Youth Sport

In class on February 12th, 2015, we discussed youth sport. Youth sport is defined as an athletic league or team that promotes competition which includes individuals between birth and 18 years of age. The cost of youth sport is not cheap. We also discussed how there are schools in 43 states that charge students to participate for each sport, roughly around $150-200 per sport. In the article from the link below, it is discussed how the cost of youth sport is rising. Travis Dorsch, former Bengals kicker, explained how the cost of youth sport has risen at least 10.5 percent since the time that he was participating in youth sports. He also states how he is not complaining if a family spends $5,000 on sports as long as it is just to sports and not anything negative. There are many benefits that we discussed in class regarding youth sports, which includes maintaining and developing fitness, preparation for adulthood, opportunity to learn values, teaches interactive skills, and provides opportunity for leadership. On the other hand, Mark Hyman, an assistant professor, doesn't have the same thought. He believes that parents should think about where their money is going because not everyone can be a starting quarterback in the professional leagues. Hyman believes that parents should invest their money on academics rather than athletics because students will have a bigger opportunity to receive money in academics than athletics.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/17/your-money/rising-costs-of-youth-sports.html