Youth Sports – Empty Pockets, Full Schedules

Let me make a very direct statement here regarding some of the ridiculous decisions parents are making regarding their kids and youth sports: Parents, we are losing our minds! I’m speaking specifically about the high cost of travel tournaments that are publicized in ways that make you feel like your kid is really, really privileged and special in ways that get us to miss the fact that these tournaments are taking big bucks out of your pockets and putting them in the pockets of the tournament organizers. Case in point: If you are invited to have your twelve and under baseball player go to play in the Cooperstown All-Star Village Invitational Tournament this summer in New York, it will cost about thirteen hundred dollars per player, plus travel. If an average family of three decides to go along, there will be about four thousand dollars of additional costs for travel, food, and lodging. Parents, are you spending your time and money wisely? And, what are you teaching your kids?