Softball Expense/Travel/Time Commitment

Does anyone know how softball compares to other sports such as baseball, soccer, volleyball, etc., as far as expense, travel, time commitment?

 

From what I've seen and from the people that I've talked to, Baseball is very similar, which is no big surprise.

Soccer, from what I've seen locally, is not too different, though the equipment is a little cheaper (shinguards and soccer balls are cheaper than composite bats and fielding gloves). The fees from the largest organization here are not too far off the elite softball teams. Travel is similar (depends on how much you do). Time committment seems similar as well.

While I feel I should know more about Volleyball... I don't. We haven't talked that much about expenses with the parents of serious VB players, and I don't have a child who plays volleyball.

 

If You Want To Hear About Expenses !!

Just talk to these competitive cheerleader parents. My Buddy's daughter does that during the year,and it cost a lot just for a few minutes on stage. He said 1,000's of dollars just for about a 6 min.performance !!

 

I only know 2 travel sports....softball and hockey. Let me say first off this is coming from years past.....Softball in nothing compared to hockey. My son played travel hockey at the age of 10 and is now 23 until 16. Just paying for ice time for practice was 500 to 650 an hour. When my daughter started playing softball (11 years ago) and they told us the fee of I think it was around 500 at the time my husband and I looked at each other and high fived!! With that being said, I've always said DON'T TRAVEL if your child does not LOVE the game. If you're putting in the money for your child to "get college paid for" your fooling yourself. My son could have had an 8 year medical degree with what we paid for hockey and my daughter could have 4 years of college paid for with what we paid for for softball. They both STILL love the respective sports....and thats all that mattered! (But boy, now that they are grown, it would have been nice to have a boat or a place at the beach with that money....haha)

 

I have heard this often as well. Of course, life lessons learned through the process is a bonus, plus the friends and other things that life brings.

as for Volleyball. I have a close friend who's kid travels on one of those club teams and it seems that the cost would be very comparitive to the club soccer thing.

 

The only other sport I know is swimming.

Club swimming:
Costs
Annual team fee $1500 or more.
Meets: $15 pool fee plus up to $10 per event to swim(these events can be 25 seconds or 17 minutes) This is per swimmer. So a single meet can cost $50-60. up to 8 meets or more a year.
Travel costs: Most meets require 2 to 3 nights hotel plus driving or airfare.
Practice Swimsuits- 5 or more per year @$75 each
Team suits: $80 each - 1 per year
Racing suits: $180 each(up to $400) and they last maybe 5 meets or less.
Team Apparel: $150 or more/year
travel to practice twice a day: ??
Goggles and other equipment: $100/year

Time commitment:
Monday- Friday 3-4 hours a day (split over morning and evening)
Saturday - 2 hours
This is constant motion and not standing around time... ~9-12,000 yards per day for your average middle distance swimmer.
Sunday - rest
This is YEAR ROUND except for a 2 week break in August and a 1 week break after nationals.
School missed: 5 to 7 days.
Work missed: depends on if you attend all meets.

 

Volleyball travel expenses

Have daughter who plays travel softball and played JO volleyball. Volleyball tournaments, that she played in, were normally Saturday only, no admission charge, and very little equipment to purchase compared to softball. Most tournaments really did not provide any concessions. Parents packed food and drinks for the team and themselves.

 

Travel soccer, at least in the early age groups is

only one day with one match a day.

 

Interesting. the girl we know that plays club goes all over (we are in Or-e-gun). usually plays only on weekends but never like one match a day, usually 3-5. so a lot of the cost is in the traveling. The last one a couple weeks ago was at a college and there was an entrance fees of like $7 a day. dont know what else was involved. but it may be one of those area things.

Like, out here for softball, we dont have gate fees like you have there for softball. the only time there is a gate fee is when its a gold only tourney. there are some places that dont allow food and drink and there are others that do. actually the better ones dont care, their food and prices are competitive and get more folks buying anyway. so like that is different between west/east coast, maybe the volleyball system is different to.

its going to be an eye opener once we get to the Carolina's and have to pay gate fees for an 8 year old son who doesnt want to be there in the first place, lol. such is life.

 

Wrestling

Most of you that know me know that I also coach "club" wrestling. The costs are usually a USA wrestling membership per year approx. $35 but comes with magazine subscription, tournament entry fees (varies from $10 and up), gas/travel to and from (depends on how far you go) I had 8 kids go to the disney duals and 10 qualify for Fargo ND for team North Carolina, hotel if needed, then wrestling shoes (price varies $40 on up to 100's. Just like with travel ball, they seek out family members and sponsors to help ease the burden. The summer months also are a time for wrestlers to attend camps. We always go to App. State as a team, then pick another local camp to attend if anyone wants to go. There are some that do their own camp and go out of state. We had a kid go to Lehigh and one attend Edinboro in Pa. this summer. The big thing with camps is bulk numbers. More than 8 or so gets another coach for free and provides a nice discount. We usually pair up with other schools to get the numbers we need and help every kid have a better chance at attending.