Utah parents and coaches choose to still prioritize and give importance to youth sports and recreational activities despite the country's economic inflation and rising costs.
Summer Nuffer, a West Jordan resident, has 2 sons in club soccer at Utah Glory, a daughter on the drill team of Copper Hills, and another daughter enrolled at the Synergy Dance Academy. Running and rushing from her son's soccer games to her daughter's to the high school football game halftime show can be chaotically crazy, and yet when asked about what she thinks about her schedule, the mother of 4 declared that she would not change it for the world, even if it also means higher expenses as inflation rises.
A lot of parents can relate to Nuffer, not only on her family's schedule but also on the tight yet "have to make it work" family budget. Despite inflation causing prices of almost everything to increase, parents and coaches in Utah are not turning their backs to their children's sports and recreational activities, Deseret News reported.
In fact, competition-level teams for youth and a lot of recreational activities are still thriving in numbers despite participation and various gear prices increasing.
Parents making willful adjustments
The executive director of Utah Conference youth football, Jeff Gorringe, confirmed that the team has more players this year than ever despite the cost of coaches, referees, helmets and other equipment have gone up.
Nuffer shared that the high cost of gas had made it harder for the entire family to go to games that are located in far places, but not going is not an option. Thus, instead of using their big SUV, she now chooses to use their sedan instead for better gas mileage. Also, if she was used to bringing all kids to support their sibling's activity, right now they need to make necessary adjustments to still make it into the family's financial budget.
Sarah Gonsur, a Sandy resident, also had to make changes just to keep up with the cost of her kids' sports and recreational activities. Her 2 daughters attend the Premier Dance Academy, another daughter is doing competitive cheer while her son is playing competitive soccer for Jordan High School. and a son in competitive soccer who also plays for Jordan High School soccer team.
Gonsur is a part-time teacher at the dance studio, yet she needed to return to her work as an elementary school teacher, full-time, this year to afford all the costs of her children's sports and recreational activities. She said that they did not want to give up any of the activities, and going back to full-time work is the only option they have to pay for everything.
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Why keep the activities despite the increase in cost?
Gonsur said that it is all worth it. All the sacrifices, the hardwork and the "running around" become worth it when she sees the recital of the games of her children. Seeing her children do what they love doing is more than enough for the time, effort, and money she has spent.
"I have always felt that giving kids life experiences through recreational activities is so valuable. Parents will find ways even in difficult financial situations to keep their kids busy doing constructive things that benefit them," Coach Gorringe suggested.
The director of the Utah Premier Basketball Club Anita Rowland cannot help but agree to this. She expressed that parents can do without other stuff just to be able to pay for the kids' inclusion in sports, knowing that these recreational sports and activities can provide their children with valuable skills such as conflict management, lessons in resilience and failure, understanding of delayed gratification, and the superb benefits of nutrition and physical health.
Dan Smith, 2013 coach of the boy's Utah Glory teams, also explained how recreation is important for kids. He said that these activities are able to let the children experience real world emotions, trials and triumphs. Children experience what it's like to be a part of something so much bigger than themselves. On the other hand also, they get to realize that there will be moments in life when their best will not always result in their victory or the way they expected it to be.
More than all these, parents do not think twice to place their children under extracurricular activities and sports because these are great help to their kids' mental health.
A national study about the association of sports participation and mental health difficulties in youth stated that youth from ages 9 to 13 years old who are under a team sport have fewer mental health difficulties. The analysis further showed that they are less likely to have signs of anxiety, withdrawal, social problems, depression, and attention problems.
Nuffer admitted that big sacrifices are really done on the part of the parents. However, she emphasized that the benefits are far better than all the craziness they go through.
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