Families bear expense of sports specialization

When Judy Chin is serving martinis at Bonefish Grill and her husband, Stuart, is collecting tolls on the Cross Island Parkway, it's hard not to think about all the money they've spent on tennis.

But when their grandson, Alex Bahr, talks about his experience at Heritage Academy and Van Der Meer Tennis Academy, it's easy to see why they keep scratching to make the arrangement work.

"I've been able to be a little more independent than I could at a public school, and it teaches you a lot about focus and dedication," Bahr said. "The coaches push you, but it's really up to you to push yourself if you want to get better."

And he is getting better. But at what cost?

Marty Ewing, a professor at Michigan State University and a researcher for the Institute for the Study of Youth Sports, recently interviewed 30 athletes, parents and coaches at the forefront of the trend toward early specialization in youth sports. Among the greatest concerns among the parents and children she interviewed, Ewing said, was the cost -- monetary and otherwise -- of specialization.

"All of them talked about the impact of specialization on the family as a whole," Ewing said. "That was a major concern of the parents, that we're doing this for this athlete, but it's meant that the family has had to split up, they don't have access to both parents all the time, they don't interact with their siblings every day. That was hard."

For the Chins, the hardest hit has been a financial one. They sold their house in New Jersey four years ago and moved to Hilton Head Island, enrolling Bahr at Van Der Meer Tennis Academy. The housing market was booming at the time, so they bought a condominium in Bluffton and figured they could sell it if things got too tight.

Well, times are tight -- the Chins had to end their retirement to make ends meet -- but the market is saturated with properties like theirs, now, and they can't sell it.

The Chins take Bahr to about a dozen tournaments a year, and though they stay relatively close to home, the cost adds up. After the tournament entry fee and a couple days of lodging and meals, they can quickly spend $350 or more. That number is a fraction of the amount they pay for Bahr to attend Van Der Meer. Add in the cost of equipment -- Bahr estimates he goes through 10 to 15 pairs of shoes per year, and his three rackets have to be re-strung every couple of weeks -- and the Chins guess they spend at least $11,000 a year on tennis.

Ewing says that number is relatively low compared to the expenses of some of the families she interviewed, thanks in part to scholarships Bahr has earned and the Chins' concerted effort to save money whenever possible. When Bahr played in a tournament in Charleston two weeks ago, the family commuted from Bluffton each day, rather than stay in a hotel.

"It adds up very quickly," said Gary Davis, whose oldest son, Coley, plans to play about 15 golf tournaments this summer and fall. "That's one thing you have to cognizant of, because you can spend a lot of money very quickly. We try to budget what we spend every year, but you can easily spend seven, eight, nine thousand a year if you play competitively, and you have to. That's really what it takes to stay competitive with these other kids, because that's what they're doing."

Particularly in sports like tennis and golf, the trend toward specialization and year-round play has created an arms race mentality, in which young players and their families traverse the country to play in the most prestigious tournaments and earn valuable ranking points in hopes of attracting college coaches.

But the cost of specialization isn't limited to those sports. David Anderson says it would take a couple of hours for him to add up how much money he spent on year-round baseball training for his sons -- Tosh Anderson is a freshman at the University of Rhode Island on a baseball scholarship, and Ian Anderson is a rising senior at Hilton Head Preparatory School -- and he isn't sure he would want to know that number, anyway.

"Let's put it this way," Anderson said. "Some guys buy boats, some guys get part of an airplane, some guys open a restaurant, and some guys try to get their kids recruited.

"And it's about the same price."

Bahr will be a high school senior next year, and he and the Chins have discussed the possibility of going back to renting and sending Bahr to public school, but that plan won't work unless they can sell their condo ... and it's not their preferred plan of action, regardless.

Bahr's goal is to land a scholarship to play tennis in college -- his No. 1 school choice is New York University, which has expressed interest -- but even if that plan doesn't pan out, Judy Chin believes her money has been well spent.

She cites the top-flight education Bahr is getting from Heritage, the diversity of friends he has made at both academies, and the lessons learned by dedicating himself to tennis, and it doesn't take long to convince herself they're doing the right thing.

"I would do it again," she said between jokes about her family's empty coffers, "because I think it has made him a really nice young man."