How much money do you spend on wrestling?

[JFreeze]

Joe raised the question in a different thread, so I thought I would make it a topic and go first.

 

Between club fees, clinics, entry fees, travel and gear; I would estimate I spend around $7k a year for wrestling.  I would guess that tournaments attended are the biggest variable in dollars spent as they bring the additional costs of hotels, fuel, childcare, meals, etc.  We have never attended some of the major tournaments that are more than 6-8 hours away and we don't spend much on shoes, but I will admit we will spend the extra $15-30/night for a hotel room after a few rough nights trying to save a dollar!

[TeamGarcia]

10 hours ago, JFreeze said:

Joe raised the question in a different thread, so I thought I would make it a topic and go first.

 

Between club fees, clinics, entry fees, travel and gear; I would estimate I spend around $7k a year for wrestling.  I would guess that tournaments attended are the biggest variable in dollars spent as they bring the additional costs of hotels, fuel, childcare, meals, etc.  We have never attended some of the major tournaments that are more than 6-8 hours away and we don't spend much on shoes, but I will admit we will spend the extra $15-30/night for a hotel room after a few rough nights trying to save a dollar!

Over the decade and half with my sons and not including #ticketgate past 3 years,  I’d say total $100,000 +\- easy . Would I do it again ? 100% . 
 

They done gave it all back in return with a College Degrees and a life skill . That’s all I wanted outta it . 

[Silence Dogood]

50 minutes ago, TeamGarcia said:

Over the decade and half with my sons and not including #ticketgate past 3 years,  I’d say total $100,000 +\- easy . Would I do it again ? 100% . 
 

They done gave it all back in return with a College Degrees and a life skill . That’s all I wanted outta it . 

Not to mention a Hall of Fame induction for yourself...

[aoberlin]

Just over the last 3ish years over $100,000 and a 2nd mortgage to insure the $130,000 I still owe on the business loan. And countless hours.

 

But my wife and I got to go to dinner with Kenny Monday!

Before the business an unknown amount of time and money.

[Coach Brobst]

Last year:

Tourney entries for Club teams: $600

Tourney Entries for my own kid: $1200

Shoes: $400

Headgear: $50

Singlets: $150

Hotel Costs: $500 (we don't do many out of town tourneys)

Tourney Gate Fees as parent: $200

Tourney Gate Fees as a coach: $200

Medical supplies for athletes: $100

Gas: ?? At least $200

Food at tourneys: ??? At least $300

Club Dues: $1200

Coaching Card and Clinics: $300

 

I'm sure I'm forgetting other costs, but just with that we're at $5400 and my kid is only 10 and doesn't do a tourney every weekend yet even, let alone national tournaments. So I could see easily spending 10 grand year at minimum if your kid does national level events even 2-3 times/year. 

 

Also, is there a way to ensure this post is unable to be viewed by wives? Asking for a friend...

 

[SIACfan]

This is a interesting topic to me.

 

I am talking sports in general here not just wrestling, but when I was a kid my parents spent very little for me to participate in local leagues & next to nothing for me to be a part of school teams. But back then kids travel sports didn't much exist. Plus kids specializing in one sport year round wasn't really a thing either. Neither was the sport specialized training centers/clubs for kids. It was a very different landscape back then.

 

But by the time my kids were growing up (who are adults now), the specialization was first appearing, at least to my knowledge. Everything my kids got into, it got extremely competitive & expensive at an early age with travel teams & training.

 

And one of the things I noticed was all the people trying to exploit kids sports for profit. Now I'm not saying everyone running kids tournaments &/or training facilities is guilty of this, but there are those out there that are guilty of it. In one particular instance, I witnessed a husband & wife who got involved as volunteers running tournaments when their child was playing. They quickly discovered that they could make money doing it. After their child was grown & no longer playing they continued to run tournaments for extra money. After about a decade, both had quit their jobs & were running tournaments as a business. Once my kids were grown & done playing sports, I became an official & worked a lot for them. They would hold meetings in the off-season for the officials trying to ensure they had a large set of officials for the tournaments they were running every weekend 8 months out of the year. They always preached about how it was all about the kids, but their actions got more & more driven by the dollar with every passing year. I eventually stopped working for them.

 

I'm not certain what my point is exactly, except that as parents just remember what is most important.

[TripleB]

I thought wrestling was bad.... .then Double B got into Travel baseball... the Double B made a "national" level travel ball team. 

 

Thank goodness for Bourbon, it washes way the intense feeling of I could be driving a Porsche and living in some gated community in Miami if I wasn't spending hand over foot. 

 

Also thank goodness for Dave Ramsey, who I also curse b/c when spending money sometimes ignorance is bliss. 

[MattM]

Been saying for a while the top of this sport, and most sports, is becoming a little less accessible to blue-collar wrestlers/families than it used to be.  Affordable access to wrestling opportunities and just simply the ability to travel (since many have parents who work a lot) is becoming hard for some families to overcome.  Especially when certain events and academies are not within a short drive from the location you live in. 

 

It's awesome that some kids have the opportunity to make a major jump in their skill level.  But a decent percentage of wrestlers are limited in what their family can do and really have to search for what rare options may present themselves if they want to make decent gains in their ability.  Sometimes coaches have to be creative as well in order to help those kids get some type of opportunity.  When the demographic of a large percentage of your team is within that socio-economic situation, obviously finding enough avenues to help them becomes a little more daunting. For several coaches, there isn't much of an off season anymore to start with, and then add on to that the legwork you'll also be putting into finding ways to help those types of wrestlers out so they can "shrink the talent gap."

Edited March 8 by MattM

[casualwrestlingfan]

It's under $1,000 this year as no new headgear, shoes, or singlets purchased. Just 2 Indiana tournaments and fees for the Indiana school club. Plus the USAW coaching fees. The Ohio school club was free since I helped with coaching. That club sells gun raffle tickets, runs a couple concession stands, and has a bake sale to pay for the tournament entry fees throughout the year. Also any $ made on hosting a dual tournament as well. Most was just gas traveling & food besides entrance fees at all tournaments.

[JORVILLE]

Too Much .

[Patrick Mangan]

Like out of pocket? Because all I personally buy is tournament food/water. My school paid for new singlets last year and new warmups this year out of the team account. Speaking of which, to fund the team account I spent a lot of money on BBQ food for the team fundraiser last year. 

[buttler73]

If your are in all 3 Styles and you are hitting these nationals it gets up there.

Junior Year we hit everything we could find after his his to the finals.

ISWA FREESTYLE

2 qualifying events for FR/Gr

ISWA FR GR

Las vegas -US OPEN Spent a week in Vegas

Virginia Beach Duals VA

TULSA for the team Indiana FR GR national duals

Fargo-A WEEK THERE

IHPO 2 DAYS - FORT WAYNE

Super 32-3 days GREENSBORO, NC

MICHIGAN GRAPPLER 2 days

KING OF THE RING EVENT-- CHICAGO AREA

IN SEASON WE WENT TO OHIO AND KENTUCKY.

There is still Contenders club cost, Traveling to Brownsburgh (3-4 days a week) and Greenwood and Red Cobra in Avon 2 days a week. Outlaws at Cathedral Sunday mornings and finally getting in with Brandon Wright  with Wright Way a few times a week for One on One. From What I recall I think we hit $18-$20,000 Between Practices, Flights, Hotels, Food, Gas Out of town Groceries, the cost of the teams and other cost associated there. does not bring up anything dealing with going to a doctor for anything.  I am sure that I am missing events and other things.