Raise your hand if you believe your kid is the next Caitlin Clark/Shohei Ohtani/Saquon Barkley/Connor McDavid/Coco Gauff!

As parents, we see our children as God’s gift to whatever activity they are currently participating. I know for a fact my two year old is the best finger painter that’s ever existed and I could sell her masterpieces for millions. I will not hear otherwise.

America is also driven by competition, which has led to a lot wonderful things — innovation, wealth, and sports dominance in particular. It’s also created a culture where parents feel the need to go into debt for youth travel sports teams and tournaments. Parents feel they need to get their kids into all-star circuits in order to achieve a certain outcome (scholarships, professional contracts, etc.) Yet, the odds of a child turning pro in their chosen sport is miniscule. Less than 1% of high school athletes turn pro in their sport. In football and ice hockey, fewer than 0.1% of athletes will reach the pro level. Is your kid a basketball player? Well, I’m sorry, but they have a 0.03% chance of reaching the NBA.

Perhaps you’re thinking a college scholarship is the end goal. Don’t get your hopes up. Only 2% of high school athletes receive athletic scholarships to Division I or II schools. Division III doesn’t give athletic scholarships, by the way.

Does this mean we shouldn’t let our kids dream and chase their sports passions? Not at all! I love that my parents encouraged and cheered me on while I was pretending to be Rebecca Lobo in the driveway. Unfortunately for them, I stopped growing at 5’3” and spent most of high school coming off the bench. Ultimately, we need to rethink this travel culture that’s costing families extraordinary amounts of time and money for seemingly little results.

Here's a breakdown of average annual costs per child for some of the major youth sports in the U.S., based on a mix of recent national surveys (like Aspen Institute’s State of Play reports, USA Today, and various youth sports associations):

This is problematic for a few reasons. First and foremost, only the middle and upper class kids can afford to participate in these “elite” programs. So are they really competing against the best? Or just the kids who have high earning households? This entire all-star ecosystem reeks of elitism and classism. Secondly, several studies show specializing in one sport instead of multiple sports is detrimental to their health and well-being. Kids who focus on one sport too early are more likely to face injuries, burnout, and lose interest.

Are these travel/all-star teams actually worth it? I’m not sure to be honest. I was a kid who played travel ball. In my younger years I played travel soccer, basketball, and softball but as I became more focused on softball, I know my parents spent thousands for me to be “seen” by college coaches and recruiters. My younger sister was also on the all-star equivalent track for dancers. She competed on dance teams and individually all over the northeast and Lord knows those sparkly costumes and private coaching cost a fortune. I thank them for allowing us to do these things even if it meant money was tight.

Ultimately, I do think the travel competition exposed me to a higher level of play and to college coaches. I also made a lot of lifelong friends. But was I ever going to turn pro or make the Olympic team? Absolutely not. Although in my head, I still think I have a shot for LA 2028! Gotta warm up the ol’ shoulder first though.

I’m torn on the travel ball culture. I was lucky to love a sport and have a great travel experience. That was also 25 years ago and the all-star culture wasn’t what it is today. I think these teams and sports have become too intense and take away the fun of the game. We aren’t letting kids be kids. We’re also bankrupting families for a losing lottery ticket (Sorry, but your child is probably not the next Alex Morgan. I don’t care how many goals she scored against your neighboring town.)

I would love to hear your thoughts on if your kids will be playing travel sports and/or specializing in one sport over another! Are you going to push your kids toward travel/all-star teams?

Next week I’ll be starting a fun new segment called “PARENT OF THE WEEK! Remember back in the day how exciting it was to be named Student of the Week/Month?? Well, I want to bring that back for us as adults. Each Parent of the Week will provide their best advice and lessons learned. It’ll be a fun way to shoutout great parents while also providing nuggets of parenting wisdom to our readers. We’re building the Cents of Humor Village, y’all. If you know a great parent who deserves to be Parent of the Week, let me know who they are and why you think they deserve this most sacred honor.

-Catie