The two issues really go hand in hand. You tend to not see many minorities playing club travel sports other than soccer and basketball, because there’s such a stronger history with minority participation in those sports.RainbowsandUnicorns wrote: ↑Sat Feb 12, 2022 8:26 amObviously your post primarily focuses on money/cost - and not race.jfish26 wrote: ↑Sat Feb 12, 2022 8:02 amLike most stereotypes, there’s some roots in truth here!
I can tell you though that the cost isn’t different, and is in many cases less, than other “club” travel sports. Baseball and hockey cost more. Gymnastics costs materially more. Even soccer is creeping way up there.
People are really good about handing gear down, which blunts the cost significantly.
It’s an entire industrial construct to itself.
Meanwhile, I am somewhat ashamed to say my parents had no problem letting me play organized hockey as a kid. A sport in which if I am not mistaken, there was a grand total of one African American kid who was my age that played in our community.
Sorry folks, maybe I am putting too much in to racial diversity and maybe it's a lot easier said than done but if I had a kid I would probably prefer he/she participated in sports that are not dominated by/with wealthy white people. Then again, of course where I chose to live might have a strong bearing on that.
For what it’s worth, the two lacrosse programs we’re involved with have built-out, donation-funded, no questions asked resources to support kids who want to play lacrosse but can’t afford it. It’s getting people to take up those resources that has been the biggest challenge.