gryphea

WE have paid $70 each for our kids to do soccer twice a week from end April to Mid June (my OH is a coach). Son did Learn to Play basketball which was ~$85 from Sep- march. He did indoor soccer which should have been from Oct-March and was $140 I think.

All of these include a T-shirt and socks. LTP basketball included a engraved trophy.

I feel all these are good value- yours seem very expensive, prohibitively so.

Gryph

Butch Cassidy

OK, now I realise I'm going to offend someone (everyone?) but why the hell shouldnt you pay for kids sporting activities? Furthermore, we live in a free(ish) market economy so why shouldnt you have to pay what the market will support? if thats $1 per month fine be grateful if its $1000 an hour suck it up or 'let' the kids do something else.

wbexpat

Oh I dunno. There are about 30 mens 11-a-side clubs in Halifax including with maybe 20 vets sides. Im playing for one of them tomorrow night.

wbexpat

You dont offend me. I agree with you.

However, if the stated aim of soccer canada is to improve the quality of footy across the country then it doesnt make any sense to price many of the kids out of the running before they even get a chance to kick a ball and get looked at by the selectors.

As for free markets... well if I wanted to start my own team who are they going to play? Teams have to be affiliated to the league to get fields, refs and opponents. So its not really a free market either.

I think the difference is in the UK 100 years ago when the local associations were forming the arising leagues were there to serve the emerging competitions between clubs. Over here it seems to me to be a lot more top down which I dont think is consistent with the grass roots ethos necessary for the majority to participate.

But while we are on the subject perhaps I should mention that since i packed in playing serious footy ten years ago Ive variously managed, coached, marked pitches, forked flooded goalmouths, washed kits,served beer and things like that, for free. So in my case, yes, the kids and adults at my clubs did get something for free. And i did it gladly because I recognise that volunteering promotes stronger teams, clubs, individuals and communities.

This is where footy where I live misses a trick. It costs next to nothing to give a ball to 22 kids and to teach the, the ropes. But numbered shirts? Refs? Linesmen? Soccer camps? Its all gone a bit over the top if you ask me.

Unless Im just turning into an old has-been ex-footballer!

wbexpat

My lad plays "rep" meaning he goes all over central NS to play. The local "recreational" footy is much cheaper but doesnt have the quality of opposition.

But having reffed some of the rec footy there are some kids who can play a bit who really should be getting a run in the rep sides but who couldnt due to money matters. And some kids in the rep side really had no right being there.

Now if the kids from the "rep" sides mixed with the "rec" kids there would be a half-decent local league that would benefit everyone and cut down on the traveling too. But someone in SNS has decided for us that thats not the way to go. And I dont think thats right. I think the local league system should provide competitive footy for everyone not just the ones that can afford it.

Butch Cassidy

Well we seem to agree on all points (I did say free(ish) market). Yeah it seems ridiculous to 'price' kids out BUT like I was always told the best way to change things is from the inside out. (Yeah i know easier said then done) so get yourself on to the board of the affiliation?

Grah

well there is Kidsport who's mission is We believe that no kid should be left on the sidelines and all should be given the opportunity to experience the positive benefits of organized sports. KidSport™ provides support to children in order to remove financial barriers that prevent them from playing organized sport.

So there's that coverage.

There is also the point that most organised sports come with practise sessions and when you work out the hourly rate for entertaining and encouraging team values etc it will probably work out to be less than a buck.

We have six hours a week from now until Oct for most select teams rec teams are probably between 4 and 6 .

Very much doubt you can get cheaper more reliable babysitters for that price.

As for ref's you can always sign up and do it yourself.
My motto is if they turn up and make the same calls both ways then we are onto a good game. Haven't seen a rec ref book someone 3 times before sending them off yet.

wbexpat

Bleh no thanks!

wbexpat

I did!

dbd33

Participation in sports not being free is a function of the Canadian's obsession with regulation and litigation. From, about 1983-1995 I played pick up soccer in Sunnybrook Park in Toronto. Originally the game was between two departments of the firm where we worked but many people asked if they could play and we welcomed them. It became a regular Wednesday night pick up game.

Then the police came and gave us tickers for playing unlicensed games. I chased mine throught the courts. It turned out that the city was scared of litigation over injuries incurred in unmandated sports. I asked for a ruling on what was legally acceptable on public property and got the guidelines that:

- throwing a ball or frisbee with your children is not allowed (unless you're a member of a league and have a liability policy) but the police generally turn a blind eye

- in fact no "athletic" activity is allowed outside the auspices of a properly insured league

- sex in your car is ok with the local authority though it may be an indecent exposure offence. Placing a foot on the ground for leverage is not ok, contact with the ground makes it sex in the park in which case you need a libabilty policy.

All of this nonsense derives from the case of some bicyclists who went off a cliff in the park, got hurt and sued because there was no warning about not bicycling off the cliff.

Canada's a place where athletic endeavors are encouraged but only by the affluent. Alf Tupper couldn't have afforded the insurance to compete here.

mclaren family

I don't know of anywhere in Scotland that you get to take your kids to sports clubs etc and get it for free.

My daughter attends a dance class - once a week - £7.50 a class runs school term time, in Scotland that's august - June, only holidays is Christmas and Easter, every other Saturday it is on. Then I have to pay for new tap, jazz and ballet shoes, leotards, trousers and then there is the money for the show costumes and the competitions

martial arts - £3.00 a class - twice a week - plus outfits

Football - well don't know prices yet as my son only just turned 2, but I'd say somewhere between the 2 I've already mentioned and then there is gong to games to watch etc and no doubt other things to pay for.

so just for the dancing in a year I pay in Canadian dollars would be - $855

so I'd say soccer in Canada was cheap

wbexpat

No-one is talking about "free". That would be daft.
Any club has to have _some_ funds even if its to buy a ball.

Im talking about "affordable so more people can participate".

Because "cheap" to some folks is not necessarily cheap for everyone else.

For example footy. For my lad to play summer and winter would be about $500 all in. I can afford that so I dont really care, except to the extent that the quality and quantity of opposition for him is lower because there are fewer kids who can afford to take the challenge.

I know lets make it $10,000 per child. Then there would be one team in Nova Scotia and they would be champions every year. Except everyone would be pi55 bored because there would be nobody else to play.

Now some people might say "wbexpat you retard, $10,000 is just plain daft". And you would have a point. But for some families $500 might as well be $10,000. Its merely a matter of degree and looking at it from someone else's point of view.

mclaren family

could soccer be seen as being more expensive than uk football kids clubs because its not as popular as it is in the uk, so therefore it is dearer than what you would be in the uk for example.

If you look at ice hockey - very popular in Canada - yet expensive to take part in. yet I dare say they have quality leagues etc

if as people have said previously in this post that when you work it out to individual sessions and it costs $10 (roughly £5.50) per session - I'd say that would be very fairly priced, especially if football kit is included, remember I pay £7.50 ($13.50) for my daughters dancing a week and don't get an outfit, and have to pay for costumes and competitions.

Is it the fact that its money upfront and its a lump sum that makes it so heavy on the pocket?

dbd33

$10,000/year isn't a unheard of amount to spend on a child's ice hockey or figure skating. And it's not a lot at all for sailing or equestrian sports.

clynnog

Having watched the CBC show 'The Tournament' I don't think they had to search hard and wide amongst the un-hyphenated to get storyline inspiration. I've heard the $10 K/year for kids activities if the kids are in competitive hockey, equestrian, skiing etc. A family membership at a place like Craigleith can be that much or more.