

For my nephew his parents are paying plus or minus $5000 for everything, gas included This is for a Bantam Major who plays AAA hockey. Next year Prep school (38K) only if there's financial aid.
They don't have full season Midgets here and public school hockey sucks so if he attends public HS he will play Jr B @ $6000 + per season. Then Jr A @ the same price. The Q is looking better every day

 

[Canadian Chris]

When I was playing hockey, I was playing Rep hockey (AAA) my last 4 years, and each year my parents were probably sinking $5000 into it for me for tourny's, carding fees etc.

My first year of Midget AAA we also went to Sweden and Finland for 6 games, and we did fundraising for that, but they still helped out with the cost of that and probably dropped a good $1500 just on that alone for me to go...

By the time I was playing Bantam though, I was working as well, so I would help out where I could.

My sister on the other hand, did the figure skating thing, and her BOOTS alone, no blades, just BOOTS were costing my parents $1200 a year, and she alwasy had 2 or 3 pairs of boots...absolutely crazy, I really believe that if I had known how much my parents were dumping into our recreational activities at the time, I would've thought otherwise of hockey, and just continued on with Golf and Baseball...

God knows though, I'm sure I'll do the same for my kids to make sure they can do whatever sports/activities they want

 

[Canucks19*]

You guys are good parents, when i was a kid, i begged and begged to play ice hockey, but my parents said no, mainly because they couldn't afford it....and didn't have time to take me to games, but props to you guys

 

[nic29+]

We easily spend $100 everytime he has an out of town game. Just had a 3 day tournament out of town which started early friday morning so ........

2 nights in a hotel = $200
Food for 4 people for 3 days = $225
Gas = $130

Never mind the raffle tables and 50/50 tickets.

 

[Nbr-17]

2 nights in a hotel = $200
Food for 4 people for 3 days = $225
Gas = $130

Seeing your kid having the time of his/her life....priceless

 

[Grave77digger]

This has always really bothered me. How can you expect to grow the sport in the US with these outragous fees. Most kids will never get the oppurtunity to play hockey because football/basketball/baseball is cheaper and more popular. The only people willing to pay these fees are the people who grew up playing themselves.

 

[mac-sniper]

boys, the scariest part is that if you play for any triple A team, you're talkin 20 grand a YEAR. UNREAL. but if you carry it on for years, you're kids almost guaranteed a spot in jrs, and a scholly.

 

[javorka]

....but if you carry it on for years, you're kids almost guaranteed a spot in jrs, and a scholly.

Hmmm.....are you from the States? I'm not sure that your comment rings true in Canada. There are way more players than scholarships here....Regardless, like Nbr-17 said "Seeing your kid having the time of his/her life....priceless"!

 

[Nbr-17]

boys, the scariest part is that if you play for any triple A team, you're talkin 20 grand a YEAR. UNREAL. but if you carry it on for years, you're kids almost guaranteed a spot in jrs, and a scholly.

AAA here in the Greater Toronto Area is no where near 20 grand a year.

 

[Injektilo]

It's not all insanely expensive. I coached minor hockey last year in Waterloo, for house league I believe the yearly fees ranged from $175-300 depending on the age.

That's House League of course, so little to no travel.

 

[Taz]

Thats INSANE

 

[Ti-girl]

Well I'll compare it to my other 2 sports I play (compete in competitvly)

Fastball

Glove - $200
Cleats - $140
Batting gloves - $50
Catchers gear - $300
Catchers mask - $200
Uniform - $150
Others - $100
Fees - $250
Tournament Fees - $300

About $1700


Kayaking

Paddle - $700
Paddle bag - $200
Boat - $6000 (though it was a one time payment)
Boat bag - $400
Fees - $500 per season
Paddling clothes - $200
Uniform - $50
Spring camp - $1500
Food for camp - $200
Tutoring - $500
Regatta fees (not including nationals) - $200
Nationals fees - $500
Boat transport fees - $250
Hotels/shuttles - approximatly $750 per season
Everything else - $200

About $6000 per season (not including the boat cost)

Hockey

Fees : $350
Tournament fees: $200
Gear: $800
Gas: $200
Food: $200

abiyt $1750.

Expensive, but not as bad as paddling.

Wow, Im suprised my parents arent bankrupt.

 

[membleypeg]

Costs for hockey ouch!!

My son plays rep hockey in the kootenays (other son will as well one day). Unfortunately for us, the team coaches feel that they need to attend approximately a dozen out of town tournaments during the hockey year. After adding up all the hockey gear, fees, and travel expenses, we are looking at approximately $7000/kid. And this is not including all of the money aquired through fund raising. I know of two families that have taken out second mortgages to allow their kids to play hockey.

Hockey Canada needs to look at this situation. It seems like a few of the hockey executives and or coaches in each town have dreams of their kid making the NHL at all costs. These executives/coaches (who think that their kids are a lottery ticket with skates) will do anything to try and move their kids ahead. They could not give a damn about the costs that they are forcing on the rest of the team or the hardships that they are inflicting on families with multiple children.

I know what you are thinking; well why don't you quit. Believe me, it is pretty hard to break your kids heart and tell him that he can't play rep hockey after he has worked so hard for many years. It is also hard to see him miss out on the comradory with his friends. Oh well, I guess it will be 65 before this Dad can retire.

 

[Team_Spirit]

We rarely hear about players coming up from defavorised familly's. I think Jarome Iginla is one of them. The cost to play hockey is a big problem, house league are a good alternative trough and some can loan you used equipement for the year. But as soon as your kid get into competitive hockey you gotta be ready to pay the price.

Some would think the Bashkirov twins came up from a poor Russian family, but they ride around in a Porsche Cayenne as undrafted players

 

[McNasty]

It really depends on whether or not your kid enjoys it. Thats what my parents told me growing up, as long as i was having fun it was worth every penny.

 

[Nbr-17]

It really depends on whether or not your kid enjoys it. Thats what my parents told me growing up, as long as i was having fun it was worth every penny.

EXACTLY
My daughter was in competitive swimming and trust me it was just as expensive.

Oh and a hockey tourney beats a swimm meet any day

 

[Doctor Hook]

I'm so grateful for my parents in supporting my youth hockey days.

Now if only they'd support my beer league hockey nights.........

 

[Murphy]

I don't even try to keep track of it anymore, if I did I'd cry. Its enough that I can't even think of buying a new truck until they're done and home improvements? Forget about it. I have two playing rep hockey, one in pee wee and the other in bantam. Between the two of them, this upcoming weekend will see us finish a stretch of five out of town tournaments in a row and thats only half of them for the season. Hotels, meals, gas, snacks, equipment, raffle tables, the concessions, ect, ect adds up big time. I'd estimate I spend 12,000 a winter between the two of them.

Its hard if you have talented kids who tryout and make the team, really what else are you supposed to do? Tell your kids good job in making the team but......?

And then there's spring hockey that one of my kids have been invited to participate......

 

[McNasty]

lol you tell them to keep practicing so they can get drafted and repay you.

 

[MikeD]

Since my youngest started at age 4 and is now 12.....Gear alone has been roughly $12,000 US. So far he has managed to outgrow his gear in two seasons or less. Lately it has been every 10 months or so. He just selected a complete new kit at the start of the season and I can see they will be outgrown before next.

The average league fee has been 1200.00 US and starts to jump up dramatically when he hits Bantam Minor. His three midget years should be around 3000 per season and I expect the gear to come in around 4000.00 for those years alone.

Each practice or ice averages a travel cost of 15$. 140 hours per season min.

In the last Eight years it would be a close estimate of about 46,000.

Start to finish from Mini-Mite to Midget Major....including travel, Tounaments, Summer Goalie Camps, gear, league fees, USA hockey registration....OMG hes gonna owe me BIG TIME! lol A rough cost of about 120,000 US for his youth career.

In comparison his ODP(Olympic Developmental) and Travel Soccer is about 580.00 per season(four seasons per year) TOTAL costs. That compares to my costs growing up as an AAU/USA swimmer. S.C.A.T. and top 3% in the Nation. Hockey is by far the most expensive of the youth sports.

 

[Markov79]

It is really depressing to see parents sacrificing so that thier kids can play a game. Maybe that is where all the unrealistic expectations come from?

To me the leagues and hockey Canada should step in and start regulating team spending. Any league, any level you will find most players have 200$ composite sticks. There is no reason why this should be the case. The only reason 90% of parents by expensive sticks is because they need to keep up with the few rich parents in the league who themselves only want thier kid to have an advantage (understandably). In the end no one's kid is better off because everyone has the composites but everyone is out an extra few hundred a season for sticks. Then there are single letter teams that practise three times a week because the coaches are obsessive compulsive psychos. I remember this one peewee team that had practises sunday at 7am, monday at 4pm and thursday at 7pm. Don't people have lives? i can understand giving the elite everything they need to make it but when kids with a 99.99999% chance of never making and their parents are asked to devote their lives (you have more than one kid in hockey and your life is about hockey 100%) and money they don't have to a game it is inexcusable.

If NHL teams can have a spending cap. Why not kids teams?