Children's sports gear has firm footing in family budget

The family calendar at Joyce Masciopinto's Arlington Heights home resembles a complex score card filled with times and locations for games and practices for her four children.

Add to that the camps, clinics and private coaching for the 15 teams that the kids, ages 7 to 14, play on, and you have a chaotic schedule and a mound of bills.

Masciopinto expects that the price to keep her young athletes on the athletic fields, many of them travel and elite teams, to be about $10,000 a year. Time is more the issue for Masciopinto and her husband, an attorney.

"The cost doesn't bother me. They enjoy it so much, I can't make them pick and choose which sports they like best," said Masciopinto, a substitute teacher.

At a time when the economy is losing and suburban families are cutting back to accommodate for hikes in gasoline, food and electrical bills, youth sports continue to thrive. Many area sports stores catering to young athletes have not taken the hit that many retailers have.

Parents continue to buy the equipment and uniforms necessary to keep their kids competing in an array of sports.

Industry experts are carefully watching participation numbers in organized sports, anticipating they may dip with the economy.

"That's not the case. We're seeing participation increase in this area," said Tom Doyle, vice president of information and research at the National Sporting Goods Association in Mount Prospect.

Bob Naughtrip, owner of Soccer Plus in Palatine, agrees. He handles uniforms for about 15 travel soccer clubs in the area. "They just finished tryouts. So far, in every single club, we're seeing the numbers are going up," said the Hawthorn Woods resident.

This statistic keeps the student athletes coming in for soccer equipment and gear. "Our business is up 17 percent this year," Naughtrip said.

"The parents in this area aren't cutting back on sports. We seem to be fairly recession proof," he added.

Equipment sales are scoring big across the board. "The sale of baseball gloves, bats and soccer balls are all holding up," Doyle finds. Over the past five years, sales figures consistently climbed.

The number of metal baseball bats ripped from 2.1 million sold in 2003 to 2.3 million in 2007. In 2003, 4.5 million baseball gloves were sold compared to 5.1 million last year. And the number of soccer balls jumped from 4.4 million in 2003 to 5.1 million in 2007, Doyle said.

"Even if parents are struggling, they'll get their kids the equipment they need," he added.

It's not cheap. A pair of soccer shoes range from $20 to $200 with the average shoe going for $70, Naughtrip said. The price points are similar for baseball gloves, which are also outgrown as children grow. Parents of hockey and lacrosse players see higher equipment costs and league fees.

In addition to the cost to play on a team, coupled with uniform and equipment costs, parents are hit with other fees during the season. Team pictures, trophies, coach gifts, the cost to travel to other communities, and snacks and lunches at the concession stand all add up.

There are ways to cut costs when equipping your kids for sports.

Occasionally organizations or communities offer used equipment sales. Pro shops at ice rinks often offer this option as well. Bargain hunters can find deals at garage sales.

Some retailers focus on selling used equipment. Play It Again Sports, a leader in this industry, is seeing an increase in customers.

The company, with franchise locations across the suburbs, sells used equipment for about half of what it goes for at traditional retail stores.

Customers are really taking advantage of this option, said Ed Wong, of Wheaton, who owns four of the used sports stores in Schaumburg, Villa Park, Oak Lawn and Northbrook.

Parents can find everything from golf clubs to softballs at the stores. The Villa Park store stocked about 400 used bats early this spring and still has about 100 on the shelf.

While some Play It Again Sports stores have closed over the years, the ones that have survived are thriving. "I'm having my best year ever. Sales are up 10 to 15 percent over last year," said Wong, who opened his first store about 19 years ago.

"Organized sports have become a cultural thing. It's good. Sports help build character and discipline," he said.

Some parents figure if they pay the price to foster skills when their children are young, it will benefit when they're teenagers.

"There is also an issue of possible college scholarships. Money spent now could end up paying off once they hit college," said Pam Hanas, who has two daughters at Mundelein High School playing year-round basketball. The reason Hanas got her girls involved in organized sports when they were younger was so they had a chance to make high school teams, benefit from experiencing a team atmosphere, and to keep them healthy and moving. "And of course they like sports," Hanas said.

kmikus@dailyherald.com