Parents eye savings as program costs rise

Increasing price tags are making it harder for families to afford to keep their children active

- SAMMY HUDES

When Monisha Sharma looked into swim lessons for her daughter, she decided to take an unconventional route to save costs.

Rather than enrolling in a formal program, the Toronto woman joined together with a group of neighbours who pooled funds to hire a private instructor at a recreation centre.

Sharma figured swimming and soccer, which her four-year-old also recently picked up, would be “the two cheap programs” compared with other youth sports options like hockey. She has quickly learned how expensive any program can be.

As Canadians cope with rising costs in all corners of their lives, experts say kids’ athletic programs are no exception, making it more difficult for families to keep their children active at an affordable price.

“When you look at the rising costs, all these things add up very quickly — ‘Oh, it’s only $50 for this or $100 for this.’ And then you’re looking at thousands, which is shocking to me; thousands of dollars on an annual basis,” Sharma said.

She estimated a final price tag ranging from $700 to $1,000 to keep a young child in soccer for a full year, including annual expenses for equipment such as new shoes.

But costs at the beginner level pale in comparison to what awaits parents as their kids get older, especially if they want to play at more advanced levels of a particular sport.

Chris Scheele, an Edmonton-based financial planner at Align Wealth, said fees can quickly snowball to amounts “that families are not prepared for.”