I was at work one day when I overheard a customer talking about how they had to pay $125 for their child to play baseball for the summer season when it was free the year before.
I stood their thinking, be lucky that your child is not a figure skater!
There are so many costs involved in figure skating, for one, not every school, let alone city has an ice rink. So right off the bat you may have travel involved, and if you do have a rink to go to, now you have to deal with what time you can go. If your lucky, you may have access to more then one rink, but most of the time there is only one which can severely restrict participation time.
For baseball, basketball, and football, there are usually plenty of options to choose from. Largest obstacle in participating is usually the weather, but even so, there are places that one could practice indoors without too much cost or trouble.
Ok, so you have a rink and a time, now unlike most of the other amenities found in a lot of schools and cities that you can typically use for free, you will have to pay for your ice time even if it is a city owned ice rink.
Wow, ok, so now you have ice to skate on, but guess what? Unlike most sports, you can’t skate with shoes! I know, a bit silly, but think about it, you can play a large variety of other sports without specialized equipment. Certainly you do need some specific equipment to play some sports, but I think figure skates are more specific then say a basketball that just about everyone can use.
Fortunately, once you get your ice and skates, you don’t need much more, some people could argue clothing, but for practicing, you really don’t need anything fancy. Some snug fitting clothing that doesn’t get in the way and has some stretch is all you need.
Ok, so you have all that now, what’s missing? Oh yeah, a coach! Just starting out? No biggie, it’s possible to find group lessons and participate in that, cost effective and generally a good start. But even with that, private lessons are a must if you want to progress further, so more ice time and more costs.
So everything is humming along good and thoughts of testing come to mind, really no biggie in that department as the only thing that most people change is the attire. So something a little more fancy then warmup or practice, but nothing overly blingy. With testing you may have practice ice to pay for as well as a testing fee, and if your coach is there, they typically get paid also.
Next on the list? Competitions! Again, not really much of a change here, a themed costume will be the biggest change. And that cost can be from $200 to $2,000, on top of that, the coach usually attends the competitions to watch, and they typically want paid for their time there. Don’t forget registration and competition (for each event) fees, those need be paid before competing as well as any other fees like facility, practice ice, etc etc. Again, if your lucky, the rink will be nearby, otherwise there’s also travel cost, possibly hotel rooms, meals, and possibly even paying for the coaches meals and room (fortunately these are spilt up at times when coaches have more then one person competing.)
Wow, ok, so a few competitions later, sometimes sooner, guess what? It’s usually time to move up a level, so more time, more lessons, more travel, and of course, a new costume!
So what’s the cost? I’ve heard from a couple thousand and up to $30,000 PER season. Sorry, but I wouldn’t be all that upset in paying $125 compared to what I’ve come across.