Melissa Fletcher Stoeltje / San Antonio Express-News
When you tote it all up, the numbers are astounding: Mike Vela estimates he spent around $10,000 a year for his son, Matthew, to compete in golf tournaments as a youth.
"It was probably even higher during his senior year of high school," says Vela, a business manager for Taco Cabana. The exorbitant cost stemmed mainly from traveling to and from events -- gas, fees, lodging and meals.
Add in the hefty price tag of the PGA professional who gave his son private lessons starting in seventh grade, not to mention expensive, state-of-the-art clubs, and the dollars really start to pile up.
But as breathtaking as these amounts are, they're nothing compared to what other parents forked out to further their own kids' golfing careers, says Vela, especially the truly well-off ones who could afford to bankroll their young athletes' travel to out-of-state tournaments.
That price tag likely hovered around $25,000 a year. Out of financial necessity, Vela mostly limited his son to in-state tournaments. He also was helped out by grants from the American Junior Golf Association.
"It gets pretty crazy," says Vela of the monetary hemorrhaging that these days is part and parcel of grooming kid athletes. "But it's what you have to do to compete."
For Vela, the money spent paid off: Matthew won some major tournaments and got himself noticed by the golf coach at St. Mary's University, who in turn offered Matthew, now 19, virtually a free ride at the school.
Welcome to the world of modern-day kid sports, where personal trainers, special coaching, summer camps, high-tech equipment and high-flying travel teams are merely the order of the day. For today's elite youth athletes -- and even for more mediocre players -- sports has become a numbers game, meaning cold, hard cash.
In eras past, kids did battle on a neighborhood sandlot or at the local Y, using hand-me-down equipment in games where scores were quickly forgotten and personal statistics meant little. Those days are gone, at least in some quarters. Much of youth sports today is cut-throat competitive, with parents and kids vying for anything that will confer an added advantage.
Call them trophy kids.
David Santos understands the financial costs of high-stakes youth sports: His 14-year-old daughter Morgan plays on an elite club volleyball team that travels to such far-flung locales as Miami, Atlanta and Washington, D.C..
"How much have I spent?" he ponders. "On average, oh, brother, I'd say probably in three seasons it would come close to, wow, 10 grand. But that's just the reality of it. I have people tell me, 'You're out of your mind.' And I'm like, 'Hey, good luck.' If you want to go to a higher level, that's just what you have to do."
Santos says he's hopeful his daughter, who has been playing volleyball since she was 7, will snag a college scholarship with her skill on the court.
"But what matters is she had the opportunity," he says. "I did not have these chances when I was a child. My parents were working-class, and they just didn't have the resources. All I could play in was church leagues and school. When we found out (Morgan) really loved the game, we wanted her to go as far as she could."
"I enjoy it," says Morgan Santos, who insists she's not coerced into competing. "It's my passion."
According to the American College of Sports Medicine, the number of personal trainers targeted for young athletes has doubled in recent years. More and more kids are specializing in one game and are practicing their sport in the off-season, essentially rendering youth sports a year-round affair.
Many compete on expensive travel teams, where the coaching is considered superlative and parents hope their kids will attract the attention of college scouts.
Obtaining an athletic scholarship is something that only two percent of high school athletes are actually able to do.
As a result of these high stakes, an entire industry has sprung up to satisfy the demand of parents wanting to give their kids a leg up, from name-brand equipment manufacturers to private fitness training centers that promise to hone a child's natural skills.
Beau Blair , manager of Baseball Express, has been in the industry 10 years.
He says he's seen a real upswing in parents willing to fork out major dough to make little Johnny or Jenny the top performer on the team.
"Bats can be $300, gloves are up to $250," he says. "It's just so competitive, and parents love their children, so they'll do anything for them. They're not doing it just because they want to throw money away. They think their kids can get an edge."
Heather Ramon-Ayala knows all about that edge. Her 4-year-old, Holly, is already receiving $50-an-hour softball pitching lessons -- even though she can't pitch in an organized game for another four years.
"I figure by the time she starts, she'll be great," jokes Ramon-Ayala, who adds that when her daughter first started lessons at 3 her hand was too small to grip a regular-sized ball.
High-stakes competition is the rule across a broad spectrum of youth sports, from baseball to soccer to volleyball and lacrosse, says David Wetzel, campus athletic coordinator and head football coach at Reagan High School here.
"Young people are spending an enormous amount of time and money to go that extra mile," he says. "Many sports are year-round because, to compete at the highest level and get a college scholarship, you almost have to do it year-round. The competition is so tough they're getting a personal trainer or playing on a club team or getting a swing coach, all those things that will help them compete at a higher level. It's all about competition."