Travel Ball Parent Hats

An AP-Ipsos poll released this August put numbers to what every sideline already knew. About two-thirds of youth sports parents spend up to $2,000 a year, nearly 60% report financial stress over it, and 11% have considered taking on debt to keep a kid in the game. Travel is now the single biggest line item, ahead of equipment and ahead of camps, at roughly $260 per child per sport. The same poll found 83% of those parents believe their child has the skills to play in college. Fewer than 7% of high school athletes actually do. That gap is not a scandal. It is just what love looks like at 6:45 in the morning in a hotel lobby, operating a waffle iron, ninety minutes before first pitch. Every hat here points at the parent and never at the kid. The sideline coach nobody asked for, the apology to the umpire, the four hours of driving that ended in a rain delay. The wearer is the punchline, which is the only version of this joke that is fair to the person actually out there playing.