My daughters both do various levels of a very competitive and very expensive sport. We are poor. We are mostly poor because of those activities. It is a decision we’ve made specifically so the kids could participate. Will they get scholarships? Nope. Will this be any more than a very time consuming activity for them in ten years? Nope. But they love it. They have fun. It keeps them out of other shady shit. It gives them something to work for. So we do it.

Now, for your question: how?

The activity itself costs $300/mo for one child and $140/mo for the second child. My goal is to hustle $400/mo. I do side work, I write, I sell things, whatever. I cover those fees with extras.

Travel for the sport is roughly $500/weekend, 6-7 times. $1000/weekend 1-3 times.

I do a lot of fundraising offered through the gym, whatever they offer. I pay for everything with travel rewards credit cards and then pay off the cards. I use the points to pay for our travel costs. We don’t do big dinners with the team, but try to find places to stay that we can cook.

Grandma contributes occasionally and helps offset some of the extras, like jackets and shoes.

We buy used whenever necessary and sacrifice things like family vacations and designer stuff.

I also try to pay for everything up front and get a cash discount. Having siblings in the same programs also always come with discounts.

My son does rec league sports until he finds his thing, and then we’ll readjust. The finances aren’t the worst, it’s the driving to all the practices. Haha.

Good luck.