For a child's dreams, are parents going for gold, or broke?
For his 15-year old son's travel hockey team, Tim Richmeier was spending about $5,000 a season: using his tax refunds, halting contributions to his 401(k), and putting travel expenses on a credit card — including $6,000 he's still paying off.
The exclusive club and travel teams come with added coaching and intense competition, as well as much higher costs than a school or community team.
[...] financial and athletic experts suggest parents make a more objective assessment of at what cost the kids are pursuing these dreams.
"Parents are coming from a place of love, they want what is best for their kids," said Travis Dorsch, founding director of the Families in Sport Lab at Utah State University.
Specializing in just one sport early, common among elite team players, leads to greater burnout and an increased likelihood of injury, Dorsch said.
[...] he found that families who made larger financial investments in a child's athletic participation led to kids feeling more pressure, less enjoyment and a lower commitment to the sport.
In her affluent neighborhood there is a "certain expectation of excellence" and the assumption if your child plays sports that they'll do so on a travel or elite team.
"Some of it is parent peer pressure, do you want to be the parent who doesn't send their kid to the extra training and the summer camps and the extra clinics?" Williams said.