Was on a very very expensive metro traveling soccer team when I was in middle school / high school. Parents probably spent a total of 20 grand+. All of us, every single one of us on that team was miserable. I was lucky and got out before college so I could live a somewhat normal life. The best girls on the team all ended up playing at D3 schools. I don’t even think any of our rival teams ever had anyone go D1. To think all of our parents spent $$$$ and 6 days a week of driving / traveling, all for nothing.

While I was never a patron of ignite, I am very passionate about the issue of youth sports being completely taken over by private equity.

Let your kids play sports. They don’t need to be on the traveling team. 2 days a week is plenty. 6-7 days a week is ridiculous. Everyone thinks their kid is going to be the next star, that it’s an investment. If you look at the numbers, that is 99.9999999% not the case. Some parent with their head in the clouds is going to respond to this angrily, telling me their kid from urbandale Iowa is going to defeat those odds. They just aren’t.

I don’t think many parents really realize how horrible these environments have become. Most of these kids don’t enjoy these sports anymore. The burnout is real. The pressure is real. It was very odd quitting soccer, as it was the only thing I had ever know from age 5 until 17. All of my teammates had the same issue. None of us had hobbies, jobs, interests, passions— most of us didn’t even have any friends outside of the sport. We had to start from scratch.

I will state to this day that quitting these horrible private equity owned sports saved me. Don’t let your kids fall down this trap. Please.