Youth sports are a great way for your children to develop healthy habits, increase their confidence, grow their executive functioning skills, and sharpen their cognitive abilities. However, when children play sports, it can definitely hit parents hard in the wallet. From the team at Playground Equipment comes this new infographic that analyzes the average costs of each children’s sport.
Per data from the Aspen Institute of Play and the Utah State University’s Families in Sports Lab, ice hockey is the most expensive children’s sport, with an average annual cost of $2,583 per year. In that, the more significant costs include equipment ($389) and travel ($829). Other youth sports that are considered to be the most expensive, based on average annual costs, including skiing/snowboarding ($2,249 annually), field hockey ($2,125 annually), gymnastics ($1,580 annually), and lacrosse ($1,289 annually).
There’s certainly a huge cost gap between different youth sports. According to the research that was conducted, it was found that while those are the most expensive youth sports, there are others that are much more affordable. In fact, the most affordable youth sport would be track and field, which sees an average annual cost of $191. Others that are ranked as being some of the more affordable, along with their average annual costs, include flag football ($268), skateboarding ($380), cross country ($421), basketball ($427), wrestling ($476), football ($485), soccer ($537), volleyball ($595), and softball ($613).
Via Health.gov, it’s estimated that 73% of parents firmly believe that their children’s mental health benefits from playing sports. By playing sports, some of the mental health benefits for children include reduced depression and anxiety, lower levels of stress, improved confidence, reduced risks of suicide, lower rates of substance abuse, more creativity than before, and much more. Not only that, but per the Harvard School of Public Health, it’s also estimated that 88% of parents are of the belief that by participating in youth sports, their child’s physical health greatly improves as well.
