Yesterday was my kid's first day in football and he loved it, what kid would not, just a bunch of kids kicking a ball... The enrollment fees included the equipment, I found it somewhat expensive, but I really had no alternative. What experience to you have, when joining a team the kid has to pay for the equipment right?
I don't have experience with kids enrollment fees for football, but I do have experience with other sports. In my experience, the child must always purchase his or her own personal equipment. It might have not been that way years ago but in recent times it has become more hygienic for players to have their own equipment rather than a school or organization having a bunch of stuff that is used by other kids and possibly not sanitized properly. If the equipment if faulty, it will therefore be the parents responsibility to maintain, and so this is another benefit to having the client/student purchase their own. At least the fee is usually one time until they grow out of it again.
Yesterday they tried the new equipment and surprise surprise, it has nothing to do with the good quality Nike from last year, it's something called Kipsta from Decathlon, so it didn't felt right. Either cases, he's there to play football and he's doing that, but I feel a little tricked because I thought it would be another equipment.
Paying for soccer equipment is nothing compared to what kids have to pay for Hockey equipment, especially if they're a goalie. The speed at which kids grow combined with high cost equipment is really staggering, thousands of dollars have gone into my nephews gear while he's been growing up. I've got two young children and as much as I'd love for them to play hockey, it's so costly.
That is true, I can't even imagine the cost of hockey equipment and more, buying it year after year. The day before yesterday I bough him his first cleats and I was pleasantly surprised with the price, I bought Adidas one (a good brand) for just 20€, so go figure they were this cheap?
I've never had any experience with payment for enrolment. Usually all of these youth clubs are voluntary. Where I am they all are anyway, unless you are talking about specific coaching/training. How much were these fees? Were they just for the shirt or as a general fee for joining overall?
If it's soccer, I guess it depends on whether you're getting enrolled in a youth group or at an actual club. If it's at a club, then it makes sense since everyone needs the exact same equipment and then there are also the coaches... If it's a local youth club, then I think the kid should be able to go with whatever equipment you provide, it doesn't really matter.
The fees for enrollment were about 85€, this included shorts, socks, shirt and tracksuit, so it's a lot of equipment plus the enrollment, it's a high, but relatively fair price. I haven't seen the equipment just yet though, almost a month is gone, my money is there, but no equipment yet.
When my children signed up for soccer, we tend to go with our local community, and the fees are not that extravagant. We only get a team jersey (cheap kind), and we bought our own cleat, ball, shinguard, sock, and water bottle ourselves. They all add up, but some can be used over many years in the future.
