Too costly to compete? The growing challenge facing youth sports in N.B.

Shannon Phillips's daughter Aubree has been involved in sports since she was four years old. Now at age 10, she plays competitive hockey, softball and lacrosse. 

Phillips and her husband also get involved, sometimes coaching, running the clock, or even acting as the team's safety person. And they love it. 

"When you're sitting there in a freezing cold rink with a hot drink and your little blanket wrapped around you and cheering on your kid, I feel like a true Canadian."  

But competitive sport is big business these days, and it's one that often comes with a hefty price tag.

In Phillips's case, she says they spent 25 nights in hotels for sports travel last year, spending $5,000 to $6,000 plus the cost of gas and dining at restaurants with the team.

"When I sat down and actually thought about every single weekend that we had spent away for sports, it's a huge shocker," she said. "You think of other things that you could have put that money toward. But at the end of the day, this is where it's best spent for our family."

Phillips said her daughter doesn't always get the latest hockey stick or hockey bag. But if Aubree gets invited to play in a tournament, they say yes.

"We do love doing it, and we make it happen," Phillips says. "It keeps her healthy and active and in a really good social circle. She has friends within school, she has friends within sports and wherever she goes in the city."

Phillips said they've made friends through their daughter's sports as well, so they enjoy being involved. But she wonders how other families with multiple children manage to keep them in competitive sports. And not just hockey. 

"If you look at dance, cheerleading, gymnastics and horseback riding, all that stuff is way more expensive even than hockey," she said. "When you get into a high level in anything competitive it's going to start being expensive, whether it's the travel or private coaching that you need to go along with it."

It's not just competitive sports that are suffering from higher costs, according to Cheryl MacDonald, CEO of Sport New Brunswick. She said she sees it in recreational leagues now as well.

"Even at the lower levels of the competition, travel is being added. And I think that for those who can afford it and who have the time, that's a really fun experience to be able to attend those jamborees and tournaments," she said. "But on the other hand, not everyone has the time or the resources, especially in recreational sport, to be able to do that travel."

MacDonald calls it the "professionalization of youth sports," and she said it has consequences.

"You're expected to have the best, nicest equipment and have that team track suit and all of the swag. And I think that gets away from the main goal of youth participation in sport, which to me is to have a social outlet. It is to prioritize health and fitness and to be among communities. So I do think that there's a ton of pressure financially and emotionally on athletes to participate and to do well."