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Sticker Shock
by Dave
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
I am writing today to discuss a subject near and dear to all travel softball players and, more importantly, their parents during late summer, early fall. That subject is team costs. I have recently heard and read a number of discussions which propagate and perpetuate certain myths and misconceptions. The spectrum of possible costs is broad and confusing to the uninitiated. My goal is to dispel certain myths, boil down some of the considerations into a digestable summary, and help those new to the softball world understand better the types of costs associated with playing travel ball. I hope to make the muddy waters a bit more clear.
In order to discuss this subject, I need to establish certain parameters. First of all, what I am writing about is the world of travel ball which girls aged 8 to 15 or 16 play. That is, I am not writing about gold or showcase ball or any type of "travel ball" which involves extensive long-distance travel or showcasing in front of college coaches. I am also not talking about the run-of-the-mill travel program run out of a rec program with its rec all-stars which plays a handful of ASA-rule or other tournaments and perhaps the Babe Ruth or Little League championship tournaments. Instead, my focus is on the type of travel ball which might more accurately be called "club ball" in which girls join a privately organized group which may be a not-for-profit corporation (though often times not) and which is not necessarily affiliated with any quasi-governmental organization like the town recreation league.
These types of organizations generally play 8-16 tournaments and perhaps compete at a "national" or other large-scale tournament at year's end. They most likely get together after an open tryout in late summer, begin practicing shortly after organization, probably play a slate of fall games and a couple tournaments, break apart briefly in late fall, get back together for winter workouts, and then engage in a spring/summer schedule which includes a minimum of 6-8 tournaments. After the summer season is over, there is a brief break and then tryouts, after which the cycle begins anew.
In order to add up the costs associated with being on a club team, you need to take a couple steps. First off, you need to add up costs for each individual kid (uniforms, insurance and such), then calculate the amount of overall team fees, divided by roster members, and add this. Then subtract out expected fund raising or other means of funding and you arrive at an expected total which may be off a little here or there but which should give you a picture of what the total cost should be.
Individual costs can vary but generally consist of a few sheckles for insurance, a fair amount for uniform(s) and more money for ancillary items. Insurance to play softball is generally obtained via the ASA program and is very cheap. I don't have a current figure (because I choose to stay out of this end of the thing) but we're talking about ballpark $20.
Uniforms can, I suppose vary but typically a single one is $100-$150. Most teams have two uniforms and that will generally run you about $250, give or take $50. If your uniforms cost lots more than that, something is wrong. Some few teams overcharge their players for uniforms and some buy such garbage that you'll need to purchase a new set after the mid-season point. Some teams include such things as sliding pants and some require you to go out and buy your own. But make sure you get an exact color match if you have to buy your own.
Some teams leave the issue of batting helmet to the parents. Some teams include them. Some teams get decent helmets and some get garbage which won't protect your kid all that well or will give her headaches. Some teams charge you exactly what they paid for the helmet and some teams, again, overcharge. I had the misfortune once of being involved with a team which collected $50 and then handed out junk helmets which cost them no more than $25 and which we had to replace at our own cost because the kids didn't want to wear them and neither did we.
It is most interesting to me when we go out and watch teams play over several years, we see a certain phenomenon. A few teams do buy better helmets for their kids. We know this because those kids often have their helmets for many years after they have left the team. We can go out to watch Team X play and see one or two kids using their helmet from last year's Team Y. Somtimes we see the same kid with the same helmet for three years after they left the team. Sometimes we see a kid playing high school ball using her travel team helmet from five years earlier. We always note this and then make sure to check out the brand and model of helmet those kids have. You can usually buy one in the right color for your current team and then get decals for that team to place on it.
Some teams make a big deal about equipment bags and some teams ignore them. Equipment bags do not last. My kids tend to drag them after the first game of the day. They develop holes. Zippers jam up like the buttons on a cheap suit break apart. I've yet to have a bag last a season and retain mint condition. If they do happen to last, chances are decent you'll find yourself with a bag that has "Nowhere Nomads" embroidered on it when you try out for the "American Dream Crushers" the next year. And you'll be buying yet another new bag the year after that too. Sure, everyone on a team having the same bag looks great as the girls make their way through a tourney but they are a monumental waste of money. The only bag my kids have had for more than one year is one I bought myself. &n bsp; If you can buy your own decent quality bag and get your kid not to drag it, that's a better way to go than always buying the team bag.
While we are on the subject of uniforms and ancillary equipment, the issue of add-ons comes to mind. Get yourself extra socks and any other article you know your kid is going to wear out during a season. Socks are cheap and a sound investment. They get holes in them! If a kid has a propensity to rip pants or spill on their shirt, well you know what I mean. Caps or visors are almost a complete waste of time unless you know your kid is going to wear one. I have dozens of visors in the closet with all sorts of team names on them. My kids very seldom wear a visor.
Many teams "offer" to sell practice t-shirts, sweat suits, etc. A practice shirt can be very important if the girls wear them for scrimmages or when they go out as a team to watch a tournament they are not playing in. Most kids do not want to do without one. Sweat suits can be important too, especially if you play fall ball in a relatively cold place. But economic reality should dictate whether you spend a lot of money on such things. Unfortunately, many teams require certain of these items as part of the standard. I've seen teams which have multiple practice shirts required and which sometimes do a sort of fundraiser which again requires the purchase of another shirt. When you consider joining a team, you should request a semi-exact figure for standard uniform and related costs. If the team is telling you $500 or more, there is a problem.
There can be other individual costs, particularly for equipment such as batting gloves, catcher's gear with team colors, etc. But I'll not go into that because it varies too much. The bottom line is individual costs for insurance, uniforms, and ancillary items should be about $300 and not much more unless you are on one of those teams which overcharges or requires a bunch of ridiculous purchases.
In terms of overall team costs, there is again a fairly broad spectrum depending on how much indoor training the team does, whether professional instructors are brought in, the quality and cost of facilities; the number of tournaments, and whether it hosts tournament and/or travels anywhere requiring a plane or train ride and hotel stay.
The team cost does not often include travel or lodging for kids when the team goes out of state. You need to factor this into the equation for yourself. Sometimes a team will travel to a location which is very driveable but maybe you will need to take alternative transport. Be aware that if the team stays at a hotel costing more than $100 per night, it is usually not acceptable for you to arrange your own lodging at Bob's Roach Motel at $15 per night or to stay at your third cousin, twice removed's time share for free.
Some teams lodge the girls in separate rooms. While, at least to me, this is inadvisable on non-financial grounds, some teams demand it and the result is added costs to you if you plan on attending the event. It doesn't cost you any more to keep your kid in the room you pay for anyway. But adding one third of the cost for an additional room is, of course, more expensive.
In terms of the tournaments themselves, you can easily figure out how much money the team pays to participate by going to eteamz tournament search and get an approximate figure for per tournament costs. These can vary some depending on whether the thing is a one or two day event, you play a minimum number of games of 3, 4, 5 or whatever, it is a qualifier or not, it has one or two umps, etc. But a nice round figure for a two-day event is $500 or so. And for one dayers, say $300. If we are talking about a schedule involving 2 fall tourneys, 9 summer ones, plus a trip to some bigger event, we're looking at about $6,000 for the team. It will cost less if your team hosts one, two or three tournaments. Add in a little more for a bigger tournament plus maybe another $1,000 for assorted scrimmages and perhaps a league, and I think using $7,500-$8,000 as a guesstimation is probably fairly accurate. Let's use the higher figure of 8 large just to be prudent.
Indoor training is pretty expensive if you use the most expensive, commercially available, elaborate spaces, you run frequent sessions involving several professional instructors, or the team coach itself is paid (which we'll get to shortly). I've used personally or seen used a broad spectrum of facilities. I've been involved with teams which have used free space which is so bad I hesitate to tell you about it.
In one organization, we used a warehouse (free of charge) which was patrolled by cats that spat out hairballs everywhere and were not enamored with the litter box, probably because the litter wasn't changed regularly. Sometimes, in the dead of winter, we would be sweating our girls through speed and agility when a delivery would arrive and several of the garage doors would need to be opened in order to offload a truck. The temperature would vary over a 30 minute period between 70 and 20 degrees. Now there's a formula for not missing school and keeping the flu bug at bay! When practice was over, governmental agents arrived to decontaminate the girls and their clothing was burned right there on the spot. Then they were wisked into ventillation booths but we never had to use the defibrillators.
In another instance, I am familiar with a facility which sports a nearly full turf field. Right now, I think it costs $5,000 to play 8 indoor games and run two or three practices. Most commonly, what we have done is a mix of one day in space for which one or two hitting tunnels were rented for an hour and a half, and another in fairly reasonably priced space which allowed us to hit some grounders and run throwing drills. This middle road of training cost maybe $300-$500 per week for approximately 8-10 weeks. If you ask your prospective team approximately what their indoor training schedule looks like, you can figure about what it is going to cost you.
In terms of using professional trainers at these locations, again, there can be a broad spectrum. I've seen nationally recognized trainers be flown in for a couple hundred dollars per week per kid more than one time during winter workouts. I've also seen lesser known hitting instructors be used for not that much more than facility rental. If you figure a twice weekly schedule, one hitting and one fielding, and perhaps a range of $0 - $750 as your professional training fee, I think you get the picture.
There are a number of teams out there, probably most, which use purely volunteer coaches. Some teams hire ex-college players or persons who are teachers that know the game and are looking merely to supplement their incomes by coaching teams. In a few instances truly "professional coaches" are hired. I say truly "professional coaches" because these folks make a living coaching teams. If you read this blog, you know that from time to time I advocate hired coaches. But when I do so, I am rarely advocating a real "professional" coach as in one who makes a living coaching just this one or two teams. The type of coach I envision is the type who maybe coaches high school or is looking to gain experience that will qualify him or her for such or perhaps a college coaching position. I am skeptical of the truly "professional coach" except in certain circumstances, usually at a higher level of ball than we are contemplating.
Recently a team with a professional coach was discussed. The cost of joining this team ran quite a bit more than most would expect. I know many who know me are trying to figure out which team I am talking about but I won't give away any clues. The bottom line is the coach made quite a bit more than the type of circumstance I usually favor. And the team did not compete at high levels. Essentially the parents of kids on the team were paying some coach through their noses to produce, at best, mediocre results. That's a huge waste of money that could be spent in so many other ways, it simply blows my mind. You could get your kid into weekly private hitting lessons for about the same, play for a cheap team, and experience much greater success.
Like I said before, if you factor in about $750 for some level of professional instruction, unless the team pays a reasonable sum for coaches, you should be in the right place. I'm figuring $6000 for winter workouts
To sum up where we are so far, let's add up the totals for team costs, divide it by a given roster size, add in individual costs and then move forward to bring this to a conclusion. We figured about $8,000 for a good tournament schedule. I figure a good indoor training schedule at space you have to pay for with moderate use of professional will run a team about another $6,000. If your team pays a coach, add in another several thousand depending on the level of ability she or he possesses. But I'll skip that in my overall calculation. I've figured about $14,000 in team costs.
We need to divide this by roster size and there, I suppose we don't have an overly large spectrum. If you know me, you also know that I favor a roster size of 12-13. I don't like the number 11. It is merely one louder than 10 which is merely one louder than 9. 12 puts us in a whole different and better situation. 13 is OK, though perhaps unlucky. Anything more than that is virtually impossible to sustain. I will explain briefly.
If you have ever seen this game played, you may have noticed there are 9 players on the field at one time. No, there is no fourth outfielder in the real game. That's only for rec. No, there is not a "shortfielder" in fastpitch. That's beer league. There are 9 defensive players who all bat unless you are using that crazy thing called DP/flex, in which case one player plays the field and does not bat while another, who usually does not play defense, takes up residence in the batting order. That makes 10 players in the game at any one time, assuming you use DP/flex. This leaves 2 players on the bench, assuming you have a roster of 12.
The two bench players can generally be used as courtesy runners for the pitcher and catcher. Some tournaments allow teams to bat their entire roster and/or to run for Ps and Cs with the last batted out. Some sanctioned tournaments / qualifiers do not. They require a player who has not been in the game in any capacity to run. If you don't have an available bench player, you must leave your catcher out on the bases even with two outs, even on 100 degree days, even when there is merely one minute between innings. Having a roster of 12 allows you to have courtesy runners. 10 or 11 often does not.
Further, it is often advisable to have the pitcher, catcher or both from game one ride the pine for game two, particularly when it is very hot out. They can be your courtesy runners without taxing them too much while still getting sufficient rest to take up their crafts in game three. And, you can still use a DP/flex, if you have figured the rules for that out yet.
OK, so that's why not less than 12. We all know 13 is unlucky but what about 14 or 15? OK, I'll bite. With just 12 kids on a roster, nobody should ever have to sit more than one game out of three. With more than that, I'm afraid the reality is that often kids sit two games. I have yet to see the team which carries 15 players and keeps everybody happy. Usually what happens is two kids quit for lack of playing time in which case you have 13, which is of course, unlucky. So, just divide team costs by 12 and we'll all be happier.
$14,000 divided by 12 yields almost $1,200. Add more for a hired coach, a lot more for a "professional" one. Add in about $300 for uniforms and ancillaries and you get to $1,500. But don't get sick to your stomach and run away mad at the ridiculous cost of youth sports. Now here is the kicker. How is that sum of $1,500 funded?! This is the key question! If it all comes out of your pocket, that's not necessarily a good thing!!!!
Some very few teams are "fully funded." I have heard of at least two teams which have "benefactors" aka rich guys or gals who pay the freight. As you might imagine, those teams are extremely competitive. They are hard to make as anyone with any common sense within a reasonable driving distance is likely to tryout. Because they have benefactors, they often hire expensive coaches and use the absolute best facilities. They bring in highly respected trainers, etc. But they do not always beat us poor schleps who wing it out of our own pocket and use our wits.
Many teams fundraise a good portion of the approximate $1,200 in fees we have calculated as a ballpark number for a year's worth of club ball costs. Some organizations do a very fine job of it. Others are pitifully bad.
There are teams which have "figured it all out" and which conduct a routine of fundraising which significantly defrays the cost to parents. These organizations have experimented with a bunch of fundraising techniques and developed practices which generate perhaps half, sometimes more, of the figures we are kicking around. Those organizations are usually run by people who care a lot about softball and want to make it affordable. They host tournaments and actually make money at it. They run other fundraisers that actually work the way they are supposed to. And, this is important, they channel the funds back to the teams which raised them.
Other organizations run some of the worst fundraisers you can imagine. Parents are left with the idea that it will cost, say, $600 only to learn that they are the proud owners of ten boxes of crummy chocolate bars, 35 St. Louis Cardinals "special" Christmas candles, or 15 of some item which will find its way into the garbage can shortly; frequent participators in a lottery or 50/50, or they must otherwise buy their way out of a "canning" session outside an infrequently trafficked organic, free range seafood market during the blizzard of 2010. They end up going into their pockets for another $500, $600, sometimes more when they thought they had paid everything required already.
Some organizations run fairly alaborate fundraisers, requiring endless hours of volunteer labor, and then grant just 25% of the profit back to the teams who did all the heavy lifting. Some organizations run fundraisers in which they give back none of the profits to teams. Yes, I know it is hard to believe but it does happen. We made the mistake of getting involved with such an organization once. And here, I don't particularly care if some of you guess the organization. This organization had (don't know if they still do) possession of a very nice, exclusively softball field complex, exclusively for their own use. The complex is used to host some tournaments including college showcases. But they have run their programs poorly and the money stream has begun to dry up as local kids decide to play elsewhere. They require parents to work the snack bar or groom fields during these tourneys. But not One Penny goes back to the teams. Further, they actually charged their own teams for using the fields. We had to pay a $150 "field usage fee!" And we weren't allowed to practice on the things many times for myriad absurd reasons. Worse still, they charged parents for all the team and individual costs well beyond what they expected the actual expenditures to be. So, at the end of the year, when parents demanded an accounting, they produced one which showed an overage of over $1,000 and told the parents that this money, according club rules or policy, would flow into the general fund. There was general unhappiness and mass exodus. Recently, they held a tryout for one age group and five kids showed up, including the coaches' daughters! At another age level not one single, solitary kid showed! Like I said, they are in trouble but you reap what you sow. And it is buyer beware.
OK, so let's wrap this up. There is a large spectrum of potential costs to play club travel softball. How much you should be willing to pay depends on the amount and quality of instruction as well as the indoor practice facility. The buyers (that's you, parents) should do what they can to understand how much money in total will be required and how much bang they get for their buck. Ask questions about the uniforms and ancillaries. Ask questions about the number and quality of tournaments. Find out if coaches are paid, if there are field usage fees, type of fundraisers, etc.
Don't get duped by that compulsively lying organization which overcharges you for everything, doesn't really care about the game or those who particpate in it, and view their organization as some sort of fiefdom. Expect to spend about a grand out of pocket. That's about $1,500 or more, including everything less all fundraisers (about $500) and totalling to a nice round $1,000. Some organizations can be less expensive. Some as low as $600. Most are there or slightly above that figure, extending out to $1,500 out of pocket. Don't pay $3-5,000 to play 6 B level tournaments in adjacent towns with a paid professional coach whose greatest dream for this team is to come in second or third place at one of them.Labels: youth tournament teams
 
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